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Quality Improvement Project Reducing Attrition Rates In Nursing Students: Evaluating The Enhanced Student Success Program, Jason Grigg

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

The high attrition rate in the Associate of Applied Science in Nursing (AASN) program created an opportunity to develop the enhanced Student Success Program (eSSP). This is a faculty-based quality improvement project designed to increase support for students at risk of withdrawal from the AASN program. The aim of eSSP is to reduce attrition rates, however, this project evaluated only short-term changes in faculty confidence. Using Lewin's Change Model and the Theory of Planned Behavior as a guide, this QI implemented a one-group pre-post experimental design to determine whether a short eSSP training program, combined with a 5-week implementation period, …

Quality Improvement Project : Educating Critical Care Nurses On Braden Scale And Sskin Care Bundle To Impact Pressure Injuries, Andrea Garrett

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPIs) increase patients' risk of infection, prolonged hospitalization, death, and healthcare costs. The Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ) has shown that implementing a standardized skin assessment process and a care bundle helps prevent skin injuries. A critical care unit (CCU) at an acute care 339-bed hospital in Southaven, MS, has seen an increase in HAPIs. This quality improvement project aimed to educate CCU nurses about the Braden Scale and the SSKIN care bundle to impact pressure injuries in the CCU within 8 weeks. Education on the Braden Scale and the Skin, Sensory, Keep Moving, Incontinence, …

Quality Improvement Project: Faculty Development For Understanding And Utilization Of Exam Data, Deanne Hutchens

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

This quality improvement project focused on inconsistent use and understanding of exam data among Associate Degree in Nursing (ADN) faculty, which can influence teaching decisions and student success. Many nursing faculty enter education with strong clinical backgrounds but limited experience working with exam statistics such as item difficulty, discrimination values, and Kuder-Richardson 20 (KR-20) reliability. Without a consistent approach, exam results may not be fully used to guide remediation or adjust instruction. This Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project examined whether a structured faculty development session could improve faculty confidence and ability to interpret and apply exam data. A pre- …

Quality Improvement Project: Evaluating The Impact Of Provider Education On Sbirt On Screening For Suds, Faith Ogala

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Substance use disorder (SUD) is a serious public health issue in people with psychiatric disorders. However, diagnosis and treatment are often delayed, leading to poor treatment outcomes and increased social and economic costs. The purpose and aim of this Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project was to educate providers on the Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) model to facilitate the timely diagnosis of SUDs in patients with dual diagnoses. The key outcomes were provider knowledge and SBIRT implementation rates. The Donabedian Model of Healthcare Quality assessed the outcomes, whereas Lewin’s Change Model guided implementation. The project employed …

Establishing A Standardized Suicide Risk Screening Policy For Psychiatric Providers: Closing Gaps In Provider Accountability And Clinical Documentation, Fadekemi Olude

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Psychiatric providers in outpatient settings often experience inconsistent confidence and incomplete documentation when conducting suicide risk screening, contributing to missed opportunities for early identification of at-risk patients. This quality improvement project addressed the need for standardized suicide risk screening at an urban outpatient psychiatric clinic. The purpose was to evaluate documentation using the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS). Using a pre-post intervention design guided by Lewin's Change Theory and the Donabedian Model of Quality Improvement, a 60-minute training session was delivered to 31 psychiatric providers. Participants completed pre- and post-intervention General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES) surveys. Chart audits (N = 1,970) …

A Functional Nutrition Literature Review For Brain Fog And Adhd-Like Symptoms In Adults, Natalie Elisani Aldahondo-Matos

Department of Nutrition Student Projects

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and ADHD-like symptoms, such as difficulty concentrating, mental fatigue, and problems with executive functioning, are increasingly recognized in adults. Although medication is commonly used to manage ADHD, there is growing interest in whether nutrition may also play a role in supporting brain function and attention. Several nutrients involved in brain health including omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B12, magnesium, iron, and choline  have been suggested as potential contributors to cognitive performance and attention. However, the research examining the connection between diet and ADHD symptoms is still limited and sometimes shows mixed results.

