Digital Commons Network^™

A Bedside Handoff Tool To Enhance Fall Safety Measures In The Emergency Department, Isha Adora Godbold

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Problem Statement: The Emergency Department (ED) is a fast-paced environment where the risk of communication failure enhances due to the variation in patient acuity, variety of shift options, and constant interruptions (White- Trevino & Dearmon, 2018). Ineffective communication can lead to increased adverse events, medical errors, and poorer patient health outcomes (Campbell & Dontje, 2019). Additionally, medical errors, such as falls, are more likely to occur during handoff when nurses change shifts (Campbell & Dontje, 2019). The most reoccurring medical error in the ED is patient falls.

Purpose: This quality improvement project aims to introduce a structured handoff rounding

tool, …

Impacting Nurse Job Satisfaction And Engagement Through Shared Governance, Meghan K. Douglas

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Problem: Shared governance (SG) has been identified as an effective process to promote shared decision-making between direct care nurses and nursing leadership. However, barriers were identified at a large hospital system in the Southeastern United States (US) that postponed the full implementation of SG. This prevented nurses from having input on policies and actions that directly affected their work. Purpose: The purpose of this evidence-based project (EBP) was to determine if unit-based SG improved job satisfaction and engagement for nurses on inpatient medical-surgical units at a large hospital system in the Southeastern US. Method: Five medical-surgical units were identified to …

Take A Seat To Improve Patient-Centered Communication, Emma E. El-Shami

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Problem Statement: At a hospital in Upstate South Carolina, the patient experience surveys identify nurse-patient communication on the post-operative unit needs improving. Over three months of Summer 2021, 83.5% of patients reported that their nurses listened carefully, 82.4% stated there was comfort with talking with nurses, and 80.8% of patients reported that nurses explained things in a way they could understand. Purpose: This project aims to determine if the "Commit to Sit" Initiative compared to usual practice will affect patient satisfaction scores. Methods: Nurse-patient communication components of the patient satisfaction survey were assessed before and after the "Commit to Sit" …

The Impact Of Mindfulness Meditation Exercises On Managing Stress Among New Graduate Nurses, Sharonda Marshay Jamerson

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Problem Statement: Studies reveal, approximately 33.5 % of new graduate nurses suffer from stress and burnout, forcing the nurse to leave the workforce within the first two years of transitioning into the role of a professional nurse (Heins, 2019). The Chief Nursing Officer of a large healthcare system in South Carolina confirms new graduate nurses are suffering from stress and burnout while transitioning into the role of the professional nurse (Personal communication, March 5, 2021). Purpose: The purpose of this project is to provide new graduate nurses' mindfulness meditation exercises to help manage stress as mindfulness meditation has been proven …

The Impact Of Mindfulness Meditation On Registered Nurse Burnout, Kelli R. Scheibenhoffer

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Problem Statement: Nurse burnout has been reported in hospitals across the nation and is prevalent around the globe. In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared nurse burnout a condition calling for recognition and treatment. Nurses working in an inpatient setting may experience higher levels of burnout than in other settings. Hospitals with nurse burnout jeopardize the number of functioning employees, patient safety, and quality of care. Introducing preventative factors such as mindfulness could shield nurses, improve patient care, and cut hospital costs. Purpose: This evidence-based project aimed to determine the effect of using meditation via the Headspace app with …

Evaluating The Use And Effectiveness Of Digital Mental Health Resources For Acute Care Nurses, Ashley M. Turbyfill

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Statement: The burnout phenomenon has been exacerbated over the last almost two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic (Maunder et al., 2021). Healthcare organizations must respond by implementing evidenced-based mental health initiatives to increase staff coping skills to reduce stress and emotional exhaustion (Galanis et al., 2021). While the project organization can access large-scale aggregate data about resource usage and its overall mental well-being, they cannot assess what percentage of users are nurses and the personal impact on their mental well-being. Due to these limitations, the organization cannot gauge how the nursing staff uses and responds to offered resources. …

Hybrid-Based Cardiac Rehabilitation: Improving Enrollment, Attendance, And Completion Rates, Victoria S. Yandle

