Digital Commons Network^™

Simulated Presence Use For Quality Of Life Maintenance And Reduction Of Symptoms Of Distress In Persons Living With Dementia In Long-Term Care, Erin E. Bush

Dissertations

Nursing home residents with dementia often have an array of neuropsychiatric symptoms, including dementia-related agitation. It is theorized that many of these agitation symptoms occur due to unmet psychosocial needs that could be met by the presence of a caring nursing staff member, family member, or friend.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether live simulated presence improves dementia-related agitation when offered, identify barriers and facilitators to simulated presence between caregivers and residents of long-term care during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to determine if live simulated presence by a caregiver delivered one-on-one improved quality of life in long-term …

New Nurses' Experiences In The Lateral Violence Zone: A Grounded Theory, Mary Lillian Hanks

Dissertations

The impact of lateral violence on nurses and the nursing profession contribute to the nursing shortage and has negative effects on patient care (Vessey, DeMarco, Gaffney, & Budin, 2009). According to the Center for American Nurses (CENTER, 2008), lateral violence and bullying are an everyday occurrence among health care professionals. Nurses must gain real world experiences to deliver quality, safe, and effective patient care (Benner, Surphen, Leonard, & Day, 2010). Unfortunately, there are experienced nurses who are unable or unwilling to help novice nurses transition into their new role. Impaired relationships among nurses can lead to absenteeism, medical errors, and …

Effects Of A Reminiscence Learning Experience On Registered Nurses' Attitudes Toward And Empathy With Older Adults, William J. Puentes

Dissertations

Negative attitudes toward older adults are endemic to the nursing profession, as well as society in general. With older adults accounting for an ever increasing proportion of health care services, it is imperative that nurse educators develop continuing education activities that have a positive impact on registered nurses' attitudes toward older adults. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of participation in a reminiscence learning experience (RLE) on registered nurses' attitudes toward and empathy with older adults.

To Lift Or Not To Lift: An Institutional Ethnography Of Patient Handling Practices, Hans-Peter De Ruiter

Dissertations

The handling (lifting, mobilizing, moving etc) of patients is an integral part of the carework in health-care institutions. For obvious reasons, this puts healthcare providers at risk for musculoskeletal injuries (MSIs); furthermore the risk of such injuries has been considered an inherent risk of care work. In the last decade a concerted effort has been made to decrease (with the goal of eliminating) caregiver injuries by implementing safe patient handling programs (SPHP). These programs are presented as evidence-based algorithms that require the use of mechanical lifting devices. Institutions implement SPHPs as policies and procedural guidelines to which caregivers must conform. …

Quality Of Life Among Children With Physical Disabilities, Sharron E. Guillett

Dissertations

A triangulated descriptive research design was used to examine the relationships between quality of life (QOL), health status and physical disability among children between the ages of 8 and 15. A non-random sample (N = 80) of children with and without physical disabilities and their parents participated in this exploratory study. Children were asked to rank their quality of life from one to ten using a modified version of the Child Health Assessment Ladder (CHASL) (Norton, 1987) and then to discuss the rank they chose. QOL scores did not differ significantly between groups (M = 7 for both groups). Thirty …

Emotional Intelligence, Motivation, And Retention Among Undergraduate Students Attending Associate-Degree Nursing Programs In Illinois, Patricia L. Pence

Dissertations

The purpose of the quantitative, descriptive non-experimental study was to determine what the relationship is between emotional intelligence (EI), motivation, demographic variables, and nursing student retention. The research also tested the Nursing Undergraduate Retention and Success (NURS) model by examining demographic variables and academic motivation of nursing students. The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) and the Assessing Emotions Scale (AES) garnered data from 390 first-year undergraduate students attending nine associate degree-nursing (ADN) schools in Illinois. Regression analysis suggested statistically significant differences in the mean scores for the test anxiety and control of learning beliefs MSLQ subscales with retention at …

Evaluating The Impact Of A Mindfulness Intervention On Mindful Attention And Awareness Resilience To Stress, And Perceived Stress In Newly Licensed Nurses In A Nurse Residency Program, Vicki L. Washington

Dissertations

A career in the healthcare profession of nursing provokes significant stress in newly licensed nurses. Previous studies suggested that mindful practice enhanced well-being by bringing awareness to thinking and living in the present moment (being mindful), decreased stress, and enhanced resilience to stress.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of a mindfulness intervention on mindful attention and awareness, resilience to stress, perceived stress, and health status in newly licensed nurses in a nurse residency program (NRP).

