Other Nursing Commons^™

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, Maria A. Hendrix

Nursing Student Class Projects (Formerly MSN)

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a chronic and often disabling condition that is seen in many patients seeking pain management. The condition leaves patients in excruciating pain that is disproportionate to the inciting injury. In addition, patients with this pain disorder experience abnormal sensations such as cold and heat allodynia, hyperalgesia, edema, abnormal sudomotor activity and trophic changes (D. Lee et al., 2015). CRPS disproportionally affects four times as many women as men (Alexander, Peterlin, Perreault, Grothusen, & Schwartzman, 2012). There are two types of CRPS: type 1, often referred to as reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), is not evident …

Discharge Improvement Process, Medeina O'Neal

Master's Projects and Capstones

Abstract

The focal point of the project takes account of the CNL educational program component of the Care Environment. The purpose of the CNL role would reflect the Team Managers functionality. “Care Environment identifies clinical and cost outcomes that improve safety, effectiveness, timeliness, efficiency, quality, and the degree to which they are client-centered“ (AACN, 2013). The unit provides care to patients who require constant cardiac monitoring for reasons that may include sepsis, pneumonia, recent surgeries, advanced congestive heart failure, renal failure and COPD. Having a standardized discharge process could hopefully reduce the number of delays, so that the desired goals …

Utilizing Tiger Competencies To Improve Informatics Practice, Kwun Ying M. Fung

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Nursing Informatics (NI) is quickly becoming an essential part of nursing. From the classroom, to the bedside, and to the boardroom, nurses across the nursing continuum are expected to use NI in their practice with the hopes of delivering better quality care to their patients. However, the training and education of NI provided to all levels of nurses is unable to keep up with the pace of technology. This project seeks to improve the NI competency of the nursing workforce at a pediatric hospital through an educational course using NI competencies identified by the Technology Informatics Guiding Educational Reform (TIGER) …

Implementing Change To Decrease The Re-Admission Rate For Clients Of A Care Transition Program, Aileen Tran

Master's Projects and Capstones

The clinical nurse leader (CNL) internship project’s purpose is to implement a change to decrease readmission for clients in a care transition program, thereby improving quality of life. This care transition program aids with the transition from hospital to home for adults. The microsystem is composed of public health nurses, volunteers, student interns, supervisors, and an administrative assistant. The aim statement for this change project is to improve patient safety by decreasing readmission rates by implementing an initial follow-up phone call within one day of discharge in 75% of the care transition clients by April 30, 2016. This project was …

Reducing The Incidence Of Hospital-Acquired Pressure Ulcers By Enhancing The Role Of Unit-Based Skin Champions, Anne V. Loewenthal

Master's Projects and Capstones

Reducing the Incidence of Hospital-Acquired Pressure Ulcers by Enhancing the Role of Unit-Based Skin Champions

Abstract

Hospital Acquired Pressure Ulcer continues to be an alarming issue in today’s healthcare systems. Often preventable, it is a significant nursing role and a frequently used benchmark for quality care. Studies have shown that hospital-acquired pressure ulcer (HAPU) complications have been associated with “up to 60,000 deaths each year in the United States” (AHRQ, 2014). A major health problem, it presents grave consequences on the patient’s well-being, significant treatment and recovery delays, increase length of inpatient stays, and have become a “never” event from …

The Use Of Personalized Whiteboards In The Inpatient Acute Care Setting And Their Effect On Patient And Nurses Perception Of Communication, Cheryl Karn

Master's Projects and Capstones

A microsystem assessment of two inpatient medical-surgical wards in a medical facility determined a majority of nurses reported dissatisfaction with the amount and type of communication with the interdisciplinary team. This, along with a review of Press-Ganey scores from the inpatient wards, revealed patients reported decreased satisfaction when asked if “nurses kept me informed”, compared to previous quarterly reports as well as other VA facilities. Multiple studies have shown the benefit of personalized whiteboards (PWs) at the patient bedside in improving not only communication but also safety and patient outcomes. A PW was developed by the Clinical Nurse Leader …

An Interdisciplinary Approach To Reducing Falls: Utilizing Team Huddles And Visual Aids To Increase Nursing Staff And Patient Knowledge On T.E.A.M. Fall Risk Interventions, Jennifer A. Viernes

Master's Projects and Capstones

One of the most important aspects of patient safety is the prevention of patient falls (PFs). PFs are a never event and are preventable. The project addresses the ongoing increase in PFs on a medical-surgical oncology unit in an inpatient hospital setting. The increase in PFs created urgency to provide solutions to these preventable circumstances. This Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) led the project and conducted a comprehensive microsystem assessment of the potential causes of PFs calling for further investigation of the unit’s current fall policy. After conducting two surveys of both the nursing staff (NS) and patients’ knowledge of fall …

