Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Continuity Of Care In The Post-Partum Period, Ashley Quezada

MSN Capstone Projects

Maternal mortality rates in the United States have been a growing concern over the past decade, with rates continuing to climb as recent studies have been published. The total maternal mortality rate in the United States in 2018 was 17.4 and has increased to 32.9 as of 2021, while other developed countries continue to decline (Hoyert, 2023). The maternal mortality rate is the number of deaths per 100,000 live births. More than 50% of pregnancy-related deaths in the United States occur after delivery, in the post-partum period (Melillo, 2020). The purpose of this report is to not only bring light …

Improving Post-Discharge Engagement Of Mental Health Patients In The Veterans Affairs South Texas Healthcare System, Nneoma Lewis

Doctor of Nursing Practice

Discharge from a hospital is a high-risk period for mental health patients, as 20% experience an adverse event within 30 days of discharge. Poor discharge engagement can lead to complications for recovery, which include an increased risk for readmissions, longer length of stay, increased risk for suicide, and death. Hospital stays cost the United States $377.5 billion dollars per year; there is pressure for hospitals, health plans, and providers to examine the admission and discharge processes to improve healthcare delivery, transition of care, and patient health outcomes. At a South Texas VA, 67.66% of mental health patients attended all their …

Reducing Readmission Rates In Adult Patients (18–25 Years) With Alcohol And Substance Use Disorder Through Implementation Of Care Coordination Strategy: An Integrative Review, Godswill Evouka

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Alcohol and substance use disorders are a major issue in adults ages 18 to 25. According to the 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 6.6 million young adults ages 18 to 25 reported that they drank alcohol in the past month, and 2.4 million young adults ages 18 to 25 reported heavy alcohol use in the past. Over 20 million alcohol use cases were reported in the past year in the United States. Further, 21.6% of patients with drug use disorders were readmitted to hospitals within 30 days of discharge. Adults ages 18 to 25 years who are …

Barriers To Obtaining Healthcare In The United States, Nikita Laungani

Nursing | Senior Theses

One barrier to obtaining healthcare in the United States (U.S.) has been the type of healthcare insurance that someone has. It is important for nurses to understand the impact of the patient’s access to care, which is a factor in their health outcomes. Health insurance, race and ethnicity, income, and zip code are at the top of a long list of social determinants of health that affects where and how they receive care. To find out more about how barriers to obtaining healthcare affect outcomes, I researched various types of barriers around the country. It is important to understand how …

Establishing Care With A Primary Care Provider, Ashley Whitlatch

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Established primary care leads to continuity of care, improved patient outcomes, and increased quality of life. There is also an improvement in the unnecessary usage of urgent care resources. The purpose of this project was to pilot a new process within the urgent or emergent care setting to ensure that patients who are not established with a primary care provider (PCP) have an appointment set before they are discharged. Staff were educated and trained in how to schedule primary care appointments for at-large patients. There are a high number of individuals who do not have a primary care provider. When …

Use Of A Communication Tool To Improve The Perception Of Continuity Of Care, Annette Lotz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Inadequate or incorrect communication during transfer from skilled nursing facilities leads to misunderstandings about patient care needs, jeopardizes patients’ trust in the health care system, and leads to poor clinical outcomes. Due to gaps in communication from one health care setting to another, it was essential to determine if a patient-centered discharge tool would improve patients’ perception of continuity of care. The purpose of the study was to implement a patient-centered tool that would help improve the information needed at the time of discharge from a skilled nursing facility. Roy’s Adaptation Model supports the relevance of effective communication in the …

How Home Health Nurses Plan Their Work Schedules: A Qualitative Descriptive Study, Elliane Irani

Faculty Scholarship

Aims and objectives: To describe how home health nurses plan their daily work schedules and what challenges they face during the planning process. Background: Home health nurses are viewed as independent providers and value the nature of their work because of the flexibility and autonomy they hold in developing their work schedules. However, there is limited empirical evidence about how home health nurses plan their work schedules, including the factors they consider during the process and the challenges they face within the dynamic home health setting. Design: Qualitative descriptive design. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 registered nurses who …

Effects Of Transitional Care Management On Hospital Readmissions, Samantha Dunkirk

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Primary care providers are challenged to identify strategies to decrease hospital readmissions. Transitional care management (TCM) services can improve communication and allow primary care providers (PCP) an opportunity to meet with patients just after discharge to assess needs and prevent readmissions. A TCM protocol was evaluated at a large Midwestern clinic to determine if communication improved and readmissions decreased. The protocol consisted of notifying the PCP upon admission and discharge to the hospital, communicating with the patient or family within 48 hours of discharge, and facilitating a follow up visit with the primary care provider within 14 days of hospital …

Parents’ Perspectives On Caring For Children After Solid Organ Transplant, Stacee M. Lerret, Norah L. Johnson, Kristin Haglund

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose

To explore parents’ experiences of the transition from hospital to home and complex chronic illness management following their children's solid organ transplant (SOT).

Design and Methods

Qualitative component of a larger mixed methods longitudinal study. Parents of SOT recipients were interviewed three times following hospital discharge from five major pediatric transplant hospitals in the United States.

Results

Analysis of parent interviews (N = 48) resulted in three themes that characterized the phases of transition to home and complex chronic illness care. Three themes, corresponding to the three time periods of data collection, included “getting back to normal” at 3 …

Developing An Optimal Model For Infant Home Visitation, Isaac Atuahene

Doctoral Dissertations

The United States, Great Britain, Denmark, Canada and many other countries have accepted home visitation (HV) as a promising strategy for interventions for infants after births and for their mothers. Prior HV studies have focused on theoretical foundations, evaluations of programs, cost/benefit analysis and cost estimation by using hospital/payer/insurance data to prove its effectiveness and high cost. As governments and private organizations continue to fund HVs, it is an opportune time to develop and formulate operations research (OR) models of HV coverage, quality and cost so they might be used in program implementation as done for adult home healthcare (HHC) …