The purpose of this project was …

Quality Improvement Project Ai-Powered Conversations: Enhancing Nursing Students’ Interview Skills, Judy K. Staley

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Professional communication is an essential skill for nursing students, particularly in job interviews. Deficits in professional communication can negatively impact future employment and accreditation outcomes. Current practices in faculty-led mock interviews can be limited by time constraints and the need for consistent feedback, underscoring the need for a more consistent and effective method supported by current evidence-based literature. The purpose of this quality improvement project is to evaluate whether integrating AI-assisted mock interviews into faculty-led practices influences faculty perceptions of student preparedness. Guided by Kotter’s Change Model and supported by the constructivist framework, the project aimed to enhance the effectiveness …

Final Project Report Asme E-Hpvc Team, Vivien Allen, M. Bourgeois, Dawson Durr, Matthew Link

Engineering Senior Design Reports

This report details the final design produced by the ASME e-HPVC senior design team at the end of a year-long design project. The overall task given by the ASME president is to create a vehicle capable of competing in the ASME e-Human Powered Vehicle Competition (e-HPVC) at the end of two year long design projects. The key goal of this year’s project is to design the vehicle and key safety features and confirm that they meet the specification in the rulebook for the competition.

The final design has two key subsystems, the bike and the Rollover Protection System (RPS). Work …

Understanding Individual And Contextual Barriers To Colorectal Cancer (Crc) Screening In Vulnerable Populations, Patrick Tolosky Md, Michael Kohut Phd, Isabel May Ba, Darby Glenn, Christina A. Kapala Do, Kimberly Murray Mpp, Lise Cloutier Md, Daggett John Md

Costas T. Lambrew Research Retreat 2026

No abstract provided.

New Nurse Faculty Mentorship: A Quality Improvement Project, Kimberly B. Porter

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

The ongoing nursing faculty shortage limits program capacity and makes it harder to retain novice nurse educators transitioning from clinical practice to academia. The literature highlights issues such as insufficient mentorship, role confusion, and a lack of structured support as key factors contributing to early faculty attrition. This quality improvement (QI) project aimed to implement and evaluate an evidence-based mentorship program to improve perceptions of mentorship effectiveness among new-to-academia nurse faculty in a School of Nursing in Arkansas. The purpose was to implement and evaluate a mentorship program designed to improve perceptions of mentorship among new-to-academia nurse faculty. The project …

Quality Improvement Project: Enhancing Staff Delivery Of Non-Pharmacological Interventions In Serious Mental Illness Care, Kimberly Vann

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Serious mental illness places a significant burden on global healthcare systems, increasing hospital utilization and critically impairing patients' functional status. Often crippling, these illnesses are mostly treated with medication therapy despite proven research to show effective outcomes with holistic and non-pharmacological therapies. Non-pharmacological interventions (NPIs) are often underutilized in outpatient mental health settings. The purpose of this quality improvement project was to determine whether structured training impacted staff confidence in delivering NPIs and impacted documentation frequency in the electronic health record (EHR). The project was guided by the Iowa Model of Evidence-Based Practice and implemented using the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle, …

Quality Improvement Project Bridging The Gap In Scholarly Productivity: An Educational Workshop For Tenure-Track Nursing Faculty, Britney Thorne

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Tenure-track nursing faculty often balance teaching, service, and scholarship responsibilities, which can be overwhelming when promotion and tenure expectations are unclear or insufficiently supported. At a historically Black university, a school of nursing identified gaps in scholarly productivity and limited guidance for early-career faculty, highlighting the need for structured support. Guided by Knowles’ Adult Learning Theory and Lewin’s Change Theory, this Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) quality improvement project examined whether structured faculty development workshops could improve faculty knowledge of scholarly productivity, engagement in scholarly activities, and perceptions of tenure and promotion expectations. A quasi-experimental pre-post design was implemented over …

