Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Controlling Involvement To Promote Confidence In Palliative Care Decisions - A Grounded Theory From The Patient's Perspective, Susan F. Lee

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Decision making in the context of palliative care is particularly complex given the unpredictable illness trajectories experienced by patients and the number of individuals who may be part of the decision making process. This grounded theory study explored and described from the perspective of patients with advanced illness, their experiences of making care decisions. A review of literature at the commencement of the study indicated that there was a lack of evidence to support the best way of ascertaining patient's preferences for involvement in decisions in a palliative care context and almost no research to guide clinicians about the involvement …

Other People's Country: A Memoir; And, Developing A Trustworthy Narrator: An Essay, Maureen Helen

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis comprises two interrelated sections. The first section is a substantial piece of creative writing, which l have cailed 'Other People's Country: A Memoir, in the genre of travel memoir, and an essay. The memoir borrows techniques from fiction, drama and poetry to tell a story of a middle-aged, middle-class city nurse, who travels to a remote settlement at the edge of the Western Desert of Western Australia to provide health care for a fluctuating population of around 400 people, for whom English is a third or fourth language.

Writing that includes stories about vulnerable people from another culture, …

Providing A "Good Death": Critical Care Nurses' Suggestions For Improving End-Of-Life Care, Renea L. Beckstrand, Lynn Clark Callister, Karin T. Kirchhoff

Faculty Publications

• Background Providing appropriate end-of-life care has become a primary concern of nurses and the public. The highly technological critical care environment may not facilitate such care.
• Objective To collect suggestions from critical care nurses for improving end-of-life care in intensive care units.
• Methods A geographically dispersed, random sample of 1409 members of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses was sent a 72-item survey on perceptions of end-of life care. The survey included a request for suggestions on ways to improve end-of life care.
• Results Of the 861 critical care nurses whoo responded to the survey, 485 offered 530 suggestions for …

Enrolled Nurses' Attitudes, Subjective Norms, Intentions And Behaviour Related To Independent Medication Administration, Donna Sayers

Theses : Honours

The purpose of this quantitative descriptive research study was to investigate Enrolled Nurses' attitudes, intentions and behaviour in relation to independent medication administration (IMA). This research was necessary as a significant number of Enrolled Nurses (ENs) are now able to administer medications up to Schedule Four level, without supervision when they have completed a medication administration programme (MAP). This change in the scope of practice for the EN will eventually be introduced nationally as recommended by the National Review of Nursing Education (2002). Anecdotal reports suggest that IMA is causing concern for the EN but little or no research has …

Nurses' Decision Making Processes Regarding Indwelling Catheter Insertion And Removal, Helen Hull

Theses : Honours

Urinary catheterisation remains a common procedure conducted by nurses often as a result of autonomous decision making. This research aimed to identify and describe the lived experience of nurses' decision making processes regarding the insertion and removal of urinary catheters. The research was believed to be important as there is a myriad of literature on what is best practice but very little on what is actually taking place in nursing practice. A qualitative phenomenological study design was chosen, where nurse participants were interviewed using open-ended questions. Descriptive phenomenology was the chosen method which follows in Heidegerr's tradition that allowed nurses …

Clinical Presentation Of Acute Coronary Syndrome: Does Age Make A Difference? Implications For Emergency Nursing, Iesiah M. Harris

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Accurately recognizing symptoms of Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) presents a challenge to Emergency Department (ED) nurses and physicians. Due to the variety of clinical presentations in patients, ACS is frequently missed diagnosed. Studies demonstrate that many patients present with atypical symptoms and presentation varies based on gender. There is, however, a paucity of studies on the presentation of ACS in the elderly. With the older American population growing at exponential rates, it is imperative that studies are conducted to better comprehend ACS clinical presentation in the elderly. By 2020, it is anticipated, that 20% of the population will be 65 …

Self Reported Pain Diary For Assessment Of Chronic Pain In The Communicative, Cognitively Intact Nursing Home Resident, Kathy K. Hager

DNP Projects

This paper describes a clinical project using a self-reported pain diary for the assessment of chronic pain in the communicative, cognitively-intact nursing home resident. There are estimates of chronic pain among nursing home residents that range from 4 – 83%. The goal of this clinical project was to evaluate a chronic pain diary in relation to its effectiveness and efficiency in accurately assessing pain among nursing home residents. Assessment has been identified as a major barrier in the control of chronic pain, and the self-report is accepted as the most reliable measure of a person’s pain. The self-reported pain diary’s …

A Comparison Of Nurses' Clinical Judgement And The Short Form-Mini Nutritional Assessment Tool In Assessing The Nutritional Status Of Older Patients In An Acute Clinical Setting, Roger Shreeve

Theses : Honours

Decreased nutritional status of older hospitalised patients has been identified as a significant problem. The prevalence of malnutrition in older people has been reported to be between 17% and 65% in acute hospital settings. This has led to the recognition of a need for a valid instrument to adequately assess nutritional status. Tools developed to date still require much time and expertise to implement, limiting their use within the practical setting. Nurses are in an ideal position to conduct nutritional assessments. They possess clinical knowledge which can be utilised to provide individualised and timely assessment. To. date, the literature does …

