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The Relationships Between Patients' Perceptions Of Nurse Caring Behaviors, Nurses' Perceptions Of Nurse Caring Behaviors And Patient Satisfaction In The Emergency Department, Theresa Bucco

Dissertations

Approximately 100 million people seek care in Emergency Departments yearly, which can be overwhelming for many Emergency Department (ED) nurses. Thus, caring for these patients and meeting their needs is challenging for ED nurses. It is the patients' perceptions of the first caring encounters in the ED that can have a significant impact on patient satisfaction.

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationships between patients' perceptions of nurse caring behaviors, nurses' perceptions of nurse caring behaviors, and patient satisfaction in the ED.

Perceived Risk For Cardiovascular Disease Among Japanese Adults, Satomi Hayashi

Dissertations

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) including coronary artery disease and stroke is a significant health problem in Japan regardless of well established health care and insurance system and various public campaigns and exhibitions in the contemporary Japanese society. Higher and increasing prevalence and incidence of well-known risk factor of CVD may contribute to increasing mortality and morbidity of CVD in the future. However, limited knowledge was available for understanding perceptions of risk for CVD among Japanese adults. This grounded theory study aimed to explore social psychological process in perception of risk for CVD among Japanese adults.

Perioperative Nurses Perceptions Of Moral Courage, Georgia A. Dinndorf-Hogenson

Dissertations

Threats to patient safety exist in perioperative nursing. Nurse appraisal of these threats and the likelihood to act with moral courage have not been documented.

This descriptive correlational study examined moral courage in response to threat to patient safety. The moral courage model is based on Lazarus and Folkman's theory of stress and coping. The Dillman, Smythe, and Christenson (2009) tailored design method was used to construct the Moral Courage Questionnaire for Nurses (MCQN) instrument. Moral courage frequency and intensity were explored relative to personal experience and institutional operating room environment.

The Effect Of High-Fidelity Simulation And Traditional Didactic Lecture On First Semester Junior Baccalaureate Nursing Students' Knowledge Acquisition, And Self-Confidence Using The Solomon-Four Group Research Design, Trudy Williams

Dissertations

Nurse educators are challenged with preparing nurses to practice in complex Health care settings. Nursing graduates often feel unprepared to meet the performance expectations placed on them by the Health care industry, displaying a lack of self-confidence and knowledge. The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of high-fidelity simulation (HFS) as a teaching pedagogy on first semester, junior baccalaureate nursing students (N = 98) enrolled at an HBCU in southeast Louisiana. More specifically, this study examined the effect of the independent variables, traditional didactic lecture and (an HFS-focused respiratory physical assessment scenario) intervention, on the dependent variables, …

Perceptions Of Future And Advance Care Planning For Japanese Women With Early Stage Gynecological And Breast Cancer, Yuki Asakura

Dissertations

Advance care planning (ACP) is the process that allows individuals to choose a path of care in the event that they are unable to make a decision for themselves. The concept of advance care planning is much broader than merely putting wishes in writing; however, misconceptions exist. The purpose of this study was to gain understanding of perceptions of Japanese women with early stage cancer about ACP. A theoretical model for ACP was developed from review of current knowledge. This study was significant to developing culturally sensitive intervention in supporting ACP in this Asian population. This study utilized ethnography guided …

The Cultivation And Practice Of Spiritual Care Expertise In An Inpatient Palliative Care Setting, Gail E. Simmons Pittroff

Dissertations

Caregivers involved in palliative care seek to understand problems and challenges at end of life through research to determine the best care for patients and their families. Spiritual care is a key component of quality end of life care, yet there is a paucity of research on spiritual care in inpatient settings at end of life in nursing literature. The purpose of this study was to examine the personhood and spiritual care practices of inpatient palliative nurse consultants. This study describes expert nurse's experience of delivering spiritual care for patients and families at end of life in inpatient palliative care …