Implementing Ways To Reduce Catheter-Associated Urinary Infections (Cautis), Maryam Keyhani

Master's Projects and Capstones

Abstract

Center for Control and Disease Prevention (CDC), estimates that 40% of all Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) are related to Hospital-acquired Infections (HAIs) (CDC, 2013). The Facility where the project was done consists of oncology, orthopedic, medical-surgical, telemetry, incentive care, and step-down units. This hospital with 242 licensed beds has approximately 51,571 ER visits and a total of 10,606 admissions per year.The prevalence of Cather-associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTIs) on the 4th floor, the medical-surgical unit with 42 beds was significantly higher than other units. The hospital goal is to increase patient safety and satisfaction as well as reduce and …

Competency Guide For Intrathecal Pump Nurses, Christine Tevlin

Seton Hall University DNP Final Projects

There is a strong need for healthcare providers to improve the quality of care, which benefits not only patients but the whole population. Due to the increasing cost of health insurance, society is forced to bear the cost of poor care for patients. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) stunned the nation in 1999 with, “To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System” which reported that between 44,000 and 98,000 people die each year from preventable medical errors (IOM, 1999). Since then there has been a move in the direction of accountability and quality care for patients. This change has …

Nurse Faculty Job Satisfaction: Development And Evaluation Of The Nurse Educator Satisfaction Index, Annette J. Jackson

Doctorate of Nursing Science Dissertations

ABSTRACT

NURSE FACULTY JOB SATISFACTION: DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION

OF THE

NURSE EDUCATOR SATISFACTION INDEX

The nursing faculty shortage in American is predicted to worsen in the near future. This faculty shortage negatively impacts nursing practice by limiting the numbers of students admitted to nursing programs, and hindering efforts to build a nursing workforce sufficient in number to care for an aging patient population. Guided by Hagedorn’s Framework of Faculty Job Satisfaction, this descriptive, correlational study sought to validate a researcher-developed instrument to measure job satisfaction in a sample of Georgia nurse educators. A web-based survey was distributed to full-time nursing …

The Effect Of Simulations On Nursing Students’ Ethical Reasoning Confidence In Disasters: A Pilot Study, Sara E. Greco

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This study measured the effect of a disaster nursing simulation and debriefing session on senior BSN students’ perceived ethical reasoning confidence and their belief in the importance of ethical reasoning. Using a quasi-experimental design, this study compared participants’ responses before and after the interventional activities using the Survey of Ethical Reasoning. Post-test results demonstrated an increase in students’ perceived ethical reasoning confidence, perceived importance of ethical reasoning, and utilization of James Madison University’s Eight Key Questions Ethical Reasoning Framework.

Investigating The Use Of Chloroquine As Antineoplastic Therapy, Catherine E. Herron, Alexandra E. Mason

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Chloroquine (CQ) is an oral lysosomotropic agent routinely used as an anti-malarial drug (Espina & Liotta, 2013). In recent years, it has been discovered that CQ also possesses anticancer effects, potentially due to the drug’s inhibition of autophagy (Kimura, Takabatake, Takahashi, & Isaka, 2012). Autophagy is a normal cellular pathway that allows for the degradation of cytoplasmic contents. In cancer cells autophagy can also serve as a pro-survival pathway under stressful metabolic conditions, ultimately promoting the survival of malignant cells (Sui et al., 2013). Therefore, in recent years CQ has been speculated as a potential antineoplastic therapy. When administered in …

A Comparison Of Educational Approaches To The End-Of-Life-Nursing Education Consortium (Elnec) Course, Jennifer L. Bodine

Doctoral Projects

Purpose: The purpose of this project was to compare the effectiveness of two different educational approaches to teaching the End of Life Nursing Education Consortium course.

Background: Terminally ill patients frequently visit the emergency department for palliative care. However, various references show that staff does not have the knowledge base necessary to provide quality end-of-life care in the emergency setting.

