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Glimpse Into Simulation And Critical Thinking: A Pilot Study Comparing Utah And Ecuador, Katrina Duncan, Patricia K. Ravert

Faculty Publications

Classroom learning is practiced and applied through simulation, which can help develop critical thinking and clinical judgment skills imperative in clinical settings for both students and new nurse graduates. Simulation is well developed in the United States but is in early stages of use and development in South America.

Engaging Students In The Fundamental Skill Lab: Scenario Based Simulations, Deborah O. Himes, Patricia K. Ravert, Colleen R. Tingey

Faculty Publications

Aims of this study: Students will be actively engaged in the basic nursing skills lab and develop critical nursing behaviors including:

- Assessment/ Intervention/ Evaluation

- Critical Thinking/ Clinical Decision Making

- Direct Patient Care

- Communication/ Collaboration

- Professional Behaviors.

Students will also remember more of what they learn through story-telling (patient cases) and role-playing. They will come prepared to perform as a nurse in lab.

Image Of God: Effect On Coping, Psycho-Spiritual Well-Being And Fear Of Recurrence In Early Breast Cancer Survivors, Judith Anne Schreiber

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine whether a breast cancer survivor’s view of God influences her religious coping strategies, depression, anxiety, stress, fear of recurrence, and psychological well-being. These variables were selected based on literature that demonstrates relationships among them for breast cancer survivors. The specific aims of this dissertation were to: 1) identify religious coping strategies common to each of the four views of God; 2) examine the relationship of psychological well-being (Ryff) and religious coping strategies; and 3) examine differences in depression, anxiety, stress, fear of recurrence, and psychological well-being among women holding various views of …

Efficacy Of A Behavioral Intervention To Decrease Medication Transcription Errors Among Professional Nurses, Kathleen Ann Becker

Dissertations (1934 -)

The purpose of this study, guided by Donabedian's structure-process-outcome model, was to evaluate if a cognitive-behavioral education intervention would decrease medication transcription errors among professional nurses when admitting patients 65 years of age or older on 5 or more prescribed medications to a hospital. The conceptual framework for this study is derived from Donabedian's structure-process-outcome health model. The premise suggests improving the structure or process of a system can improve health outcomes. My intervention (cognitive behavioral education), specifically influences the process of medication history obtainment which improved medication error score. In this study, a randomized intervention design was used where …

Understanding Relationships In Health Related Quality Of Life For Parents Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Norah Louise Johnson

Dissertations (1934 -)

Nurses encounter many parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Both parents are under stress that ultimately impacts their health related quality of life (HRQL). Few studies assess the mediators of parenting stress on HRQL for both parents. This study explored the relationship of parenting stress, family functioning and HRQL for parenting dyads of children with ASD. Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) Transactional Model of Stress and Coping and Lakey and Cohen's (2000) Social Support Theory framed the study.

Implementing a cross sectional, descriptive design, 387 parents (n=64 dyads) of ASD-affected children, from 46 states, completed web-based surveys. Demographics, the …

The Relationship Between Preexisting Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease In Lung Transplant Recipients And The Development Of Post-Transplant Bronciolitis Obliterans, Heidy Abuan David-Robinson

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Lung transplant is a treatment modality for patients with end stage lung disease. Bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) is the number one cause of morbidity and mortality in patients the first year after lung transplant. There are many risk factors which have been identified to increase the risk of BOS including acute rejection, lymphocytic bronchitis, medication non-compliance, bacterial or viral infections, older donor age, extended ischemic time, donor antigen-specific reactivity, human leukocyte antigen (HLA) mismatch, underlying disease and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

Advanced practice nurses can help in the primary prevention of BOS through the assessment and treatment of pre-transplant patients …

The Effect Of Moral Distress On Nursing Retention In The Acute Care Setting, Cynthia L. Cummings

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This descriptive study explored the relationship between moral distress, professional stress and intent to stay in the hospital setting. The study involved 234 nursing participants and was conducted via an online survey over a 90 day period. The survey tool consisted of 51 items taken from known moral distress, professional stress and intent to stay tools. The items were divided into frequency and intensity of occurrence. Various statistical measures were utilized to conclude that moral distress and professional stress factors were significant (p