The Influence Of Organizational And Personal Factors On U.S. Army Nurse Corps Officers' Intent To Leave The Army, Linda Wiley Fisher

Dissertations

The purpose of this paper is to present the dissertation research that compared the influence of personal and organizational factors on two groups' (US Army and civilian registered nurses-RN) intent to leave their employers. This study is the baseline study of a program of research on military nurse retention and is intended to lead to a longitudinal study comparing the two groups again in one year. Chapter I identifies why nurse retention is important, provides background/history about the problem of nurse retention, describes the special case of US Army nursing, introduces the topic of household economic influences on nurse retention, …

Emergence Of Informal Clinical Leadership Among Bedside Nurses In The Acute Care Clinical Setting: A Mixed Methods Study, Darlene M. Rogers

Dissertations

Quality and safety initiatives direct all nurses to lead practice change. Existing nurse leadership research predominantly focuses on formal nursing leaders and overlooks a critical resource pool: informal leaders at the point of care. This study explored influences on the emergence of informal clinical leadership among bedside nurses in the acute care hospital setting. Nurse personal attributes (demographic characteristics, professional experience, and psychological capital) and situational context in the acute care workplace setting were examined as predictors of clinical leadership behavior. The study used a convergent parallel mixed methods design with an exploratory correlational quantitative strand and a descriptive qualitative …

The Relationship Among Nurse Manager Leadership Style, Span Of Control, Staff Nurse Practice Environment, Safety Climate, And Nurse-Sensitive Patient Outcomes, Katreena Merrill

Dissertations

Despite the compelling need for strong nursing leaders who establish vision and create an evidence-based environment that fosters quality and safety, many hospitals have increased responsibilities of nurse managers, potentially compromising leadership at the bedside. The aim of this study was to elucidate relationships among safety climate, staffing, education level, manager leadership styles, practice environment, and patient outcomes. This study also compared two methods to measure nurse manager span of control. A correlational study was conducted in nine hospitals in a healthcare system. The instruments "Unit Safety Climate Survey, Practice Environment Scale, Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, and a demographic survey" distributed …

Environmental And Personal Predictors Of Professional Behaviors Among Baccalaureate Nursing Students, Kae Rivers Livsey

Dissertations

This non-experimental, explanatory study utilized a comparative survey design to test a conceptual model developed by Milisa Manojlovich (2003), to examine whether proposed relationships between environmental and personal factors contributing to professional nursing practice behaviors are supported in baccalaureate nursing program settings.

The Knowledge, Attitudes, And Self-Reported Behaviors Of Psychiatric Nurses Towards Obese Psychiatric Patients On Atypical Anti-Psychotropic Medications, Marcia D. Williams-Hailey

Dissertations

Obesity has continued to increase over the years with increase in morbidity and mortality. The advancement of psychiatric treatment has resulted in a higher prevalence of obesity among the psychiatric population related to the side-effects of the newer atypical anti-psychotics. This study address nurses' attitude towards obesity and people who are obese, focusing on psychiatric patients. Negative attitudes and low knowledge about psychiatric patients on atypical anti-psychotics can interfere with psychiatric nurses' therapeutic potential to support patients with health promotion behaviors. The purpose of this study is to develop an instrument to measure the knowledge, attitudes, and self-reported behavior of …

The Utilization And Effectiveness Of The Hesi E (Square) Exit Exam As A Graduation Requirement Toward Increasing Nclex-Rn® Pass Rates In Baccalaureate Nursing Programs, Debra Henline Sullivan

Dissertations

The purpose of the study was threefold. The first purpose compared the NCLEX-RN® first-time pass rates of BSN students in nursing programs that use the HESI E2 exit exam with other computerized exit exams, and those using no exit exam. NCLEX-RN® first-time pass rates for students taking HESI E2 did not show a statistically significant increase compared to students that took no exit exam. A second purpose, compared NCLEX-RN® first-time pass rates of BSN students in nursing programs utilizing the E2 that require a minimum benchmark score as a graduation requirement with those BSN students that use HESI E2 but …

Evidence-Based Practice Preparation In Nursing Education: Recent Bsn Graduates And Their Experience With Applying Evidence-Based Practice, Claudia Werner-Rutledge

Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the level of knowledge of evidence-based practice (EBP) among registered nurses (RNs) who have joined the profession within the last 5 years. The Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services PARIHS framework provided the appropriate lens through which to discover the experiences of nurses and their use of EBP.