Method: Participants from the emergency department at a Level I Trauma Center were recruited. A quantitative, cross-sectional pilot study was conducted to investigate whether lecture or lecture with simulation was more effective in increasing the knowledge base of participants regarding …

Assessing Readiness For Interprofessional Learning About Sepsis Among Registered Nurses, Physicians, And Respiratory Therapists In A Community Hospital, Katie Choy

Doctoral Projects

Interprofessional teamwork and education have been advanced as methods to address the complexities of patient care (National Academy of Medicine [NAM], 2011-2013). One area needing further exploration is health care professionals' readiness to learn together in the acute care setting. The application of interprofessionalleaming (IPL) focused on sepsis education and improvement in sepsis outcomes in a community hospital has not been fully assessed. This descriptive, quantitative study explored interprofessional readiness to learn, perceptions of professional identity, and understanding of roles and responsibilities, by examining three subgroups. Registered nurses (n = 52), physicians (n = 29), and respiratory therapists (n = …

The Impact Of Intensive Case Management On Hospice Utilization, Debra Lowry Hummel

Doctoral Projects

Objective: The purpose of this study is to examine if patients enrolled in multi-disciplinary intensive case management program (ImPACT) alter the patient’s end-of-life path or setting of death.

Methods: The quality improvement project is a quantitative retrospective study that compared patients receiving standard primary care vs intensive case management (ImPACT) during 2/2013-1/2014. It is a secondary analysis of a larger study of a quality improvement evaluation that took place at the Veterans Administration facility in Palo Alto, Ca.

Results: Among the 82 patients who died, 19 were enrolled in ImPACT for approximately 249 days compared to 63 who received standard …

Therapeutic Listening Communication In Children With Autism And Hyperacusis, Jennifer Margaret Hughes

Doctoral Projects

Hyperacusis, or auditory hypersensitivity, is defined as abnormally sensitive hearing and in some cases an extreme sensitivity, where normally tolerated sounds are perceived as excessively, even painfully loud. This is a debilitating condition for children with autism, causing activity limitations and participation restrictions, also leading to peer isolation and habitual sound avoidance behaviors.

This research explores a means of modifying the auditory environment of a child with hyperacusis in a safe, effective way for the purpose of improving attention span and facilitating learning. The small pilot study (n=4) was a single-subject, multiple-baseline design, conducted with school-aged children in the special …

Exploring Asian Indian's Perceptions Regarding Organ Donation, Sandip Suprai

Doctoral Projects

Organ donation saves many lives and gives many people a second chance at life. With over 123,000 candidates on the organ transplant list, it is crucial to increase organ awareness in an effort to increase organ allocation. The growing Asian Indian population in the United States along with low rates of organ donation in this unique cultural group provides an opportunity to explore perceptions and barriers that may exist. This study will explore the perceptions of Asian Indians regarding organ donation. Findings will provide much needed data for interventions to educate and promote organ awareness in this ethnic group. Increasing …

Teaching And Evaluation Of Suicidal Assessment, Five-Step Evaluation And Triage (Safe-T) In The Emergency Department, Evangeline Rico

Doctoral Projects

Suicide remains to be a global and a national problem, and it continues to be one of the leading causes of death in the United States (U.S.) The Emergency Department (ED), being the gateway to the hospital can provide a great opportunity to assess each patient for suicidal ideation, and evaluate if patients present with risk factors for suicide. The competency of the ED staff plays a critical role in early recognition of patients who are at risk, and in implementing a plan of care for those with positive screens. However, researchers showed that knowledge deficit and lack of education …

Effect Of An Emergency Nurse Heart Failure Educational Intervention, Lori Hudgens

Doctoral Projects

Background: Research indicates many nurses lack the appropriate heart failure (HF) education necessary to assist with readmission reduction efforts. Employer approved nurse HF education has resulted in improved nurse HF knowledge, and, reduced readmissions.

Problem: ED nurses require a competent knowledge of heart failure to effectively educate heart failure patients upon admission to the ED. No research has been conducted with ED nurse specific populations to assess ED nurse knowledge of heart failure, and, to determine if heart failure educational interventions increase ED nurse' HF knowledge.

Aims: To evaluate the effectiveness of an ED nurse b.eart failure educational intervention in …

How To Start A Nurse Practitioner Faculty Managed Clinic: Missing Components?, Johnna Edmunds

Doctoral Projects

A serious need exists for improved access to primary care for vulnerable populations. Nurse Practitioner Faculty Managed Clinics (NPFMC) can help to alleviate this problem. The purpose of this qualitative, descriptive study was to identify and examine the beginning components necessary for implementing this inter-professional collaboration. A comprehensive literature review identified the absence of these components, which were then revealed through the interviews with founders of NPFMCs. Prior to the interviews two manuals were reviewed about the process of starting a free clinic. Questions were explored relating to the participants’ experiences in starting a NPFMC. Review of the manuals was …