Creating Technology-Enhanced Practice: A University-Home Care-Corporate Alliance, Patricia Flatley Brennan, Laura Burke, Gail Casper, Margaret Sebern, Carolyn Krause, Susan Kossman, Delores Severtson, Judy Murphy

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Insuring full benefit of consumer health informatics innovations requires integrating the technology into nursing practice, yet many valuable innovations are developed in research projects and never reach full integration. To avoid this outcome, a team of researchers partnered with a home care agency’s staff and patients and their corporate parent’s Information Systems and Research group to create a Technology-Enhanced Practice (TEP) designed to enhance care of home bound patients and their family care givers. The technology core of TEP, the HeartCare2 web site, was built in a collaborative process and deployed within the existing patient portal of the clinical partner. …

Mennonite College Of Nursing Annual Report, 2005-2006, Mennonite College Of Nursing

Annual Reports - Mennonite College of Nursing

Annual report of the Mennonite College of Nursing at Illinois State University

Linking Nursing Workload And Performance Indicators In Ambulatory Care, Karen F. Griffin Msn, Rn, Cnaa, Beth Ann Swan Phd, Crnp, Faan

College of Nursing Faculty Papers & Presentations

More and more ambulatory care organizations are using nursing report cards to monitor and evaluate the quality and effectiveness of nursing care in the ambulatory setting.

Nurse staffing levels is usually one of the items included in a nursing report card and the one most scrutinized by ambulatory care administrators.

One strategy employed by the nursing leadership at the South Texas Veterans Healthcare System to justify nurse staffing levels is linking administrative staffing monitors with nurse-sensitive outcomes via workload and performance indicators.

Through this approach, nurse leaders are able to justify nurse staffing level changes, needed technology changes, process improvements, …

Towards Health Informatics 2.0: Blogs, Podcasts And Web 2.0 Applications In Nursing And Health Informatics Education And Professional Collaboration, Peter J. Murray, Margaret M. Hansen Edd, Msn, Rn

Nursing and Health Professions Faculty Research and Publications

Health professionals and students are expected to be proficient in basic information technology so as to mitigate error, communicate effectively, manage information and collaborate with peers. Web 2.0 applications such as blogs, podcasts and wikis are social networking tools that may enhance health professionals' development of such skills. As Web 2.0 application use by health professionals is in its infancy, the purpose of this paper is to present examples of the use of such tools that hold potential for online and mobile information dissemination, knowledge building in education, and professional collaboration. Examples based in a collaborative model of virtual conference …

Podcasting And Mp3 Players: Emerging Education Technologies, Margaret M. Hansen Edd, Msn, Rn

Nursing and Health Professions Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Factors Associated With Prolonged Prehospital Delay Of African Americans With Acute Myocardial Infarction, Angela D. Banks, Kathleen Dracup

Nursing and Health Professions Faculty Research and Publications

BACKGROUND: Delays in seeking treatment for signs and symptoms of acute myocardial infarction are longer for African Americans than for whites.

OBJECTIVE: To determine factors associated with prolonged delay and the extent to which perceived racism influences prehospital delay in African Americans with acute myocardial infarction.

METHODS: Sixty-one African Americans with acute myocardial infarction were interviewed within 1 month of hospital admission. Delay times were calculated on the basis of the interviews. Independent t tests and chi(2) tests were used to determine factors associated with prolonged delays. RESULTS: Median delay was 4.25 hours and did not differ significantly between women …

The Criminal Justice Response To Elder Abuse In Nursing Homes: A Routine Activities Perspective, Brian K. Payne, Randy R. Gainey

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Politicians and researchers have begun to pay more attention to elder abuse in recent times. Most of the research on elder abuse has focused on cases of abuse perpetrated by family members, treating the phenomenon as a social problem, but it is increasingly being conceptualized as a crime problem. The current study examines elder abuse in nursing homes from a criminological perspective. Using routine activities theory as a guide, particular attention is given to the criminal justice system's response to abusive activities committed by nursing home employees. In all, 801 cases of abuse investigated by Medicaid Fraud Control Units are …

The Present State Of Nfp Science, The Challenges We Face, Richard J. Fehring

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Peripheral Arterial Disease Screening Of An Underserved High Risk Population, Laura Walter Triola

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Disparity in access to health care and preventive services places a heavier burden of morbidity on those with limited access and resources. Underserved populations with decreased access to appropriate health screening and therapeutic interventions often present with increased risks for peripheral arterial disease. Some patients with peripheral arterial disease are asymptomatic and may defer treatment while others present with occlusive disease requiring immediate therapy. Delaying diagnosis and treatment reduces quality of life and functional status. The prevalence of peripheral arterial disease has been extensively studied in the elderly population but the prevalence in the high-risk underserved population is unknown. The …

Women Who Continue Hormone Replacement Therapy Despite Findings From The Women's Health Initiative, Catherine Margaret Greenblum