Assessment And Strategic Planning To Determine The Growth Feasibility Of A Distance-Based Rural Baccalaureate Nursing Program, Amber Proctor Williams

Dissertations

A greater supply of nurses who are prepared at the BSN level minimally, are needed to address the increasingly complex healthcare and community needs in rural counties. An innovative partnership between a rural regional campus and a university based college of nursing has extended access to baccalaureate education to those based in that rural area. The purpose of this work sought to assess the feasibility of expanding the current distance-based rural BSN program from a systems level. This project illustrated how the organizational assessment can be used as a starting point to deconstruct the complexity surrounding the feasibility of expansion. …

Construct Local Quasi-Interpolation Operators Using Linear B-Splines, Abeer Alzahrani

Dissertations

The data interpolating problem is a fundamental problem in data analysis, and B-splines are frequently used as the basis functions for data interpolation. In the real-world applications, the real-time processing is very important. To achieve that, we cannot use any matrix inversion for large amount of data, and we also need to avoid using any global operator. To solve this problem, we develop a new method based on a local quasi-interpolation operator. To construct the local quasi-interpolation operator, we need to factorize the Shoenberg-Whitney matri- ces for the given data samples. Furthermore, our local quasi-interpolation operator should correspond to a …

Teach-Back Method And Brown Bag Review In The Psychiatric Population: An Evidence-Based Practice Project, Kori M. Pfeiffer

Dissertations

Investigators have recommended using the teach-back method (TBM) and brown bag review (BBR) to decrease medication errors and improve medication adherence among patients at all literacy levels. Unaddressed low health literacy levels have led to decreased medication adherence and increased medication errors. Medication non-adherence and misunderstanding affect 50% of individuals who suffer from a chronic illness, which impacts overall healthcare costs, quality of life, and sobriety.

The History Of The Doctoral Program In Organizational Leadership At Brandman University From An Innovation Theory Perspective: Alpha Cohort 2012, Jennifer Dinielli

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this historical research study was to document the development of the Doctoral Program in Organizational Leadership at Brandman University from concept and design to implementation with the Alpha cohort of 2012. In addition, it was the purpose of this study to chronicle the decisions that guided program development and the factors that influenced key leaders and decisions from an innovation perspective of Bolman and Deal’s four-frame model of structural, human resource, political, and symbolic frames. Methodology: In this historical study, artifact and relic review and interviews were utilized to secure data from key leaders involved in …

Ptsd Symptom Interaction Among Victims Of Interpersonal Violence: A Network Analysis, Robert Graziano

Dissertations

Along with numerous combinations of symptoms, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is linked to high dropout and non-response rates in treatment. Poor treatment response may be due to an inaccurate conceptualization of PTSD. One newer approach to the conceptualization of psychopathology is network theory. Network theory posits that symptoms both directly and indirectly reinforce each other, with connections between symptoms varying in strength. Previous studies of network theory and PTSD have found intrusive symptoms to be highly central, but have not included samples of individuals traumatized by interpersonal violence. Because trauma type has been shown to predict symptom presentations, this represents …

Impulsivity As A Trait Predictor In Baccalaureate Nursing Students, Jennifer Bertucci