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Problem: Barriers exist to enrolling and attending a cardiac rehabilitation (CR) program for patients who have recently experienced a cardiac event. These barriers include insurance status, cost, location, availability, convenience, and transportation. Increasing accessibility to CR through the provision of a hybrid-based cardiac rehabilitation (HBCR) program provides an alternative option that may improve enrollment, attendance, and completion rates in the CR program by removing the barriers of location and transportation. Purpose: The purpose of this project was to determine if a HBCR program was feasible for improving overall enrollment, attendance, and participation rate at Prisma Health Heart Hospital (PHHH). Methods: …

Using A Clinical Reminder Tool To Impact Vitamin D Screening, Mercy Roy

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Problem Statement: Chronic pain patients with widespread musculoskeletal pain are not adequately screened for possible vitamin D deficiency by healthcare providers. Purpose: This quality improvement project (Q.I.) aimed to improve the screening rates for vitamin D among healthcare providers by implementing a clinical reminder tool within the documentation section of the electronic medical records (EMRs) in an outpatient federally funded pain clinic located in the Southeastern region of South Carolina. Methods: A clinical reminder template was embedded within the EMR documentation to increase screening for vitamin D levels for chronic pain patients among healthcare providers. Data were collected six weeks …

Effects Of Postcode Debriefing On Nursing Burnout And Patient Survival In The Emergency Department: A Single-Center Quality Improvement Project, Margaret Anne Lee

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Problem Statement: Emergency department (ED) nurses are routinely exposed to stressful events, including cardiac arrest codes. The American Heart Association stresses the importance of structured debriefing as a continuous quality improvement strategy for patient care. Furthermore, literature shows that debriefing after codes is associated with improved teamwork, decreased nursing burnout, and reduced staff turnover. Purpose: This quality improvement project implemented a structured postcode debriefing tool in the ED after codes to determine if it improved nurse burnout and patient survival rates. Methods: A structured postcode debriefing tool was administered after codes in the ED. All registered nurses employed in the …

Decreasing Pressure Injuries From Respiratory Devices In The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Samantha Nicole Elliott

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Problem: Patients developing pressure injuries while admitted to the hospital has become a nationwide problem. The national annual cost of treating pressure injuries is $11 billion dollars, with up to $70,000 dollars for stage four pressure injuries (Cooper et al., 2020).

Purpose: The purpose of this project was to implement the use of a silicone foam dressing under respiratory devices, monitored using kamishibai cards (k-cards) to decrease pressure injuries. K-cards are a rounding tool that staff can use to identify barriers that prevent the standard of care.

Intervention: A pre-study, three-month period, was compared to the implementation period in the …

Enhancing Quality Of Life For Ovarian Cancer Patients, Kelly Marie Liguori

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Problem Statement: Ovarian cancer is associated with a delayed onset of symptoms and late diagnosis and therefore has increased morbidity and mortality (Momenimovahed et al., 2019). These patients face multiple health complications, frequent hospital admissions, and may suffer from an overall poor quality of life (Marks, 2020). Purpose: This project aimed to determine if implementing FACT-O, a patient-reported quality-of-life screening tool, led to increased pastoral care consults and patient-reported quality-of-life for ovarian cancer patients. Methods: Iowa Model of Evidence-Based Practice was used for this project. Upon admission to 3Tower at CMC Main during a 3-month period, all patients with ovarian …

Caroliniana Columns Fall 2022, University Libraries--University Of South Carolina

University South Caroliniana Society Newsletter - Columns

Contents:

One Woman, One Vote: The South and the Nineteenth Amendment ... p.1

Letter from the President ... p.12

Memorial & Honoraria ... p.13

Letter from the Retiring Dean of Libraries ... p.14

Report from the Interim Director ... p.14

How is the Renovation Going? ... p.15

Erica N. Duncan, Lewis P. Jones Research Fellowship ... p.30

Tracy L. Barnett, Governor Thomas Gordon McLeod and First Lady Elizabeth Alford McLeod Visiting Research Fellowship ... p.34