Reducing Social Isolation In The Elderly: Development Of An Algorithm For Determining Interventions, Sara W. Merkle, Julie Brown Nix

Group: Samford University Moffett & Sanders School of Nursing

The purpose of this doctor of nursing practice (DNP) project was to develop evidence-based algorithms to guide a faith-based community in assessing areas of social isolation and the implementation of a program to guide interventions in order to decrease the level of social isolation in the elderly population.

Pilot Testing Okay With Asthma™: A Digital Story For Psychosocial Asthma Management, Tami Hodges Wyatt

Dissertations

Asthma, an obstructive airway disease characterized by recurrent episodes of breathlessness and wheezing, is the most prevalent chronic illness among children in the United States. An estimated 7.7 million American children have asthma. Health experts suggest that cognitive, emotional, and behavioral variables contribute to its severity. To date, asthma education programs have focused on asthma triggers, behaviors to manage asthma, and asthma medications; however, they have not addressed the emotional component of children's experience with asthma. This is important because the way children feel about their asthma, or their attitude, affects what they learn and how they apply it. The …

Parental Perceptions Of Family Management Styles In Families With A Child With Asthma, Annette Hines

Dissertations

Asthma is the most common chronic illness among children in the United States, and families who have a child with asthma face daily challenges to maintaining a normal family life. A descriptive, cross-sectional study was performed that studied four risk factors and four protective factors derived from the literature that impact these families, in order to better understand how nurses can meet the health care needs of the children with asthma and their families. Knafl's (1990, 1996) family management styles framework was applied as the theoretical framework of the study, and the concept of normalization was measured using the Family …

Factors Affecting The Outcome Of The National Council Licensure Examination Among Nontraditional Learners From Associate Degree Nursing Programs, Angela C. Gaud

Dissertations

The composition of student population in higher education is a reflection of a globalized society and current socioeconomic conditions. Characteristics of nontraditional adult learners have a significant impact in the achievement of their academic goals. A more diverse composition of students enrolled in nursing programs poses an important challenge to NCLEX-RN pass/fail outcomes. Studies that explore or predict the factors associated with NCLEX-RN performance amongst nontraditional adult learners after graduation are limited.

This study analyzed how the demographic, social, and psychological factors observed in the characteristic profile of the nontraditional adult learner are related to NCLEX-RN performance for graduates of …

Team Learning Within Nurse Teams In A Home Care Organization, Carol A. Gavan

Dissertations

The purpose of this interpretive case study was to determine whether the team learning model (Dechant, Marsick, & Kasl, 1991), which served as a framework, aptly described team learning as it took place among professional service teams in a home health care environment. The learning effectiveness of two teams, of 12 and 14 home care nurses respectively plus their managers and administrators, was described using observations, document analysis, interviews, a literature review, and the Team Learning Survey (Dechant & Marsick, 1993) to gather data.

It Is Always The Monkey On My Back: The Diagnosis Of Cirrhosis, Mary Tiberg

Dissertations

A significant current challenge in health care today is meeting the needs of a population that has chronic disease, especially for those that have a health condition with a life threatening long -term outcome (Falkenstern, et al., 2005). In these health illness transitions, when there are no secure expectations, there are the additional burdens of enduring emotional unease, facing the closing stages of physical stamina, and confronting an indeterminate future. The objective of this study was to explore and describe the experience of those individuals who have been diagnosed with cirrhosis, which marks the beginning of end stage liver disease …

Lived Experiences Of New Nurses With Lateral Violence And Their Decision To Remain In The Nursing Profession, Lorraine Ann Hover

Dissertations

The issue of lateral violence, or nurse-on-nurse violence, is a major factor in why new nurses leave the nursing profession within the first two years of professional practice. There is considerable research into mitigating factors, why nurses leave, and programs to address lateral violence, however, little to no research has been conducted on why nurses choose to remain in the profession despite their experiences. This lack of research necessitates the need for further study into the lived experiences of new nurses with lateral violence and their decision to remain in the profession. This qualitative descriptive phenomenological study helps to address …

The Experience Of Being Aware Of Disease Status In Women With Recurrent Ovarian Cancer: A Phenomenological Study, Catherine Scott Finlayson

Dissertations

In the United States, each year about 22,440 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer, the deadliest gynecological cancer - with an estimated 14,080 deaths each year. Patients with recurrent ovarian cancer have more options today due to advances in treatments, and specifically, with the advent of immunotherapies. Many have to make many treatment decisions throughout the disease trajectory and awareness of disease status is one of the factors of the treatment decision making process in the ovarian cancer population. To date the literature has generally conceptualized and operationalized awareness of disease status in cancer patients from the health care provider's …

The Effects Of Swamping On Nurses And The Implications For Professional Development, Barbara Ann Hocking

Dissertations

Nursing is a profession that is essential to the successful functioning of the health care system. The problems that compromise essential nursing practice within the work environment result in a costly health care quality crisis with three detrimental outcomes: (1) medical errors, (2) fragmentation of the care continuum, and (3) inefficiencies in health care processes.

