Digital Commons Network^™

Osteopathic Treatments For Soft Tissue, Joint, And Head-Related Pain, Emerson K. Linsley

Honors Projects

The article examines how osteopathic manipulations can help in the treatment or management of pain associated with soft tissue, joint, and head-related injury or disease.

St. Francis Borgia Deaf Center Church Bulletin, December 5, 2021

Saint Francis Borgia Deaf Center Church Bulletin

A newsletter published for Deaf Catholics in Chicago, IL

Saint Francis Brogia Deaf Center Church Bulletin Finding Aid

Standardizing Surgical Skin Antisepsis, Crystal Vackar

MSN Capstone Projects

Skin antisepsis is one of the most critical factors for preventing postoperative surgical site infections, but with the lack of high-quality research, the choice of which preoperative skin antiseptic is best remains a puzzling problem for clinicians (Chen, Chen, Guo, & Xu, 2020). Minimizing the patient’s risk of a surgical site infection by removing skin contaminants at the surgical site is the goal of surgical skin antisepsis. Therefore, the hospital or organization must choose the right product that is cutting costs, is the most effective, saving surgical time, and has the safest results for the patient. Before prepping the skin, …

Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia Bundle Care, Jeemole Kattezham Binnichan

MSN Capstone Projects

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is one of the most significant nosocomial infections in intensive care units (ICU) worldwide. Patients who have this infection due to lengthy hospital stays face excessive hospital expenditures and are forced to spend more time away from their families than is necessary. VAP is a prominent cause of morbidity and mortality in ICUs, prompting plenty of studies. The most crucial target is its prevention. Understanding how to reduce VAP would help patients live longer, have a better quality of life, and reduce hospital liability. Ventilator-associated pneumonia bundle (VAPB) has been shown in numerous studies to be an …

A Formal Antibiotic Stewardship Protocol To Reduce Antibiotic Use, Shalese Ladawne Collins

MSN Capstone Projects

Background: Antimicrobial resistance is a nationwide public health crisis which is a result of indiscriminate antibiotic use. Inappropriate antibiotic prescribing for infections have been overlooked for several years in long-term care facilities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been compelled to require long-term care facilities to start an antibiotic stewardship program that is a key measure to combat antimicrobial resistance and seeks to accomplish this by improving antibiotic use. Many healthcare workers report presumed urinary tract infections to the provider without the accurate understanding of what criteria is required for the need of antibiotics.

Objective: Create a protocol …

Detection Of Postpartum Hemorrhage, Hannah Mccown

MSN Capstone Projects

Postpartum hemorrhage is a leading cause of death post vaginal delivery. Integration of the use of calculated blood collection drapes can improve accuracy in blood loss calculation. This can lead to faster diagnoses of postpartum hemorrhage before the patient starts showing life threatening signs and symptoms.

The Use Of Tele-Health Rehabilitation In Chronic Disease: A Benchmark Project, Emily C. Powers

MSN Capstone Projects

Chronic health issues such as heart disease or COPD are very common in the demographic of patients of an older age. Management often requires multiple medications and specific diets. However, an aspect of care that can often be neglected is that of exercise rehabilitation. Either due to distance, time-constraints, or simply just not wanting to do it, patients can easily neglect an aspect of their care that can have physical and mental benefits. One potential solution is that of tele-health rehabilitation which uses personalized exercise plans, a health watch, and communication through phone or video chat in order to bring …

Antiseptic Barrier Caps Benchmark Study, Meredith Gardner

MSN Capstone Projects

The purpose of this benchmark study is to determine the effectiveness of antiseptic barrier cap use compared to the previously excepted standard of scrubbing the hub for disinfection. The target audience for this presentation includes, but is not limited to, the University of Texas at Tyler students and professors. The readers of this study will be able to implement an evidence-based research project of antiseptic barrier caps to a hospital unit.