Second-Stage Labor Care: Challenges In Spontaneous Bearing Down, Lisa Hanson

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Substantial scientific evidence supports spontaneous maternal bearing down for its associated maternal and fetal physiologic benefits. Imposing specific directions for Valsalva pushing does not result in optimal outcomes but continues to be widely used, particularly when labor progress is less than optimal. However, there are numerous evidence-based approaches that can be used to avoid reverting to directed, prolonged Valsalva bearing down. Nursing care challenges may be encountered when using physiologic approaches; therefore, strategies are detailed to alleviate a variety of problems including ways to promote physiological descent and effectively support women's spontaneous efforts. For example, maternal postural interventions are suggested …

The Meaning Of Being A Primary Nurse Preceptor For Newly Graduated Nurses, Jennifer Richards

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Preceptorship is a vital component of the transition experience of newly graduated nurses into clinical practice. Preceptors teach, supervise, and evaluate newly graduated nurses, and also help them socialize into their roles as registered nurses. In the presence of an ever-growing nursing shortage and evidence that many new nurses are leaving their first positions, it is of paramount importance that we make every attempt to ease the transition of newly graduated nurses into clinical practice. Additionally important is the need to understand the experience of all involved in the process.

The primary purpose of this study was to achieve a …

From School To Practice: The Meaning Of Nurses' Holistic Comfort, Michal Goodwin

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Nurses entering the healthcare arena are likely to encounter a gap in preparation from school to practice. Despite well-intentioned transition programs, nurses struggle to keep up with the reality of demanding schedules, stressful work environments and non-nursing tasks, such as their own comfort. Holistic comfort, a well-known concept in patient care, offers an innovative approach to nursing education to sustain new nurses transitioning into practice. This phenomenological study explored how nurses who experienced holistic comfort in their schooling were able to use the same philosophical approach to transcend unavoidable difficulties early in their careers.

Newly practicing nurses from a program …

Job Satisfaction Comparison Between Foreign Educated Nurses And U.S. Educated Nurses, Kari Zizzo

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The current nursing shortage has impacted the profession and resulted in desperate recruitment of immigrant nurses to work in the U.S. Low job satisfaction is a factor implicated for the high nurse turnover rates, which contributes to further shortages and recruitment. Satisfaction amongst all nurses has been assessed in past research to address these issues; however no research per se has compared job satisfaction of nurses who obtained their nursing education in the U.S. to nurses who obtained education in other countries. It was the purpose of this study to compare these groups to identify any differences in job satisfaction. …

Filipino Physician-Turned Nurses: A Phenomenological Study, Victor Rey Cui Vapor

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Foreign nurses have augmented the United States nursing workforce. The Philippines has remained the world's leading exporter of nurses, including the United States. More recently, a new phenomenon has emerged involving Filipino physicians who went back to school to take up nursing in the Philippines in order to migrate to foreign countries to work as nurses. The purpose of this study was to describe and to interpret the lived experiences of Filipino physician-turned nurses in the United States. Phenomenology was used as research design, with data obtained from a purposive sample of eight (8) self-identified physician-turned nurses in Las Vegas, …

Premenstrual Symptoms And Academic Stress In Emerging Adulthood Women, Pam Hulstein

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Premenstrual symptoms are a universal event during a woman’s reproductive life but little is known about the experience of emerging adulthood women aged 18-25 years. The purpose of this study was to determine feasibility of daily symptom data collection via an electronic diary and to examine the relationship between premenstrual symptom perception, severity and distress with academic stress. This sample consisted of 50 women with a mean age of 20(±.9) years living in campus housing of a private undergraduate rural college. Results determined it is feasible to utilize an electronic diary for daily prospective symptom and academic demand data collection. …

Successfully Incorporating Writing Across The Curriculum With Advanced Writing In Nursing, Karlen E. Luthy, Neil E. Peterson, Jane H. Lassetter, Lynn C. Callister

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this article is to explain the concepts of Writing Across the Curriculum, Writing in the Disciplines, and Writing to Learn, and to describe the incorporation of advanced writing into a baccalaureate nursing program and provide suggestions for accessing resources and promoting success. The goals of incorporating Writing Across the Curriculum, Writing in the Disciplines, and Writing to Learn concepts into nursing curriculum are to assist nursing students to achieve competence in clinically relevant writing assignments; to demonstrate critical thinking and communication skills, both oral and written; to execute useful literature searches; to read and understand research reports; …

Nps' Perceptions Of Disaster Preparedness Education: Quantitative Survey Research, Milada Tichy, A. Elaine Bond, Renea L. Beckstrand, Barbara Heise

Faculty Publications

Nurse practitioners need to be effective in responding to large-scale natural and man-made disasters. However, disaster core competencies for NPs are largely nonexistent. The purpose of this study was to assess NPs' level of disaster preparedness and determine how NPs acquired knowledge about disaster preparation. Findings suggest that a consistent national NP curriculum for disaster preparedness, including communication with other disaster agencies, is needed. With proper education, NPs can play a major role in disaster management.