This study aimed to investigate, through interviews and researcher observations, how nurses are affected by their environment in order to inform a plan for professional development.

Nurse And Patient Perceptions Of The Pre-Admission Nursing Practice Model: Linking Theory To Practice, Jane M. Flanagan

Dissertations

The Pre-Admission Nursing Practice Model (PNPM) was developed to change the delivery of nursing care to patients preparing for surgery. The generation of the PNPM was guided by nursing knowledge, specifically Rogerian science, Newman's Health as Expanding Consciousness and Watson' theory of Transpersonal Caring. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the model on patient and nurse perceptions and experiences following exposure to the PNPM across the perioperative period.

Implementation Of An Opiate Use Disorder (Oud) Screening Tool To Reduce Opioid Abuse In A Pain Management Clinic, Brian D. Pervis

Dissertations

The long-term use of opioids to manage chronic pain in those with an opiate use disorder (OUD) is dangerous and poses a considerable risk of death. Pain management providers must have protocols and tools in place for OUD screening and referral. If OUD is not managed correctly, such as through provider education, screening, and referral, morbidity and mortality rates will severely affect society (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020). This quality improvement (QI) project's PICOT was among providers in a pain management treatment center, how will implementing an evidence-based OUD screening tool, compared to no screening tool, affect OUD …

Vigilance Experiences: Cancer Patients, Families, And Nurses, Wendy C. Kooken

Dissertations

Cancer disease, treatment, and errors in health care put patients at increased risk for poor outcomes. To improve outcomes and protect patients, researchers recommend increased vigilance; yet, research on vigilance in health care is minimal. There are even fewer studies on patients, family members, and nurses' experiences of vigilance, although such studies could contribute to understanding mechanisms that foster vigilance within and across groups.

The purpose of this study was twofold: Aim 1 was to describe the experiences of vigilance as perceived at the individual levels of patients receiving treatment for cancer, family members of a patient with cancer, and …

Travel Nurse Job Performance: Integration Factors As Predictors, And Travel Nurse Integration Experiences, Carol Ann Tuttas

Dissertations

For more than three decades, travel nurses have bridged critical experience and volume gaps in hospital staffing across the US. Trends in travel nurse use over the past decade offer no promise of a reduction over the years ahead. Travel nurses begin each 13-week assignment with an abbreviated onboarding agenda after which they are expected to reach productivity and fit in with the healthcare team to ensure seamless quality care to patients. Concerns have been raised among healthcare leaders about possible unfavorable patient outcomes related to the use of supplemental nurse staff. Nonetheless, no researchers have examined relationships between job …

Behavioral Interventions To Decrease Disparity Among African American Women With Hypertension, Angela D. Hamby

Group: Samford University Moffett & Sanders School of Nursing

The purpose of the project is to use a community-based approach to deliver evidence-based behavioral intervention strategies framed by the Theory of Planned Behavior to help increase awareness of hypertension among African American women.

"All For The Family:" A Case Study On The Migration Of Philippine Educated Nurses To Ontario Through The Live-In Caregiver Program, Oluwabukola Oladunni Salami

Dissertations

Despite evidence that suggests that nurses migrate to Ontario through the Live-in Caregiver Program, no research has been conducted on this group of nurses in Ontario. This study addresses that gap utilizing the transnational feminist concept of "global care chains" in a single holistic case study design to explore the experience of nurses who migrate to Ontario through the Live-in Caregiver Program (2001-2011), and examine the diverse perspectives of stakeholders on issues of rights and obligations of these nurses. Fifteen live-in caregivers and nine policy stakeholders were interviewed, and an analysis undertaken of immigration and nursing policy documents. Findings indicate …

Latinas In The Pipeline To Baccalaureate-Prepared Nursing: Challenges And Supports In Persistence To Degree And Professional Licensure, Cheryl A. Sheils

Dissertations

The United States is rapidly becoming a more racially diverse nation. Racial minority groups are projected to make up 47% of the total population in 2050 and if current population trends continue, they are projected to surpass the non-minority population by the end of the twenty-first century. Furthermore, the Latino population, already the nation's largest minority group, is expected to triple in size and is projected to account for 29% of the total U.S. population by 2050. Unfortunately, the educational pipeline has created a shortage of Latinos in higher education. At the same time, the United States is suffering from …

Community College Nursing Students' Experience Of Repeating A Course After Academic Failure, Lisa S. Lewis