Jonathan A. Hanna, Lewis P. Jones Research Fellowship ... p.36

Molly Nebiolo, Lewis P. Jones Research Fellowship ... p.38

Kelsey Moore, Ellison Durant Smith Research …

Mechanistic Insights Into An Iron-Responsive Repressor, Fep1, From Schizosaccharomyces Pombe, Allison Nicole Kimsey

Theses and Dissertations

Iron is an essential metal cofactor required for a variety of biochemical pathways in most living organisms. In recent years, the nonpathogenic fungi Schizosaccharomyces pombe has been used to study iron regulation and uncover the molecular mechanisms for controlling intracellular iron levels. Some of these regulation pathways are conserved with those of pathogenic fungi, making these studies applicable for the future development of antifungals that target iron homeostasis. In S. pombe, the GATA-type transcriptional repressor Fep1 is responsible for repressing iron uptake genes during times of iron abundance. Previous reports have proposed that the binding of an iron-sulfur (Fe-S) …

Implementing A Technology-Based Instructional Module In An Introduction To Engineering Course: The Impact On Student’S Vocabulary Retention And Attitudes Towards Learning, Robin T. Amick

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the academic impact of a technology-based instructional module for content vocabulary instruction in the Project Lead the Way (PLTW) Introduction to Engineering course. The goal of the study was to answer two key questions: 1) How does implementing a technology-based instructional module impact Engineering vocabulary academic gains for students taking the Introduction to Engineering course? and 2) What is the effect of implementing a technology-based instructional model on attitudes towards learning Engineering vocabulary for students taking the Introduction to Engineering course? This study was conducted with Introduction to Engineering students (N …

Urban Flooding Accelerates The Affordable Housing Shortage: A Case Study In Columbia, South Carolina, Mary Hannah Lindsay

Theses and Dissertations

The state of South Carolina stands at the corner where climate change and the housing crisis meet. The affordable housing stock across South Carolina continues to deplete as its major cities experience urban flooding events due to outdated and weakened infrastructure, compounded by an intensification of storm systems brought on by a changing climate. Lower income communities are forced to accept lesser living conditions and less resilient housing options because these options are more affordable. Renters are often met with more challenges when navigating disaster recovery compared to homeowners. Using a case study established in Columbia, South Carolina of the …

Berbamine Enhances The Efficacy Of Doxorubicin Treatment For Breast Cancer In Vitro And In Vivo, Kristina G. Borglum

Senior Theses

Doxorubicin (Dox) is a commonly used chemotherapy drug for treating breast cancer. While it is very effective, the main limitation of Dox treatment is subsequent cytotoxicity. Berbamine dihydrochloride (BBM) is a natural benzylisoquinoline alkaloid that is extracted from the plant, Berbaris amurensis. It has been widely used in traditional medicine to treat individuals with inflammatory diseases for many centuries. It has already been shown that combining BBM with Dox synergistically enhances the efficacy of Dox treatment on breast cancer in vitro. To eventually translate these findings into a clinical setting, this study aims to explore this therapeutic potential in vivo …

Results For The South Carolina Teacher Exit Survey From The 2021-2022 Pilot Administration, Tammiee Dickenson, Thomas Hodges, Joshua Watts, Adam Brown, Xumei Fan

Reports

SC-TEACHER’s second administration of the South Carolina Teacher Exit Survey provides insights from ten school districts regarding reasons teachers stay in, move from, or leave the profession. While the number of statewide vacancies is a helpful data point, perhaps more important to addressing specific policy and strategic needs is gathering information that presents a nuanced understanding of why educators make the decisions they make. These survey results offer insights into factors that influence teachers’ decisions.

The survey will be expanded to provide an opportunity for all South Carolina school districts to participate in spring 2023.