Enhancing Ot-Classroom Staff Collaboration: A Usability Study Of A Formalized Sensory Communication Process, Victoria Foo, Neil Harvison, Alyson Pasquale, George Bulger, Jessica Evans

Post Professional Occupational Therapy Doctoral (PPOTD) Student Capstone Projects

Addressing students’ sensory-based behaviors can be challenging when there are no team-based and student-centered approaches in place, making it essential to create an interdisciplinary framework where OTs and classroom staff communicate consistently to blend supports. Effective communication and collaboration involve carryover, explanation, education, and training of sensory processing and sensory-based interventions (SBI) as crucial components in a knowledge translation process.

Assessing The Feasibility Of Integrating Occupational Therapy Services Within A Pediatric Primary Care Setting For Children 0-3 Years Old., Amanda L. Wilbert, Cristina Dumitrescu, Kim Karr

Post Professional Occupational Therapy Doctoral (PPOTD) Student Capstone Projects

The objective of this capstone project was to assess the feasibility of implementing occupational therapy (OT) services within a pediatric primary care office using a manualized service delivery approach. Occupational therapy is inherently grounded in parent coaching and education, positioning the profession to play a critical role in supporting families and promoting early identification of developmental risk. This project aimed to address a documented gap in the inclusion of OT within pediatric primary care by exploring how OT services can support parenting skills and monitor children identified as at risk for developmental, behavioral, or psychosocial concerns. The project was conducted …

Thinking With The Feet In The Clinic Of Psychosis, Jed Wilson

Middle Voices

In his later work, Lacan makes occasional reference to the idea of “thinking with the feet.” An equivocal formulation, it first seems to suggest that thought and language can be regarded as physical processes—not occurring in some homunculan disembodied brain or mind, but in the real of the body. Equally, it can call to mind the idea of thinking “on” one’s feet, in the manner of adaptive improvisation. Going further, could we not also say that it points to the possibility of setting something in motion (as in walking, dancing, going somewhere—all the things we do with the feet) as …

Final Project Report Vertical Movable Shelving, Pascale Easterday, Wendy Ortega, Jaden Powell, Ian Wietstruck

Engineering Senior Design Reports

This year-long senior design project focused on improving accessibility and workplace safety for staff and student employees in the Access Services department at Coates Library at Trinity University. The existing fixed shelving behind the service desk requires frequent overhead reaching and awkward lifting, creating ergonomic risks and limiting accessibility for workers of varying heights and physical abilities. At the same time, the library must maintain dense storage within limited space. The goal of this project was to design, construct, and evaluate a modular vertical movable shelving system that improves accessibility while preserving storage capacity and integrating with existing workflows.

The …

Final Project Report Merluxe: Wine Suitcase 2.0, Ilsa Newland, Grace Robertson, Molly Van Ackeren, Issa Un

Engineering Senior Design Reports

Transporting wine presents several challenges for consumers and wine enthusiasts. Wine is highly sensitive to environmental conditions, particularly from changes in temperature and physical shock, both of which can either degrade the quality of the wine or cause permanent damage to it. Existing wine transport options are often expensive, single-use, poorly insulated, or not compliant with airline regulations. This project was adapted from a previous Senior Design Project in 2019 that created a preliminary wine suitcase with insulation and foam inserts. The Wine Suitcase 2.0 improves upon this initial design by optimizing the subsystems, adding temperature sensing and spill containment …

Final Project Report Organic Textiles Heated Material Press, Maddie Mueller, Daniel Pinzon, Samira Turino, Mikayla Potts

Engineering Senior Design Reports

Eco-material sheets often shrink, warp, or cure unevenly during drying, making it difficult for Makerspace users to prepare repeatable samples for testing and prototyping. The Organic Textiles project addressed this problem by designing and validating a makerspace-compatible thermo-mechanical press for post-processing already formed eco-material sheets. The final prototype uses heated aluminum platens, guided vertical compression, closed-loop temperature control, and a laptop-based graphical user interface to soften, press, and cool representative sheets under controlled conditions.

