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The Challenges And Blessings Of Missionary Nursing In Africa, Jordan E. Woosley

Senior Honors Theses

Nursing is a popular career choice in the twenty-first century, and there are many opportunities within the profession to serve. An American nurse has the ability to utilize nursing skills in Africa and share knowledge with the locals. The American nurse may face challenges when adapting to the African culture and healthcare but also may be blessed by the work and ministering to the people. The American nurse faces specific challenges such as educational differences, lack of facilities and equipment, unique diseases, and poor sanitation. In spite of these challenges, the American missionary nurse is able to grow through this …

Nutrition Intervention To Decrease Symptoms In Patients With Advanced Heart Failure, Terry A. Lennie, Debra K. Moser, Martha J. Biddle, Darlene Welsh, Geza G. Bruckner, D. Travis Thomas, Mary Kay Rayens, Alison L. Bailey

Nursing Faculty Publications

For a majority of patients with advanced heart failure, there is a need for complementary, non-pharmacologic interventions that could be easily implemented by health care providers to provide palliative care. Three major pathologic pathways underlying heart failure symptoms have been identified: fluid overload, inflammation, and oxidative stress. Prior research has demonstrated that three nutrients-sodium, omega-3 fatty acids, and lycopene-can alter these pathologic pathways. Therefore, the purposes of this study are to test the effects of a 6-month nutrition intervention of dietary sodium reduction combined with supplementation of lycopene and omega-3 fatty acids on heart failure symptoms, health-related quality of life, …

A Retrospective Review Of Sliding Scale Vs. Basal/Bolus Insulin Protocols, Heidi L. Rymaszewski, Susan Breakwell

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose

The purpose was to assess the differences between subcutaneous basal/bolus and sliding scale insulin protocols in patients admitted with type 2 diabetes on non-critical care units.

Methods

A retrospective review of electronic medical records was conducted on a convenience sample of inpatients in a central-city teaching hospital.

Results

The findings were that basal/bolus protocols achieved American Diabetes Association glycemic targets on fasting, mean, and discharge blood glucoses.

Conclusions

This study provided insight into glycemic control and interdisciplinary education needs at this hospital. Evidence revealed that basal/bolus insulin protocols can achieve glycemic targets.

The Relationship Between Intergenerational Solidarity And Medication Adherence In Community Dwelling Elders, Connie Rutan Kartoz

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Breast Cancer In Women Ages 18-35, Awareness, Risk Factors, Research, And Prevention: Are We Getting The Message Across?, Stephanie Sutton

Graduate Research Projects

No abstract provided.

Establishment Of A Comprehensive Network-Wide Pressure Ulcer Assessment Process: Enhancing Patient Care While Embracing The New Centers For Medicare And Medicaid Services Standards, Carolyn L. Davidson Rn, Phd, Courtney Vose Rn, Msn, Mba, Aprn

Patient Care Services / Nursing

No abstract provided.

Tissue Metabolic Responses To Salt Stress In Wild And Cultivated Barley, Dezhi Wu, Shengguan Cai, Mingxian Chen, Lingzhen Ye, Zhonghua Chen, Haitao Zhang, Fei Dai, Feibo Wu, Guoping Zhang

Publications

A thorough understanding of the mechanisms underlying barley salt tolerance and exploitation of elite genetic resource are essential for utilizing wild barley germplasm in developing barley varieties with salt tolerance. In order to reveal the physiological and molecular difference in salt tolerance between Tibetan wild barley (Hordeum spontaneum) and cultivated barley (Hordeum vulgare), profiles of 82 key metabolites were studies in wild and cultivated barley in response to salinity. According to shoot dry biomass under salt stress, XZ16 is a fast growing and salt tolerant wild barley. The results of metabolite profiling analysis suggested osmotic adjustment was a basic mechanism, …

Patient Education And Coumadin (Warfarin) Therapy: Readmission Rates Pre/Post Coumadin Team Initiation, Rebecca L. Barber

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

As a response to the 2011 National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG), a Coumadin Team, consisting of a Physician Chair, Pharmacists, and Registered Nurses, was formed at Mission Health System to focus on International Normalized Ratio (INR) testing, Coumadin dosing, and patient education. The goal of this team has been to identify and eliminate barriers that prevent the stabilization of INRs within the prescribed goal range, and to ensure that all patients receive education about Coumadin therapy in order to prevent harm and reduce readmission rates related to Coumadin therapy. The purpose of this study is to compare readmission rates within …

Nursing Annual Report 2011-2012, Children's Mercy Hospital

Nursing Annual Reports

Annual report for nursing services at Children's Mercy Kansas City.