Dissertations

Impulsive personality traits have been linked to pathological decision making in individuals who possess the trait. Impulsive pathological decision making may include acts of aggression, divergence, risky behavior, lack of self-care, etc. The purpose of this study was to examine impulsive personality traits among nursing students. Traditional students are defined by the following characteristics: earns a high school diploma, enrolls full time immediately after finishing high school, are financially dependent on parents, and either do not work during the school year or works part-time (the exception to the rule) (Choy, 2002). A non-traditional nursing student is defined as students who …

Discipline-Culture And Instructional Practices: An Integrated Leader's Role, Joe L. Griffin

Dissertations

The goal of this study was to identify the extent to which integrated leadership is present in schools, according to secondary teachers. Second, the study sought to measure the discipline-culture of schools. Discipline-culture is defined as the way discipline is administered daily in a school and how it contributes to the instructional practices that teacher’s use. Finally, integrated leadership, coined by Marks and Printy (2003), was examined relative to discipline-culture and instructional practices with this study. Leadership has been studied in multiple countries across various grade levels, but integrated leadership's influence on discipline-culture and instructional practices has not been researched. …

An Atomistic Study Of The Effects On Mechanical Properties And Bonding Interactions Of Carbon Nanofillers In Nylon 6 Nanocomposites, Michael Roth

Dissertations

Polymers have potential for a wide range of applications. The effectiveness of polymers can be further enhanced through the addition of nanofillers that improve thermal, mechanical, and electrical properties of the polymer. Carbon based nanofillers such as carbon nanotube (CNT), graphene, and carbon nanofibre (CNF) are of particular interest due to their high properties and high aspect ratios. However, limited understanding of the governing interactions of these nanofillers with polymers limits the effectiveness of the final nanocomposite.

The first facet of this dissertation focuses on determining the dominating interactions between pristine CNT and graphene with nylon 6 monomer and the …

Effect Of Selfsame Microparticles On Epoxide Amine Network Formation And Matrix Mechanics, Travis Palmer

Dissertations

Epoxide amine matrices are widely utilized in aerospace carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites having engendered significant reductions in weight and fuel consumption. This dissertation focuses on the effect of constrained space during network formation on the matrix mechanics of these highly complex composite systems. Precipitation polymerization conditions are developed to prepare epoxide amine microparticles (EMs) based on tetraglycidyl-4,4’-methylenedianiline (TGDDM) and isophorone diamine (IPDA). Surface functionality of EMs is tuned via control of epoxide to reactive amine hydrogen ratio, where unreactive, amine- and epoxide-functional EMs are prepared. We demonstrate that EMs are polydisperse, but can be filtered, yielding low dispersity …

Chemoenzymatic Study Of Coa-Linked Rna In Bacteria, Krishna Sapkota

Dissertations

The ability of RNA to store genetic information and to catalyze biochemical transformations led to the speculation of the existence of RNA world before the evolution of contemporary ribonucleoprotein (RNP) world. Recent discovery of RNA molecules containing metabolic cofactors including coenzyme A and its various thioesters at their 5’ end further supported the RNA world hypothesis as these CoA-linked RNA molecules could be the molecular fossils with very ancient origin. As both RNA and Coenzyme A are believed to have co-existed since last universal common ancestor (LUCA) or even before, the CoA-RNA conjugates in current biology may reveal fundamental molecular …

Framing Death And Suffering: An Examination Of Photographs Of Dead And Dying During The U. S. Civil War, World War Ii, And The Vietnam War, Richard Anthony Lewis

Dissertations

The dissertation analyzes photographic images of dead bodies that appeared in news settings related to warfare in the United States in three distinct eras – the 1860s, the 1940s, and the 1960s. The primary subject of the analysis are photographs of corpses created in the context of the American Civil War (1861-1865), World War II including the immediate aftermath of the Holocaust (1939-1946), and conflict and war in Vietnam (1950-1975). While the sample represents a partial catalogue of images of the dead in the context of warfare since photography emerged in the 1840s as a medium for disseminating news, the …