The final design met several major project objectives. The closed-loop temperature control system maintained platen temperature within ±2 °C at tested setpoints of 45 °C, 55 …

Moving Biology Education Forward, Mark Wanner

UNH Today Archive

No abstract provided.

Innovator Of The Year’S Technology Is Making Our Bridges And Structures Safer, Beth Potier

UNH Today Archive

No abstract provided.

Improved Simulation, Bayesian Estimation, Phase Activation, And Non-Cartesian Reconstruction In Fmri, John Bodenschatz

Dissertations (1934 -)

In fMRI it is desirable to obtain images with high contrast and low noise at a high spatio-temporal resolution. Doing so allows for a more reliable assessment of capturing brain dynamics in higher detail. Many techniques have been employed and tested to collect more images per unit of time and/or increase spatial resolution, while maintaining a high quality image. This has been done using in-plane and through-plane acceleration with promising results (SENSE, GRAPPA, CAIPIRINHA, CAIPIVAT). Following a description of work done towards a unified fMRI simulation software package, this dissertation will present work towards three methods to enhance fMRI time …

A League Of Her Own: The Comeback After Collison, Ashley Otto, Do, Mbs, Carly Day, Md

Jefferson Hospital Staff Papers and Presentations

Initial History

During a college softball game, the left fielder (patient A) and center fielder (Patient B) collide while attempting to catch a fly ball. Patient A immediately lost consciousness and Patient B screamed in pain grabbing her right leg. The athletic trainer (AT) and student athletic trainer access and triage the players. Upon the AT's arrival, Patient A became conscious, appeared confused, denied distress, and complained of jaw pain. Patient B continued to have upper right leg pain. Both athletes are helped off the field and the on-call physician is asked to come to the field.

Impact Of Provider Confidence And Psychiatric Referrals Through Education And Implementation Of The Gad-7 Anxiety Screening Tool In An Outpatient Family Clinic, Maceline E. Check

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Gaps in provider and nurse confidence in identifying and managing anxiety disorders in outpatient family clinic settings contribute to underdiagnosis, delayed intervention, and reduced psychiatric referrals. This quality improvement project evaluated the impact of provider education and implementation of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) screening tool on provider and nurse confidence and appropriate psychiatric referral rates, with the goal of improving clinical decision-making and standardizing anxiety screening practices. The project was guided by Lewin’s Change Theory and the Iowa Model of Evidence-Based Practice. Using a quasi-experimental pre- and post-intervention design, providers and nurses in an outpatient family clinic received structured, …

Quality Improvement Project: Impacting Staff Confidence In Recognizing Hiv Medication Adherence, Joy Nwansi-Iro

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Medication adherence to antiretroviral therapy is essential for viral suppression and improved outcomes among individuals living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Despite advances in treatment, healthcare providers lack confidence in recognizing medication adherence challenges and implementing appropriate interventions. Evidence suggests that provider education using standardized adherence assessment tools improves adherence monitoring and clinical decision-making. The purpose of this quality improvement project is to evaluate whether an educational intervention and a standardized workflow using the CASE Adherence Index would impact healthcare staff confidence in recognizing HIV medication adherence. Lewin’s Change Theory guided the project through the stages of unfreezing, change, and …

Boolean Rank Via Monomial Ideals And Neural Ideals, Juliann Marie Geraci

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This dissertation develops new connections between Boolean matrix factorization, combinatorial neural codes, and commutative algebra. The central goal is to understand how structural and algebraic invariants can be used to measure and bound complexity in discrete data. We begin by studying the Boolean matrix factorization (BMF) problem, which seeks to express a binary matrix as a product over the Boolean semiring with minimal inner dimension, known as the Boolean rank. By interpreting binary matrices as bipartite graphs, we relate Boolean rank to biclique covers and introduce algebraic techniques to study this quantity. We associate to a matrix its edge ideal …