Parental Hesitation As A Factor In Delayed Childhood Immunization, Karlen E. (Beth) Luthy, Renea L. Beckstrand, Neil E. Peterson

Faculty Publications

Introduction: One reason for lower immunization rates is that some parents hesitate to have their children immunized. A hesitancy questionnaire was developed to identify reasons parents hesitate in having their children immunized.

Methods: The hesitancy questionnaire was distributed from local pediatric and family practice offices and from the area's county health department. To be eligible, participants needed to be present in the clinic with a child needing a minimum of one immunization that was at least 6 months overdue.

Results: When questioned why their child was overdue for immunizations, the most common response was that participants were confused about the …

Designing An International Friendship Model For Children, Charlotte Martins

Theses and Graduate Projects

In 2006 this writer traveled to Windhoek, Namibia to take the course Walking the Truth; Culture, Gender and HIV/AID,S in Sub-Saharan Africa. As part of that class each student was assigned to work with an organization or individual whose mission was working with HIV/AIDS patients or there families. It was from this experience that the project was born. The purpose of this project is to design a friendship model that links children of middle school age from different cultures and different nations together through letter writing.

Firearms And Children: A Public Health Issue, Janet M. Benz

Theses and Graduate Projects

This is the time for nurses as individuals and collectively as a profession to realize their obligation to society in regards to the injury and death caused by firearms. Not one population or single community is immune from gun violence in America; it is an epidemic that does not discriminate. There are monumental implications for both nurses in practice and leadership to make a difference when it comes to changing policy from a public health perspective to reduce gun violence and save lives. In this project, Margaret Newman's (1994) theory of Health as Expanding consciousness is applied to the role …

Supporting Charge Nurses In Their Leadership Development: A Framework For Education, Sonja Rivers

Theses and Graduate Projects

This project examines the complex and multifaceted role of the charge nurse in the acute care setting and compares the charge nurse's role to that of a front line leader. Charge nurse competencies are identified and leadership skills and behaviors necessary for the charge nurse to function effectively in the role are explored including those related to emotional intelligence. A conceptual framework for education is developed using Botatzis' Theory of Self-Directed Learning, and Swanson's middle range theory of caring, Nursing as Informed Caring for the Well-Being of others.

Achieving Cultural Competence Through The Use Of Community Health Workers: Open Cities Health Center's Approach, Dorii Gbolo

Theses and Graduate Projects

The purpose of this project is to identify objectives necessary for incorporating a Community Health Worker (CHW) program within an urban Federally Qualified Community Clinic setting, for the purpose of enhancing the culturally specific care provided by the clinic. CHWs offer our current fragmented and complex health care system an opportunity to improve the health of underserved populations in our country. The use of CHWs dates back to the 1960's as an attempt to expand health care to the underserved residing in poor communities.

If one is poor, an immigrant, or just different from the norms of our society receiving …

How One's Cultural View Of Obesity Affects Care Giving, Marietta Kramper Farris

Theses and Graduate Projects

As the United States faces the challenge of obesity it is important to understand the cultural aspects of caring for these patients. Leininger's Transcultural Nursing Theory is used as a framework for the development of an educational program for health care professionals. The obese patients receiving care should be able to count on their care givers to appreciate the biases, stigmatization and discrimination of the culture in which they live. A review of the history of cultural views of obesity and thinness is used as a starting point. An in-depth review of related research is presented to detail bias, stigmatization, …

Supporting Lactation: Beyond Nutrition, Desiree' M. Bertilrud

Theses and Graduate Projects

Breastfeeding provides nutritional, health, immunological, psychological, economical and environmental benefits. Despite the abundance of scientific evidence and public health campaigns, the United States fails to meet national goals for breast feeding rates. Numerous barriers to lactation are identified and explored. However, by far, returning to work has the greatest impact on the duration of breastfeeding. Employers and organizations who support breastfeeding are the recipients of a multitude of benefits. The purpose of this project is to identify the strategic steps to establish a lactation room in an outpatient clinic setting for employees to support maternal-child relationships, foster employee satisfaction, and …

Knowledge Of Pain Management In Older Adults As A Content Area For Continuing Professional Education For Licensed Nurses, Wanda Cleveland Dubuisson

Dissertations

The research of the last 30 years has revealed the inadequacy of pain management in the older adult. Although evidenced-based clinical practice guidelines exist to direct the management of pain in the older adult, health care providers are either unaware or lack the proper understanding of the guidelines. This study investigated the differences in knowledge of pain management in older adults when examining licensed acute care nurses and extended care nurses. It sampled 118 acute care nurses working in two hospitals in Mississippi and 78 extended care nurses working in six extended care facilities (ECF) in Mississippi.