Spatial And Age Disparities In Covid-19 Outcomes, Qian Huang

Theses and Dissertations

COVID-19 has caused significant social, economic, environmental, and political impacts globally and affected communities unequally in the U.S. The pandemic has also sparked interest in age-specific manifestations of infection, for example, studies confirmed the risk of increasing age with COVID-19 severity. However, the nonstationarity effects of health determinants among age groups have not been well examined. This study aims to explore the nonstationarity effects of social, behavioral, environmental, health care access, and political contexts on COVID-19 outcomes. This study poses three broad questions: 1) how did COVID-19 vaccinations align with COVID-19 daily cases and deaths in the United States; 2) …

Pulse Width Modulation-Based Voltage Balancing And Circulating Current Control For Modular Multilevel Converters, Md Multan Biswas

Theses and Dissertations

In the last decade, because of some key features and advantages of Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC), it is widely applied for various Medium Voltage (MV) and High Voltage (HV) power electronic interfacing applications. The structure of MMCs varies by application but in general, they are composed of multiple Sub-Modules (SMs) which each contains a floating capacitor. For the operation of MMCs, capacitor voltages are required to remain equally set. This is referred to as the balanced condition and requires a method for SM Capacitor Voltage Balancing (CVB). Connections of SMs for most of the common MMC configurations result in additional …

Novel Dietary Index For Gut Microbiota And Associations With Colorectal Cancer And Breast Cancer Risk, Bezawit Eyob Kase

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Diet serves as a driving force for shaping the gut microbiome. Understanding how diet may modify gut microbiota and subsequently may be associated with chronic disease is critical to public health prevention efforts. Aims: We aimed to develop a novel dietary index that captures the quality of diet with respect to attaining beneficial composition and function of gut microbiota. We then examined the relationship between the dietary index and two gut microbiota-related cancers, i.e., colorectal and breast cancers.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review of studies that examined the effect of foods on gut microbiota in adult populations. Dietary …

Nutrition Facts Label Use Among U.S. Adolescents, Jennifer Beth Mandelbaum

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the promise of Nutrition Facts label (NFL) use as a population-level intervention with broad reach, few studies have examined determinants of adolescents’ NFL use, and how this label use may be associated with nutrition behaviors. This study used data from the International Food Policy Study, an online cross-sectional survey of trends in dietary patterns and policy-relevant behaviors in the U.S. and five other countries. First, this study examined 1) whether NFL use was associated with healthy eating efforts and 2) whether there were sociodemographic differences in NFL use among U.S. adolescents. Results demonstrated that NFL use was positively associated …

Sleep Challenges And Temperament Among Infants At Elevated Likelihood Of Autism Spectrum Disorder, Miranda Hope Foster

Theses and Dissertations

The current study used parent report in a prospective longitudinal design to examine the relationship between early sleep difficulties and temperament among infants with an older sibling diagnosed with ASD (EL-ASIB, n = 32), those born pre-term (EL-PT, n = 24) and those with no familial history of ASD (LL, n = 28) across the first year of life. At 3, 4, 6 and 12 months, caregivers completed the Short Form of the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R) (Putnam et al., 2014). To understand how sleep difficulties are related to temperament, a new scale of Sleep Challenges was created with items …

The Optimization Of Anion Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells And Water Electrolyzers By Varying Catalyst Design And Changing Gas Inlet Composition, Jasmine D. Bohannon

Theses and Dissertations

Researchers around the globe are looking to avoid the consequences of climate change by shifting away from the burning of fossil fuels as a source of energy. While using fossil fuels have negatively affected the earth’s climate for at least the last hundred and fifty years, the introduction of renewables looks to use abundant and naturally occurring resources. Sources of renewable energy include solar power, wind power, hydropower, geothermal energy, and biomass2 . These sources work by converting the abundant source into mechanical, electrical, or chemical energy that can be used to power industrial plants or residential areas and they …

Connecting Writing To Life: The Effects Of Place-Conscious Education On Writing In A First Grade Classroom, Tara P. Dietrich

Theses and Dissertations

This study describes a problem of practice encountered in a first-grade class in the southeast. Students exhibited negative attitudes during the writing process. Because of this, the quality of their writing suffered. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between attitudes and writing achievement in a first-grade class using place-conscious education. Additionally, this study was also built upon the social constructivism learning theory. To address the problem of practice, the researcher conducted a mixed-methods action research case study to analyze the effects of place-conscious education on students’ attitudes and proficiencies on writing. The study was guided by …