Dissertations

This narrative inquiry study looked at community college nursing student repeaters, those who have failed a required nursing course and then gone on to repeat the course. Nursing student repeaters are a population at especially high risk for attrition, and about whom little is known. The community college setting is an important site of nursing education, where approximately half of new nurses do their pre-licensure schooling and where attrition is a particular problem. Fourteen nursing student repeaters were interviewed and eleven of them provided a letter of advice to a future nursing student repeater. While each participant had a unique …

Utilization Of Evidence-Based Telehealth For Routine Follow-Up Visits In A Va Outpatient Clinic, Alysha M. Degrove, Glynnis M. Winfree

DNP and Student Works

Telehealth is a growing alternate/adjunctive setting for health care delivery and with its rapid growth it is important to make sure telehealth is not only convenient but is meeting the needs of the patients. The question PICOT presented is: in geriatric patients (P), what is the effect of telehealth (I) compared to face-to-face clinic visits (C) on efficacy and satisfaction in patient care (O)? Based on the available research, there is a moderate to high level of evidence to support the use of telemedicine in the primary care setting and can be especially useful in settings where there is an …

Evidence-Based Educational In Home Program To Improve Self-Management Adherence And A1c Levels For Patients With Diabetes, Garrett Blaker

Dissertations

Background: Diabetes diagnosis rates continue to grow, affecting many patients, communities, and health care organizations. One of the greatest challenges faced by patients with diabetes is maintaining diabetes self-management activities including self-blood glucose monitoring, physical activity, a healthy diet, and daily foot checks in order to control their diabetes and reduce their A1c. Diabetic Medical Concepts (DMC) previously provided intermittent and inconsistent in-home diabetes self-management education. An in-home diabetes self-management education program, adherence system and A1c testing component was implemented among DMC's patients as part of a quality improvement project.

Aim: The aim of the quality improvement project was to …

Testing Peplau's Theory Of Interpersonal Relations In Nursing Using Data From Patient Experience Surveys, Thomas A. Hagerty

Dissertations

Patients' experiences in hospitals are important indicators of quality. Patients' opinions about their experiences in hospitals are significantly associated with their opinions of those hospitals' nursing services. Nurses in the US have traditionally focused on patients' experiences, and Peplau's (1952/1991) theory of interpersonal relations is early evidence of that focus. This study tested Peplau's (1952/1991) theory of interpersonal relations in nursing using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on data from 12,436 patient experience surveys. Two hypotheses were supported: (a) patient experience data (i.e. responses on the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems - Hospital [HCAHPS] survey) collected from patients in …

Organizational Context, Shared Governance Structure, And Outcomes In Veterans Affairs Hospitals, Bonnie J. Charland

Dissertations

For decades nurse executives have implemented shared governance structures as a nursing management innovation to transform the nursing organization from a bureaucratic hierarchy to a more organic, relational partnership. However, there is little generalizable evaluation of the effects of shared governance on nurse and patient outcomes. The purpose of this study is to examine organizational context and quality outcomes in relation to shared governance structures at VA hospitals. Structural contingency theory guided this ex post facto descriptive correlational study of the relationships between organizational context, nursing shared governance, and outcomes in VA hospitals in the United States.

Exploratory Study Of Nursing Leadership: An Inquiry Of Leadership Attributes Of Nurse Managers In Acute Care Hospitals And The Professional Practice Environment, Janet Henriksen

Dissertations

This study explored the perceived leadership attributes of nurse managers who enable the creation of positive professional practice environments for registered nurses in acute care hospitals. A general qualitative approach was used to explore the perceptions of ten acute care registered nurses using a three-interview method of inquiry. Three major categories emerged from the data analysis: nurse manager attributes, positive professional practice environment characteristics, and nurse retention, recruitment and job satisfaction. Eight themes emerged in the nurse manager attributes category: expert, mentor, participant, communicator/listener, problem-solver/critical thinker, supporter, arbitrator, and advocate. Seven themes emerged in the characteristics of a positive professional …

A Comparison Of Evaluation Methods Of Intravenous Catheter Insertion Skills In Third-Term Associate Degree Nursing Students, Dara Jones Murray

Dissertations

Nursing programs are responsible for ensuring student nurses are competent in performing psychomotor skills before clinical experience to ensure patient safety. Traditional, face-to-face methods of evaluating skills are time-consuming for nursing faculty. However, online video recording tools provide a potential solution to provide a quality evaluation while creating a more efficient process. The purpose of this study was to compare faculty work hours, the number of student errors identified by the faculty, and the number of students achieving a passing score when using an online video recording tool versus the traditional face-to-face approach in the evaluation of peripheral intravenous catheter …