Recruiting For Epigenetic Research: Facilitating The Informed Consent Process, Nancy Jallo, Debra E. Lyon, Patricia Anne Kinser, Debra Lynch Kelly, Victoria Menzies, Colleen Jackson-Cook

School of Nursing Publications

Because the effects of epigenetic (gene-environment interaction) changes have been associated with numerous adverse health states, the study of epigenetic measures provides exciting research opportunities for biobehavioral scientists. However, recruitment for studies focusing on any aspect of genetics poses challenges. Multiple factors, including lack of knowledge regarding a research study, have been identified as barriers to recruitment. Strengthening the informed consent process through extended discussion has been found to be effective in recruiting for research studies in general, yet there is a paucity of information that focused on such a recruitment strategy for epigenetic studies. In this paper, we share …

Epigenetic Alterations And An Increased Frequency Of Micronuclei In Women With Fibromyalgia, Victoria Menzies, Debra E. Lyon, Kellie J. Archer, Kimberly Jones, Guimin Gao, Timothy P. York, Colleen Jackson-Cook

School of Nursing Publications

Fibromyalgia (FM), characterized by chronic widespread pain, fatigue, and cognitive/mood disturbances, leads to reduced workplace productivity and increased healthcare expenses. To determine if acquired epigenetic/genetic changes are associated with FM, we compared the frequency of spontaneously occurring micronuclei (MN) and genome-wide methylation patterns in women with FM () to those seen in comparably aged healthy controls ( (MN); (methylation)). The mean (sd) MN frequency of women with FM (51.4 (21.9)) was significantly higher than that of controls (15.8 (8.5)) (; df = 1; ). Significant differences ( sites) in methylation patterns were observed between cases and controls considering a 5% …

The Effect Of Diabetes Education On Self-Efficacy And Readmission Rates Of Diabetic Patients, Angela M. Rasheed

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a diabetes education program on self-efficacy and readmission rates of diabetic patients. All participants were recruited based on their current enrollment with one of the largest primary care physician's practices in the Southeastern United States. Qualifying criteria included the diagnosis of being either diabetic type I or II and commitment to attend a five-week diabetes educational workshop. Participants were given the Diabetes Self-Efficacy Survey at the initial start of the diabetes educational program and also at the end of the five-week workshop to evaluate the effectiveness of the diabetes …

Self-Directed Online Learning Verses Role Play: Educating Students Nursing About The Physician Orders For Life-Sustaining Treatment Document, Brenda Lee Everly

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of online self-directed learning (SDL) and role simulation in undergraduate baccalaureate nursing students learning about the "Physicians Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment" (POLST) document.

Ua61/1 Health & Human Services Nursing & Allied Health, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Publications by and about the School of Nursing.

A Practical Solution To The Challenges Of Rehabilitation Nursing Documentation, Ann Summar, Joyce Belanger, Melissa Vee

Nursing Posters

To evaluate and improve the daily progress note template in rehabilitation nursing documentation.

Overweight, Obesity, And Neighborhood Characteristics Among Postpartum Latinas, Colleen Keller, Michael Todd, Barbara Ainsworth, Kathryn Records, Sonia Vega-Lopez, Paska Permana, Dean Coonrod, Allison Williams

Nursing Faculty Works

Background. Weight gain during the childbearing years and failure to lose pregnancy weight after birth contribute to the development of obesity in Latinas. Design and Methods. Madres para la Salud (Mothers for Health) is a 12-month prospective, randomized controlled trial exploring a social support intervention with moderate-intensity physical activity to effect changes in body fat, systemic and fat tissue inflammation, and depression symptoms in sedentary postpartum Latinas. This paper describes the initial body composition of the sample, social support, and neighborhood contextual correlations of overweight and obese Latina mothers within the first 6 months after birth. Results. The mean body …

The Lived Experience Of Weight Retention Among Postpartum African American Adolescents, Thelma Mae Phillips

Wayne State University Dissertations

Background: Obesity presents a public health challenge and is a serious chronic medical condition, which is associated with multiple co-morbidities and reduced survivability/longevity (Davis, Stange, & Howitz, 2010). African American adolescents who retain weight after pregnancy are at the highest risk of becoming obese adults. Obesity is expected to cost the United States health care system over 237 million dollars (National Institutes of health, 2011) within the next decade.