There has been significant effort toward the reduction of hospital acquired infections across the United States. Up to half of the postinsertion central-line associated blood stream infections are related …

Yoga As An Intervention For Nurse Burnout, Taylor Baugh

MSN Capstone Projects

Nursing is a demanding career, both mentally and physically, so finding ways to decompress and cope with such a job is essential. The main objective of this review is to discover the best evidence available to determine the effect of yoga on burnout in nurses. Outcomes from all keeper studies conclude that implementing yoga into practice increases nurses’ mindfulness, self-care, and coping ability while decreasing emotional exhaustion, burnout, and stress, consequently, increasing the quality of patient care provided. It is imperative that hospitals and healthcare administrators prioritize nurses’ physical and mental health, for nurse retention, cost savings related to decreased …

Overcoming Barriers To Uncontrolled Hypertension, Cassie Thacker

MSN Capstone Projects

Overcoming Barriers to Uncontrolled Hypertension using individualized educational interventions.

Implementing A Shared Governance Program, Mayra Elizondo

MSN Capstone Projects

Aim: To see the relationship between nursing satisfaction and patient safety outcomes through the implementation of a shared governance program.

Background: The adoption of shared governance in hospitals across the country would enable more nurses to have more resources, more autonomy in their practice, and thus higher satisfaction in their work environments which would improve patient outcomes.

Implications for future research, clinical practice and policy development: The following paper summarizes that shared governance programs increase the amount of satisfied nurses and improve patient outcomes. Further research is needed to develop effective guides for implementation of shared governance in healthcare facilities …

Bedside Shift Reporting: A Benchmark Project, Clydea C. Hale

MSN Capstone Projects

Patient care is forever changing to improve satisfaction, safety, and overall treatment. Over the past few years, patients and their families are more invested in their overall care in the hospital and expect to be informed every step of the way. A common complaint from patients or their families is that one nurse or staff did not know the individuals care or treatment plan, there were no shift goals to work toward discharge, and the nurse did not update the patient/family with changes in care. All of these complaints along with the patient satisfaction scores and communication between the treatment …

Evidence-Based Individualized Discharge Educational Intervention For Coronary Artery Disease (Cad) Patients; A Benchmark Project, Sumita Thapa

MSN Capstone Projects

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of death worldwide, whereas, in the United States, 16,800,000 people are affected, resulting in 450,000 deaths annually. Patients’ perceptions of self-management related to treatment adherence, lifestyle modifications, and risk-factor management are significant indicators of outcomes following a cardiac event. To promote self-management in CAD patients, this benchmark project aims to determine the impact of individualized education interventions by establishing a standardized nurse-led educational intervention in the cardiac unit that emphasizes adherence to self-management and treatment regimen to improve quality of life and prevent rehospitalization due to worsening cardiac events. The evidence-based findings …

Fatigue In Rheumatoid Arthritis Benchmark Study, Devan C. Salone

MSN Capstone Projects

Fatigue is perceived as one of the dominant symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) along with the pain that affects activities of daily life. RA-related fatigue was also described as unpredictable in its severity, duration, frequency, and intensity (Primdahl et al., 2019). The fatigue can mean feeling overwhelmed with feeling tired, unmotivated, increased pain, lack of concentration, or not getting enough sleep to combat the feeling of being tired (Choy & Dures, 2019). According to Widemark (2014), it is estimated that 40% to nearly 90% of RA patients experience chronic fatigue. The fatigue can happen at any time with RA. It …

Are Current Pain Assessments Adequate?, Allison Caspersen

MSN Capstone Projects

“Pain is what the patient says it is” has been a big proponent to improve interventions for pain management. But how are we assessing patients’ pain? They have been asked to provide us with a number to rate their pain but what do these numbers mean to the patient? Do they rate according to pain they have experienced in the past or is it based off what they imagine the pain could be? Have we ever distinguished patient preference between unidimensional and multidimensional pain assessment? The use of unidimensional pain assessment the Numerical rating scale (NRS) has been used primarily …

Resiliency Can Be Taught: The Impact Of An Evidence-Based Training On Nurse Resilience, Margaret Maxtin

MSN Capstone Projects

A small project team implemented a resiliency training class as part of an evidence-based nursing intervention. Nurses at a tertiary care facility who work on a pediatric hematology/oncology unit participated in the 2-hour training course and learned multiple skills directed at improving resiliency. All participants surveyed responded positively to the class. Future directions for the project include long term follow-up and continued resiliency classes with varied topics to continue improving resilience and decreasing burnout.