Human Activity Recognition (Har) Using Wearable Sensors And Machine Learning, Chrisogonas Odero Odhiambo

Theses and Dissertations

Humans engage in a wide range of simple and complex activities. Human Activity Recognition (HAR) is typically a classification problem in computer vision and pattern recognition, to recognize various human activities. Recent technological advancements, the miniaturization of electronic devices, and the deployment of cheaper and faster data networks have propelled environments augmented with contextual and real-time information, such as smart homes and smart cities. These context-aware environments, alongside smart wearable sensors, have opened the door to numerous opportunities for adding value and personalized services to citizens. Vision-based and sensory-based HAR find diverse applications in healthcare, surveillance, sports, event analysis, Human-Computer …

“Even The Little Things Matter:” A Phenomenological Study On Factors Impacting Student Motivation During And After Covid-Related Disruptions In Education, Jennifer Ferris-Crisafulli

Theses and Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about unprecedented disruptions in education, as schools were forced to make a rapid transition to virtual learning in March 2020. Students’ motivation seemed to decline significantly during and after this virtual learning period, which ranged from months to over a year in various areas of the United States. This study seeks to understand the factors impacting student motivation during and after this virtual learning period.

This action research study was conducted using a qualitative, phenomenological approach. Data was collected from open-ended surveys and semi-structured interviews during Spring 2021 and Spring 2022. Data was analyzed through the …

Sources And Cycling Of Neodymium And Rare Earth Elements In The Arctic Amerasian Basin And Bering Sea, Brian D. Duggan

Theses and Dissertations

The isotopic composition of dissolved neodymium (¹⁴³Nd/¹⁴⁴Nd, expressed as εNd) behaves quasi-conservatively in the ocean and has been used as a palaeoceanographic tracer of ocean circulation. The εNd value of water masses is acquired—and often altered—during interaction with sediments along the margins; however, the processes involved in seawater εNd acquisition remains poorly characterized and quantified. Here we report the results of 349 Nd isotope and 354 rare earth element (REE) concentration measurements from 27 water column profiles across the Bering shelf and through the Arctic Amerasian Basin collected during U.S. Arctic GEOTRACES cruise HLY1502 (GEOTRACES section …

Predicting Therapists’ Intentions To Use An Innovation: The Role Of Innovation-Specific, Individual, And Organizational Factors, Jonathan KuʻUhoaepilipono Ahuna

Theses and Dissertations

Understanding factors that contribute to an individual’s decision to use an innovation can increase the public health impact of innovations in children’s mental health services. Objective. This study examined whether and to what extent therapists’ innovation-specific judgements (e.g., innovation is easy to use, socially desirable) were associated with intentions to use an innovation using constructs from one of the most robust theories of innovation use–the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). Method. Two aims were addressed using data collected from 95 therapists and 28 supervisors who participated in a multi-site cluster randomized trial. Therapists used either a …

The Salvation Of The Africana Child: Via The Role Of The Black Woman In Educational Leadership, Tamara S. Taylor

Theses and Dissertations

Black Women principals have unique experiences that they have lived that influence the way they lead schools. Strong and committed leadership creates school environments where children can thrive.

This study illuminated the connectivity of race, class, and gender to the lived experiences of Black Women principals according to the Africana Womanism paradigm set forth by Dr. Clenora Hudson-Weems (2020). The question my research sought to answer was: How do the lived experiences, as they relate to race, class, and gender, of Black Women principals impact the way they lead? The sub-question for the study was: How do the lived experiences …

A Holistic Approach To Culturally Relevant Education In Biology To Examine Student Engagement, Robyn Brooke Biery

Theses and Dissertations

Recognizing that many students were disengaged in my grade-level biology class, this study sought to improve student engagement as a result of the implementation of CRE-enriched instruction and to describe themes associated with CRE and engagement. This qualitative action research study used a survey, exit tickets, and observations to discover emergent themes as a result of implementing CRE-enriched lessons. This action research study used member checking and disconfirming evidence to increase rigor and transferability. The results were that the use of CRE-enriched lessons increased the engagement of grade-level students in biology, and that engagement requires a two-pronged approach – cultural …