Preventing Information Loss During Icu To Or Handoff, Jenna Alfeldt, Kristen Hoffer, Ashley Miles, Amanda Schwarztrauber

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Student Projects

Background and Significance: Inconsistent ICU to OR handoff practices create conditions for information loss, threatening patient safety and continuity of care. Communication errors contribute to an estimated 250,000 fatalities and $20 billion in annual U.S. healthcare costs.

Review of Literature Findings: A thorough literature review revealed that standardized handoff procedures are shown to improve communication and team dynamics.

Methods: This quality improvement (QI) project implemented a standardized handoff process using the Handoff Reference Tool when transferring patients from the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) to the Operating Room (OR) in a large academic medical center. Pre- and post-implementation …

Transesophageal Echocardiogram Training For Student Registered Nurse Anesthetists, Sophie Hesse, Annie Krippene, Christian Shelton

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Student Projects

Background and Significance: Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is a vital diagnostic tool in perioperative care. At Barnes-Jewish College Goldfarb School of Nursing (GSON), Student Registered Nurse Anesthetists (SRNAs) formerly received limited TEE instruction, consisting primarily of didactic content. This quality improvement project aimed to enhance SRNA proficiency in TEE by integrating online and simulation-based training.

Review of Literature Findings: Simulation-based education has been shown to improve knowledge, skill, and confidence compared to lecture-only methods (Bloch et al., 2017; Chenkin et al., 2023; Pezel et al., 2023; Weber et al., 2019; Zhao et al., 2021).

Methods: Guided by the Iowa Model and …

Probing Composition Effects On The Intrinsic Energetics Of Proton Transfer In Binary (Hcl)M(H2o)N Clusters, Max R. Tucker, Sarah N. Arradondo, Olivia M. Longsworth, George C. Shields, Gregory S. Tschumper

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

This work examines the effects on intrinsic energetics as the composition of finite (HCl)_m(H₂O)n cluster families containing at least one water molecule is changed at the molecular level, where m ≥ 2 and m + n = 4 − 6, and the associated (Cl⁻)_x(H₃O⁺)_x(HCl)_m−x(H₂O)_n−x clusters resulting from the dissociation of x HCl fragments via proton transfer (PT). They are collectively labeled m:n, and xPT indicates the degree of dissociation, from 0PT (no dissociation) up to 3PT. More than 1000 unique minima …

Associations Between Smoking Habits And Weight-Related Behaviors Among People Who Smoke In The United Arab Emirates: A Cross-Sectional Study, Sharifa Alblooshi, Maryam Hassan Dawood, Dana N. Abdelrahim, Marika Lo Monaco, Falak Zeb

All Works

Background: Smoking is one of the leading global public health problems, and is complicated by multiple reasons for its prevalence and associated health problems. An understanding of the influence of smoking activity on weight management is essential to formulate successful health programs. Aim: The objective of the present study was the investigation of the association between smoking habits and weight management among adult people who smoke in the UAE. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 232 participants who completed a 36-item questionnaire assessing their smoking habits and weight management practices. Results: The sample consisted mostly of males (75.4%) aged …

Contests Of Masculinity: The Model Program, Notre Dame, And Collegiate Football, 1945-1972, Brian Michael Burns

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation examines how collegiate football functioned as a contested site for defining masculinity and institutional identity in the United States between 1945 and 1972. Focusing on the leadership and interactions of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Football Foundation (NFF), and the University of Notre Dame, the project argues that these institutions promoted competing models of masculinity that reflected broader tensions between moral authority, institutional control, athletic success, and social change in postwar America. This dissertation argues that postwar collegiate football did not express a single dominant masculine ideal but instead became a site of ongoing institutional …