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Pre And Post Implementation Evaluation Of An Emergency Department Severe Sepsis Alert And Practice Protocol, Darleen Williams Jan 2015

Pre And Post Implementation Evaluation Of An Emergency Department Severe Sepsis Alert And Practice Protocol, Darleen Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Severe sepsis kills an estimated 1,400 people worldwide every day. This often fatal infectious process accounts for an estimated 215,000 deaths in the United States (US) annually. The main goal of this project was to evaluate the impact of the Emergency Department Severe Sepsis Alert and Practice Protocol (EDSSAPP) post implementation, on time to first antibiotic administration, length of stay, and mortality in patients admitted via the ORMC ED with severe sepsis. This study evaluated the time to first antibiotic administration, total ED and hospital length of stay (LOS) and mortality of severe sepsis patients either with a severe sepsis …


Family Care Giver Knowledge, Patient Illness Characteristics, And Unplanned Hospital Admissions In Older Adults With Cancer, Patricia Geddie Jan 2015

Family Care Giver Knowledge, Patient Illness Characteristics, And Unplanned Hospital Admissions In Older Adults With Cancer, Patricia Geddie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Unplanned hospital admissions (UHA) in older adult populations are a recurring problem in older adults with cancer. Older adults comprise approximately 60% of cancer diagnoses and receive the majority of cancer treatment. However, little is known about why older adults under treatment for cancer experience a high number of unplanned hospital admissions. A review of the literature provided few study findings and a gap in the current knowledge was identified regarding the factors associated with unplanned hospital admissions in older adults under treatment for cancer. A conceptual framework based on the literature and this researcher's clinical experienced guided this study. …


Rapid Response Teams Versus Critical Care Outreach Teams: Unplanned Escalations In Care And Associated Outcomes, Valerie Danesh Jan 2015

Rapid Response Teams Versus Critical Care Outreach Teams: Unplanned Escalations In Care And Associated Outcomes, Valerie Danesh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The incidence of unplanned escalations during hospitalization is undocumented, but estimates may be as high as 1.2 million occurrences per year in the United States. Rapid Response Teams (RRT) were developed for the early recognition and treatment of deteriorating patients to deliver time-sensitive interventions, but evidence related to optimal activation criteria and structure is limited. The purpose of this study is to determine if an Early Warning Score-based Critical Care Outreach (CCO) model is related to the frequency of unplanned intra-hospital escalations in care compared to a RRT system based on staff nurse identification of vital sign derangements and physical …


The Impact Of Relational Coordination And The Nurse On Patient Outcomes, Fanya Dejesus Jan 2015

The Impact Of Relational Coordination And The Nurse On Patient Outcomes, Fanya Dejesus

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Healthcare quality remains a significant issue due to fragmentation of care in our complex U.S. healthcare systems. While coordination of care is foundational to healthcare quality as well as identified as a National Priority, fragmentation and uncoordinated care continues to afflict our systems. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between relational coordination and adverse nurse sensitive patient outcomes, namely hospital acquired pressure ulcers, patient falls with injury, catheter- associated urinary tract infection, and central line-associated blood stream infection. A retrospective correlational survey design using cross sectional data was used to conduct this quantitative study. An electronic …


Nurse Managers, Work Environment Factors And Workplace Bullying, Joy Parchment Jan 2015

Nurse Managers, Work Environment Factors And Workplace Bullying, Joy Parchment

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore relationships between authentic leadership style, global social power, job demand, job control, and workplace bullying of nurse managers in acute care settings across the United States. Over 30 years of workplace bullying research exists. Consequences are linked to intent to leave, turnover, and harmful emotional and physical effects. Published studies identifying nurse managers as targets of workplace bullying and work environment factors that contribute to nurse managers being recipients of workplace bullying either, downward from their leaders, horizontally from their nurse manager peers, and upwards from their clinical nurses were not identified. …


Sisters Of Mercy: The Walking Nun's Siouxland Journey And Experiences In Nursing (1890-1965), Diane L. Smith Jan 2015

Sisters Of Mercy: The Walking Nun's Siouxland Journey And Experiences In Nursing (1890-1965), Diane L. Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nursing history is like a kaleidoscope, with prisms of time representing the past, present, and future experiences of nursing. The existence of nursing history is unknown until it is written; similar to the shadowed image of a kaleidoscope mirror is the history of the Sisters of Mercy in Siouxland. Uncovered collections, documents, letters, pictorial archives, and oral histories provide a way to examine the work of the Sisters of Mercy in Siouxland in light of the Careful Nursing Model. On December 12, 1831, Catherine McAuley became the Foundress of the Religious Sisters of Mercy Order in Dublin, Ireland. These Sisters …