The prevalence of obesity is cause for concern because of its costs to the economic base of the country and its toll in human suffering due to related morbidity and mortality. …

Sleep Homeodynamics And Wellbeing In Asymptomatic Hiv-Seropositive African American Women, Tabetha Lynn Gayton

Wayne State University Dissertations

SLEEP HOMEODYNAMICS AND WELLBEING IN ASYMPTOMATIC HIV–SEROPOSITIVE AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN

by

TABETHA LYNN GAYTON

December 2013

Advisor: Hossein N. Yarandi, PhD

Major: Nursing (Urban Health)

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

BACKGROUND: HIV–related sleep disruption is a common complaint of persons with HIV infection. With the demographical shifts, African American women have now emerged as one of the fastest growing HIV populations today, yet they remain a vulnerable and underrepresented population in the sleep literature.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this pilot study was to explore the dynamics of HIV–related sleep disruption and wellbeing in asymptomatic HIV–seropositive AA women of childbearing age within …

Weight Bias: Promoting Nurses' Awareness, Beverly A. Kaehler

Theses and Graduate Projects

Obesity is an epidemic in the United States. Health care providers, including nursing staff who specialize in obesity treatment are not immune to the prevalent negative perceptions of obesity in society. Literature has demonstrated how nurses' bias can affect the care they give the obese population. Education can help develop self-awareness and increased self-awareness can develop caring attitudes. An educational program, that used cognitive and affective domains, to increase nurses' sensitivity and caring attinrdes was developed and presented to the nurses on a general surgery nursing unit that specializes in bariatric surgery. The nurses found the education very helpful, but …

Quiet Please: Our Patients Are Healing!, Evie Pochardt

Theses and Graduate Projects

Patients are under a significant amount of stress during their hospitalization. Noise is an environmental stressor which is found at increasing levels in hospitals and is a primary annoyance for patients. This environmental pollutant can impair a patient's rest, sleep, and ultimately affect healing. Unwanted noise has been shown to cause sleep disturbance, impair wound healing, trigger hormones affecting the cardiovascular system, immune system, and metabolism as well as perception of pain. Intermittent noises such as those from infusion pumps, monitor alarms, and pagers are the most disturbing. Nightingale believed that unnecessary noise was harmful to the patient's healing; it …

Breast Milk For Preterm Infants: A Nursing Education Program, Lynn Root

Theses and Graduate Projects

The incidence and duration of breast milk feedings for preterm infants, via gavage, bottle and/or breast, is less than that of full-term infants despite scientific-based benefits of breast milk for preterm infants. Maternal-neonatal nurses play a critical role in supporting mothers of preterm infants and promoting breast milk for this population. However, when caring for the mother-preterm dyad, the maternal-neonatal nurse may encounter several barriers in the promotion of breast milk. It has been identified that one of the major barriers to the initiation and maintenance of lactation in mothers of preterm infants is the inconsistent information and lack of …

Community Gardening And The Somali Immigrant Community, Sarah Sanford

Theses and Graduate Projects

Obesity, diabetes, and hypertension are all common diagnoses within the Somali immigrant community in Minneapolis, Minnesota. There is an opportunity for collaboration between graduate nursing sfudents at Augsburg College, which is a small inner-city college, the Health Commons, which is a drop-in health center staffed by nurses, and community members in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood to address improvement in health, food choices, and socialization opporfunities for Somali immigrants. The purpose of this project is to develop relationships with Somali immigrant community members in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, Augsburg College graduate nursing students, University of Minnesota Extension Office dieticians and master gardeners, and …

Communication Metaphor Of Patient Prognosis In The Spirit Of Hope, Dory Hanks

Theses and Graduate Projects

Prognosis for terminally ill patients is intended to serve the purpose of educating patients on the expected clinical outcome of their illness. This information is generally communicated to a patient by their primary physician when options for fufiher treattnent or "cure" are limited. Learning a prognosis may be helpful to some patients, while burdensome to others. A review of the literature reveals many barriers to effective communication of prognosis. The purpose of this project is to develop a metaphor for enhanced communication of prognosis to be used by hospice nurses that incorporates a caring perspective on living with hope during …

