Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Development And Implementation Of An Evidence-Based Practice Mentor Fellowship, Stacy L. Alves

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Background: The Institute of Medicine (2008) set a goal that 90% of healthcare decisions would be based on the best evidence possible by 2020, yet many challenges remain. Common barriers include clinicians’ beliefs about the value of evidence-based practices, their competency to implement it, and systems issues such as time, resources, and organizational value and preparedness (Melnyk et al., 2017).

Local Problem: A hospital within an integrated health care system sought to increase the use of EBP for clinical decision making. A gap analysis revealed a lack of sufficient EBP mentors to lead efforts to promote system-wide EBP implementation.

Context: …

It’S Their Lifeline: Preventing Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infection In An Adult Intensive Care Unit, Jacenda Lee Rangel

Master's Projects and Capstones

Problem description: Central line associated blood stream infection (CLABSI) is one of the deadliest types of hospital acquired infection and blood stream infection, raising patient mortality by 12-25% and accounting for 28,000 deaths annually in the United States. CLABSI also increases morbidity, length of stay, and costs hospitals an average of $48,000 per case. Effective measures for CLABSI prevention are needed for an adult intensive care unit (ICU) of an urban hospital to decrease the financial burden of CLABSI, improve quality of care, and prevent patient harm.

Setting: The microsystem of focus is a 36-bed high acuity ICU. Patients of …

Assessment Of Fall Protocol Use On A Medical-Telemetry Unit, Ashia Mar

Master's Projects and Capstones

Purpose: This quality improvement project serves to implement a fall prevention plan to decrease patient falls on the medical-telemetry unit of a large metropolitan hospital.

Background: Patient falls are a persistent nationwide problem in the acute care setting. Between 700,000 and 1,000,000 falls occur in hospital every year and approximately 30-35% of these falls result in injury and 11,000 falls result in death (Health Research & Educational Trust, 2016). Falls always cause harm to the patient, whether it is emotional or physical; but, falls can also cause harm to the providers, family, and organization. Patient injury, additional hospital expenses, and …

Critical Appraisal Tools And Reporting Guidelines For Evidence-Based Practice, Robin Buccheri, Claire Olivia Sharifi

Gleeson Library Faculty and Staff Research and Scholarship

Background: Nurses engaged in evidence-based practice (EBP) have two important sets of tools: Critical appraisal tools and reporting guidelines. Critical appraisal tools facilitate the appraisal process and guide a consumer of evidence through an objective, analytical, evaluation process. Reporting guidelines, checklists of items that should be included in a publication or report, ensure that the project or guidelines are reported on with clarity, completeness, and transparency. Purpose The primary purpose of this paper is to help nurses understand the difference between critical appraisal tools and reporting guidelines. A secondary purpose is to help nurses locate the appropriate tool for the …

Implementation Of An Evidenced-Based Practice Curriculum To Improve Nursing Practice For Epidural Administration And Monitoring, Chatty O'Keeffe

Master's Projects and Capstones

Abstract

Epidural analgesia (EA) is one inpatient pain management option prescribed by Acute Pain Services (APS) at VA Puget Sound Health Care Services (VAPSHCS). Historically, EA nursing care at VAPSHCS has been managed by surgical units. However, in the last two years, facility restructuring and budget constraints have led to reorganization and consolidation of units. The reduction in units providing nursing EA care has resulted in an overflow of EA patients to the medical intensive care unit (MICU). A previous gap analysis of the compliance in nursing performance of EA nursing care on the surgical acute care unit demonstrated poor …

Barriers Encountered By Nurses And Nursing Assistants That Prevent Purposeful Rounding, Mar Joseph B. Odias

Master's Projects and Capstones

Purpose: The aim of the study was to identify barriers encountered by registered nurses (RNs) and nursing assistants (NAs) that prevent purposeful (hourly) rounding.

Background: The literature has shown that purposeful rounding improves patient outcomes and safety. However, few studies show the barriers encountered by nursing staff that hinder the purposeful rounding process.

Methods: A pre-post test design was implemented on a 25-bed oncology, urology medical surgical unit with a staff of 38 RNs, 9 NAs, and 4 Unit Secretaries (US). A pre-implementation needs assessment survey was completed by 55% (21/38) of RNs, 33% (3/9) of NAs, and 100% (4/4) …

Evidence-Based Change In Practice: Development And Implementation Of Type Ii Diabetic Flow Sheet, Kathryn Grimleybaker

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Ten percent of the National Health Service annual budget goes to treat complications from diabetes (Lancet, 2010). The American Diabetes Association® (ADA, 2013) estimated that diabetics in the United States incur $176 billion annually in direct medical costs for treatment with hospitalization being the main component of the expenditures. California has the largest population of diabetics and the highest annual cost at $27.6 billion (ADA, 2013). The Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP, 2008) found that the average cost of hospitalization in 2008 for a patient with diabetes was $10,937 in contrast to $8,746 for a patient without diabetes. The …