Bridging Mental Healthcare, Kristin L. White

MSN Capstone Projects

Nurses have an important role in the care given to mental health patients presenting to the emergency department (ED). Without expectations or encouragement toward growth or continued education, the quality of care and the therapeutic ability for care are crippled, as evidenced by nurses' knowledge/competency deficits and negative attitudes. Through ongoing/continued education, the cultivation of a therapeutic culture toward patients that present to the ED for mental health complaints could result. Additionally, these improvements in care, in turn, could promote not only the closure of gaps that exist for quality mental healthcare but may also lead to an increase in …

Stroke Education Program To Reduce Readmission, Karnesha Dominguez

MSN Capstone Projects

Stroke is a major cause of long-term disability and mortality in the United States, exemplifying a complex chronic disease with high co-morbidity, associated healthcare costs, and readmission rates. Unfortunately, patients diagnosed with strokes often present to acute care settings with stroke events after they have had been previously diagnosed. Readmission rates among stroke patients are as high as 13% with most readmissions being unplanned and many avoidable (Brom et al., 2021). An estimated 6.6 million Americans aged 20 years and older have had a stroke, and each year approximately 795,000 people experience a new or recurrent stroke (Duncan et al., …

Deterring Delirium In The Intensive Care Unit, Kimberly Allen

MSN Capstone Projects

There is growing concern about the increase in cases of delirium associated with a critical care hospitalization encounter. Discovery of different types of research that can eliminate or at least minimize occurrences of delirium including early recognition, eye masks and earplug usage, and environmental changes have show promise in reducing the risk of ICU delirium.

A Need For Change: Patient Education And Diabetic Control, Meredith Sexton

MSN Capstone Projects

Type II diabetes is a difficult diagnosis for patients to receive. Patients must work through the stigma attached to the diagnosis and understand how it affects their daily lives. It is important for our patients to understand the disease, how to control their blood sugars and how to reduce the risk of preventable complications. This project is based on the following question: “In patients diagnosed with Type II diabetes, how does going to a formal support and education session at least once per week compared to not going to a formal support group affect diabetic control, as measured by patients’ …

Impact Of Nurse Residencies On A Graduate Nurse’S First Year, Melinda R. Fox

MSN Capstone Projects

The purpose of this presentation is to highlight the importance of the graduate nurses first year in their clinical role and highlight the positive impact of nurse residency programs. The target audience for this presentation includes, but is not limited to, the University of Texas at Tyler students and professors enrolled in NURS 5382: Capstone. The observers of this presentation will be able to describe the rationale behind the importance of Nurse Residency Programs, discuss the current literature recommendations, and understand the overview of the change process proposed.

Reducing 30-Day Hospital Readmissions Through Interprofessional Collaboration/Multidisciplinary Team-Based Care Approach: A Benchmark Project, Julius Solis

MSN Capstone Projects

Hospital readmissions are a costly burden that hospitals often must sustain because of current reimbursement policies. The Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP), a value-based purchasing program, was established to reduce or penalize payment to hospitals for excessive readmissions (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2020). Lower financial payments by payors often have a negative impact on a hospital’s overall performance through the inability to purchase new and up to date equipment and materials, budget cuts, downsizing of personnel and departments, amongst all other things. Auerbach et al. (2016) estimate that approximately one-quarter or 26.9% of hospital readmissions were preventable. The …

Standardizing The Superior Preoperative Skin Antiseptic, Marissa Eckeberger

MSN Capstone Projects

Preoperative skin antisepsis is a critical component in the prevention of surgical site infections. Evidence has shown Chlorhexidine to be more effective than Povidone Iodine as well as any other agent, therefor it should be a standard of care for surgical patients. Patients expect to receive exceptional care and have good quality outcomes. Surgery is a means to resolve patient problems, not to develop new ones. Not having a standardized process in place means that patients are subject to receiving substandard care based on which surgeon they have and the surgeon’s preferences. Surgical nurses may be a part of two …

Bedside Handoff In The Emergency Department, Sheila Pochron

MSN Capstone Projects

Background

A standardized approach to bedside handoff improves nurse and patient satisfaction as well as quality outcomes.

Objectives

To compare the preference for bedside handoff in the emergency department post implementation by analyzing nursing surveys and Press Ganey data.

Design

A mixed method pilot study.

Settings

A not-for-profit community-based safety net hospital which is Magnet designated. ED is a level 3 trauma center with 60,000 visits annually.