A Dynamic F5 Algorithm, Candice Mitchell

Dissertations

Gröbner bases are a “nice” representation for nonlinear systems of polynomials, where by “nice” we mean they have good computation properties. They have many useful applications, including decidability (whether the system has a solution or not), ideal membership (whether a given polynomial is in the system or not), and cryptography. Traditional Gröbner basis algorithms require as input an ideal and an admissible term ordering. They then determine a Gröbner basis with respect to the given ordering. Some term orderings lead to a smaller basis, but finding them traditionally requires testing many orderings and hoping for better results. A dynamic algorithm …

Political Public Relations Agenda-Building: A Content Analysis Of The Us 2016 Presidential Campaign Speeches, Tweets And News Stories, Emmanuel Nwachukwu

Dissertations

This study investigated the role of political agenda building of political speech and tweet in the 2016 US presidential elections and the relationships between the campaign messages and the news cycle during the election campaign period. It also used functional theory of political campaign discourse to evaluate the speech and tweets of the presidential candidates. The study utilized content analysis and analyzed 5303 units of speech, tweets, TV (CNN, FOX and NBC news) clips and news stories from New York Times and Washington Post to derive its conclusions.

The result of the study showed how tweets shaped the media agenda …

The Relationship Between The Perceived Value Of Professional Development, Job Satisfaction, And Intent To Leave, Wendy Marie Wells

Dissertations

Organizations striving to remain competitive compete in the war for talent in order to recruit and retain employees. Studies assessing intent to leave and turnover suggest numerous strategies to mitigate the revolving door of employees quitting jobs (Allen, 2008; Allen, Bryant, & Vardaman 2010; Lee, Hom, Eberly, & Li, 2018). This study assesses the relationship between the perceived value of professional development, job satisfaction, and intent to leave. Results of the study reveal as one finds professional development, valuable job satisfaction increases. In assessing the relationship between professional development and intent to leave, the results of the study suggest that …

The Influence Of Emotional Intelligence Training On College Student Employee Workforce Readiness, Wynde Jones

Dissertations

Working while enrolled in college has become routine for the Millennial college student (Riggert, Boyle, Petrosko, Ash, & Rude-Parkins, 2006). Approximately 14 million students in the United States work and attend college simultaneously (Carnevale, Smith, Melton, & Price, 2015). Millennials graduate and infiltrate the workforce, now composing half of the U. S. labor market (Calk & Patrick, 2017). Yet, a mismatch between employer and new graduate’s competencies occurs in the workplace. While Millennials view themselves as workforce ready, employers see them as unprepared and lacking the necessary skills for success in the workplace (Jaschik, 2015). Many Millennial college graduates do …

A Survey Of Modern Companion Pieces Outlining Specific Compositional Similarities Between Ralph Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem And Mack Wilberg's Requiem Aeternam And Let Peace Then Still The Strife, Joel Dunlap

Dissertations

Companion compositions can best be described as musical works composed to specifically coordinate in conjunction with a preexisting musical work. For the sole purpose and intention of complementing or coalescing with another work, the two companion compositions could share similar subject matter, choral/vocal or orchestral themes, and motifs, length, text treatment, context. Evidence in this survey will expound upon various examples of companion compositions from prominent modern-day composers.

The primary objective of this research is to study specific compositional characteristics, correlations, and relationships between Mack Wilberg’s two original compositions – Requiem aeternam and Let peace then still the strife with …

The Face Of Intervention: Military Humanitarianism During The 1965 Dominican Crisis, Wesley Hazzard

Dissertations

On April 28, 1965 the US military intervened in the Dominican Republic’s civil war. This dissertation argues that the military did not deploy to fight a war but to create a favorable environment for the establishment of a pro-US government. The US military relied on humanitarian aid through civic action programs and civil affairs operations to diminish the Dominican populations’ interest in leftist political organizations and platforms. The civil affairs and civic action programs served to both alleviate the hardships of the Dominican people, turn them away from leftist policies, and build support for a US friendly government. The US …