Based upon the …

Emergency Department Nurses' Experience Relating To Hospital Acquisition: A Phenomenological Study, Bernadette Deprez

Graduate Research Projects

No abstract provided.

The Relationships Among Adaptive Behaviors Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Their Family Support Networks, Parental Stress, And Parental Coping, Heather Roberts Hall

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the adaptive behaviors of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), their family support networks, parental stress, and parental coping and the relationships among these variables.

Background: Autism is the fastest growing diagnosed developmental disorder. When parents receive a diagnosis of autism for their child, mothers and fathers are affected differently. The costs to families of children with autism are personal, social, and affect family finances and day to day living. Parents of a child with autism are at high risk for increased stress levels. The child’s socially unacceptable behaviors and communication …

An Educational Initiative To Promote Evidence-Based Practice, Laurel Ann Ecoff Phd, Ms, Rn, Nea-Bc

Dissertations

Evidence-based practice (EBP), recognized as essential in providing quality patient care and achieving optimal outcomes, is the integration of the best research evidence, patient preference, and clinician expertise. Healthcare providers must attain expertise in integrating EBP into the clinical setting. Fellowships are one strategy reported in the literature to assist nurses in acquiring needed knowledge and skills for evidence-based care. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an educational intervention, the Evidence-Based Practice Institute (EPBI), to teach nurses the process of EBP for project implementation to improve nursing and patient outcomes. This descriptive study used a …

The Influence Of Religiosity, Gender, And Language Preference Acculturation On Sexual Activity Among Latino/A Adolescents, Lisa M. Edwards, Richard J. Fehring, Keyona M. Jarrett, Kristin Haglund

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

The purpose of this study was to determine the main and interactive effects of religiosity, gender, and language preference acculturation on sexual activity among 570 Latino/a adolescents from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth. Results indicated that adolescents who viewed religion as very important, had frequent church attendance, and had more traditional attitudes on sexuality were less likely ever to have sex compared with adolescents who were less religious. Those with frequent church attendance and high traditional attitudes had fewer lifetime and recent sex partners. Unassimilated religious youth were less likely ever to have sex, had fewer lifetime and …

Coping Difficulties After Hospitalization, Judith Fitzgerald Miller, Linda Piacentine, Marianne E. Weiss

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Coping difficulties of 113 adults 3 weeks after hospital discharge were identified using the Post-Discharge Coping Difficulty Scale and a brief focused telephone interview (11-item guide). Overall, low difficulty scores were reported (M = 23.9, SD = 18.2, range = 0 to 100). Qualitative data reveal specific coping difficulties in the categories of stressors, specific difficulties, caring for self, managing the condition, family, advice needed, contact with the health care system, and what they wished they knew before discharge. A core theme of biographical reconstruction emerged.

The Sweat Lodge Ceremony As Experienced By Nurses A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study, Patricia L. Engstrom

Theses and Graduate Projects

Nursing must reconnect with its roots found in the teachings of Florence Nightingale and be open to ancient indigenous wisdom, focusing on caring, healing and being present. To practice as culturally competent healers, nurses must grow in self awareness and an ability to understand cultural and spiritual practices, as well as communicate with and show respect to people from all walks of life. A Hermeneutic Phenomenological study was done by interviewing three participants to explore what it was like for Master in Arts nursing students participating in an Augsburg College Department of Nursing Immersion to experience a Sweat Lodge Ceremony; …

Exploring A Model Of Transcultural Nursing Practice That Promotes Cultural Care Preservation/Maintenance, Margaret Sormana

Theses and Graduate Projects

Migration is increasing due to instability in most parts of the world. Immigrants are faced with the choice to either maintain their unique cultural heritage or adopt the culture of the host country. Most immigrants desire to maintain their cultural heritage which requires balancing the values of their cultural heritage with those of the host country. Balancing includes silence which can reinforce self-blame when the values are in conflict. This project sought to break these patterns by engaging a group of Somali women in creative artistic activities. Based on Leininger's model of Cultural Care Diversity and Universality (1985), Watson's Human …