Support Of The Informal Kinship Care Family, Emily J. Hansen

Theses and Graduate Projects

Most children cannot imagine living without their parents; for some though, because of social instability, substance abuse, or parental neglect, life apart from their parents is the reality. When these children are cared for by a relative or a close family friend without the involvement of a child welfare agency, the family that is created is known as an informal kinship care family. Because of the fluid nature of these families, little is known about them, leaving this group disadvantaged and neglected by the health care community. After a review of the existing literature, observation of informal kinship care families, …

Influenza Vaccination: An Educational Module For Health Care Workers, Lisa A. Hogan

Theses and Graduate Projects

The seasonal influenza virus continues to have a significant impact on the health of hundreds of thousands of individuals in the United States each year, despite the availability of a vaccine shown to be effective at reducing both illness and death. All Health Care Workers (HCWs) at a large Midwestern medical center must make a choice whether to receive the yearly influenza vaccine or not, and approximately 5,000 HCWs chose to decline the vaccine in 20l2. Reasons given for these declinations included fears about vaccine safety and effectiveness, as well as misperceptions about vaccine side effects and the intended recipients. …

Education And Opportuntty: Creating A Scholarship Program In Ecuador, Holly Hanson

Theses and Graduate Projects

Educating young women offers significant benefits to societies, including economic progress and improved health outcomes. Despite the benefit, many girls around the world lack access and opportunity to education. The Rochester, Minnesota 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Hands For Humanity, addresses this inequity through offering a college scholarship program for young Ecuadorian women living in Portoviejo, Manabi province, Ecuador. Hands For Humanity collaborates with Ecuadorian teachers and business leaders to select high-achieving students with a financial need. Currently there are six young women completing their college education with the help of the scholarship. Due to rising tuition costs and extended academic program …

Reviving The Dream: Giving Form To A Faith-Based Holistic Clinic At An Urban Lutheran Church, Kathy Leu

Theses and Graduate Projects

To be able to live full, productive lives, all people can benefit from having a consistent, unified team of health care providers who offer emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual support at one health care center. Historically, churches have been involved in health care, and the Christian faith has been integral in holistic healing. Today, the spiritual component of health is often missing in clinic settings. This project will lay the foundation for the establishment of a faith-based holistic clinic in a large charismatic urban Lutheran church. Utilizing Leininger's Culture Care Theory, the transcultural nurse, a key member of the holistic …

Feeding The Homeless Through Collaboration: A Proposal For Consideration, Valetta M. Johnson Massaquoi

Theses and Graduate Projects

The homeless are faced with many challenges of adverse nutritional deficiencies that predispose them to several illnesses commonly associated with the lack of adequate nutrition and the frequent utilizations of health care resources. Provision of nutritious food for the homeless can help decrease the prevalence of these identifiable markers and can be accomplished by u collaborative effort. The purpose of this project is to describe a collaboration between Regions Hospital and the Dorothy Day Center to provide supplemental nutrition for the homeless. Leininger's culture care diversity and universality theory along with culture care accommodation/negotiation are used as a theoretical framework …

Prevalence And Factors Associated With Maternal Postpartum Haemorrhage In Khyber Agency, Pakistan, N Gani, Tazeen S. Ali

School of Nursing & Midwifery

Background: Postpartum haemorrhage (PPH) is one of the main causes of maternal mortality globally. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of PPH and identify factors associated with PPH in Khyber Agency, Pakistan.
Methodology: A quantitative, cross-sectional study design was selected to estimate the prevalence and associated factors for PPH among married women aged 15–49 years, residing in the Khyber Agency, FATA, Pakistan. A pre-tested structured questionnaire was adapted with some modifications to interview 1,000 women.
Results: Prevalence of PPH was 21.3% in the study population. Factors associated with PPH were age, number of pregnancies, …

Nutrition Literacy And Demographic Variables As Predictors Of Adolescent Weight Status In A Florida County, Leslee D'Amato-Kubiet

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, childhood obesity has increased to epidemic proportions across the United States (U.S.) in parallel with adult obesity, which often reflects poor dietary choices and bad nutritional habits. Nutrition literacy, which encompasses the constructs of nutrition knowledge and skills, is considered a basic tool for good dietary habits and health promotion undertakings; however, its more definitive relationship to adolescent children’s weight status is unknown. Most childrens’ weight status studies have focused solely on behavioral aspects of adolescent food intake, taking into consideration parental influence, peer pressure, and societal expectations. Studies evaluating the measurement of nutrition literacy with regard …