Participants

ED nurses (n=52) and adult patients (n=86)

Methods

A pre and post implementation survey that utilized the 5-point Likert scale was given to nursing staff in the emergency department. Questions were asked …

Benchmark Study On The Impact Of Nurse Managers’ Leadership Style On Job Satisfaction And Retention Of Nurses, Khatrina Swarup

MSN Capstone Projects

Nurse managers play a crucial role in the healthcare system as they ensure that quality care is maintained and provide the necessary support for the nursing staff to perform their responsibilities well, amongst other duties. Nurses want patients to receive quality, cost-effective care, and these patients want the same. If nurses are happy with their jobs, they provide quality patient care, improving overall patient outcomes. Also, job dissatisfaction predicts how individuals perform at work and whether they intend to leave their position or not.

The current standard of practice does not specify what leadership styles nurse managers or leaders should …

Sex Disparities In Productivity Among Oculoplastic Surgeons, Mckenzee Chiam, Mona L. Camacci, Alicia Khan, Erik B. Lehman, Seth M. Pantanelli

Journal of Academic Ophthalmology

Abstract

Purpose The aim of the study is to investigate sex differences in academic rank, publication productivity, and National Institute of Health (NIH) funding among oculoplastic surgeons and whether there is an association between American Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (ASOPRS) membership and scholarly output.

Methods Sex, residency graduation year, and academic rank were obtained from institutional websites of 113 U.S. ophthalmology programs. H-indices and m-quotients were obtained from the Scopus database. NIH funding information was obtained from the NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tool.

Results Of the 272 surgeons, 74 (30.2%) were females. When adjusted for career …

Understanding The Lack Of Under-Represented Racial And Ethnic Minorities In Ophthalmology, Emily K. Tam, Michael Harrell, Nicole H. Siegel

Journal of Academic Ophthalmology

To adequately address the racial and ethnic disparities in eye care for our increasingly diverse society there needs to be a significant increase in physicians from under-represented minority groups (URMs) who pursue careers in ophthalmology. Studies have shown that patient–physician racial congruence tends to improve patient satisfaction and medical compliance.[1] However, there are significant racial and ethnic disparities that exist within medicine as a whole and, more specifically, within the field of ophthalmology.[2] One way to address this gap is to diversify the physician workforce by increasing the number of physicians from URMs.[2] URM is defined by membership in certain …

Barriers And Facilitators In Rehabilitation In Chronic Diseases And After Surgery: Is It A Matter Of Adherence?, Elijah E. Sanches, Emily Aupers, Nasser Sakran, James Navalta, Tomasz Kostka, Sjaak Pouwels

Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences Faculty Research

Although it has been generally acknowledged that participating in rehabilitation programs is better for chronic diseases or post-surgery, the adherence rates of these programs remain lower than expected. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), adherence has been defined as follows: "the extent to which a person's behavior corresponds with agreed recommendations from a healthcare provider." In general, rehabilitation is well investigated, and in chronic diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cardiovascular disease, neuromuscular disease, cancer, and even psychiatric diseases like depression, it has been shown that exercise therapy, in particular, has beneficial effects on morbidity, mortality, and convalescence …

Screening For Human Trafficking: Best Practice Guidelines And Recommendations For Health Care Providers, Bernadette Portillo

Student Scholarly Projects

Human trafficking (HT) is a federal and international crime and is regarded as one of the most pressing human rights issues. Adult and minor victims are trafficked by force (rape, beatings, confinement), fraud, and coercion resulting in profound physical and psychological injuries (Chisolm-Straker et al., 2019, p. 72; Department of Homeland Security, 2020; Vera Institute of Justice, 2014, p. 6). Most clinicians fail to recognize HT victims (Egyud et al., 2017; Leslie, 2018; Mason, 2018; McDow & Dols, 2020; Mostajabian et al., 2019; Patient Safety Monitor Journal, 2017; Stevens & Dinkle, 2020). This policy brief’s purpose is to provide health …

Difficulty In Video Games, Jason Bechdolt

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

Throughout time games have been utilized for a great variety of purposes: relaxing leisure, competitive activity, intellectual exercise, and many other sources of enjoyment. The element of difficulty has existed in various degrees throughout all of those game styles, usually found through the skill of an opponent, but lately many games have been designed to have a digital opponent to provide that difficulty. With access to more information than ever before, people have gotten the chance to witness lives and worlds that they can never physically enjoy, and this has led to a considerable market for games that can provide …