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since the results of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study were published in 2002, millions of women and their healthcare practitioners have had to re-examine decisions about the use of hormone replacement therapy. This level one descriptive study explored the characteristics of menopausal women who could not tolerate estrogen withdrawal and continued taking hormone replacement therapy despite findings of risk published in the Women's Health Initiative. The sample included the medical records of 1,195 patients in a single-physician OB-GYN practice in northeast Florida. All records of women with a birth date in 1954 or prior and a visit to the …

Integrating Disaster Preparedness Into A Community Health Nursing Course: One School's Experience, Mary Ireland, Emma Kontzamanis, Chantal Michel

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Teaching And Learning In Urology Nursing, Karen A. Karlowicz

Ellmer School of Nursing Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Life Disrupted: Still Lived, Judith M. Jarosinski

Theses and Dissertations

This research illustrates the experience of living with hallucinations from the perspective of being, and sought to answer the questions: what is the meaning of hallucinations and how do hallucinations connect to one's sense of self?A phenomenological Heideggerian hermeneutic approach was used to guide data collection and analysis. In this study, 12 individuals with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorders were asked to describe their experience of hallucinations within the context of being. An overarching constitutive pattern emerged with four themes. The constitutive pattern, "A Life disrupted: Still lived," described a pattern of survival and perseverance on one's own terms; a common …

Relationships Among Stress, Blood Pressure, And Heart Rate Variability In Meditators, Sangthong Terathongkum

Theses and Dissertations

PROBLEM STATEMENT: Growing evidence indicates that psychological stress contributes to cardiovascular diseases through complex neuroendocrine mechanisms. Psychological stress leads to several physiological responses including increased heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) as well as decreased heart rate variability (HRV) through alterations in the autonomic nervous system (ANS), specifically increased sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity and decreased parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) activity. Meditation is thought to induce an innate relaxation response leading to reduced psychological stress. Findings from past studies have provided inconclusive evidence regarding the direction and strength of relationships among stress, BP, HRV, and meditation practice. PROCEDURES: A …

Barriers And Facilitators To Prenatal Care For Pregnant Latina Women In Cobb County, Georgia, Carol Holtz, Annette Bairan

Faculty Articles

This research study seeks to identify factors that serve as barriers and/or facilitators to prenatal care for Latina women and to provide data to assist health care providers, health care agencies, and policy makers in developing programs that maximize access to prenatal care for Latina women. In addition, other groups may also find this data useful, such as scholars in Latin American studies, immigration, cultural diversity, minority health care, and health care in general. The research questions consist of the following: (1) What do indigent pregnant (or recently delivered) Latina women believe about prenatal care? (2) What are the barriers …

Relationship Between Functional Level And Cost Of Care Of Nursing Home Residents As Measured By The Functional Component Of The Minimum Data Set And The Breines Functional Assessment Scale, Jeanne Turnamian

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

.

Perceived Stressors, Coping Strategies, And Burnout Pertaining To Psychiatric Nurses Working On Locked Psychiatric Units, Richard A. White

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to describe perceived occupational stressors, coping strategies, and burnout levels of psychiatric nurses working on locked psychiatric units in southeastern Michigan (N = 46), as well as to examine the relationships among demographic factors and these variables. This study utilized a correlation design, adapting the stress, coping, and burnout theoretical frameworks of Seyle, Lazarus, Folkman, and Maslach.

The results indicated that the majority of psychiatric nurses in this study were experiencing low levels of stress and moderate levels of burnout. The findings suggested that staffing issues were an important factor in determining stress …

Access To Care: The Experience Of Community-Dwelling Older Adults Receiving Medicare And Medicaid, Mary Ann Simanello Phd, Msn, Rn

Dissertations

Access to care represents a leading health indicator for meeting the complex healthcare and social needs of an exploding population of older adults living in the United States. This qualitative study was undertaken to discover the essence of access to care by community-dwelling older adults with Medicare and Medicaid. Participants were recruited from a metropolitan area in Southern California. Thirteen women and men aged 65 to 91 described their experiences with accessing care during a face-to-face, audio-recorded interview. The study aimed to: describe experiences of access to care, identify facilitators and barriers to care, and describe the effects of facilitators …

Validity And Reliability Of The Perceived Readiness For Discharge After Birth Scale, Marianne E. Weiss, Polly Ryan, Lisa Lokken

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Objective: To assess the psychometric properties of a scale measuring mothers’ perceptions of readiness for discharge after birth.

Design: Psychometric analyses including construct validity using factor analysis and known groups comparisons, predictive validity, and reliability. Data were collected at discharge and 6 weeks postdischarge. Setting: Tertiary-level perinatal center in the Midwestern United States. Participants: 1,462 postpartum mothers. Intervention: None. Main Outcome Measures: Perceived Readiness for Discharge After Birth Scale scores; subscale scores for personal status and knowledge factors.'

Results: Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the scale contained two factors. Perceived Readiness for Discharge After Birth Scale scores were …

Primary Care Nurse Attitudes, Beliefs And Confidence Levels Regarding Alcohol Abuse And Its Treatment: Impact Of Educational Intervention., Raja Sekhar Vadlamudi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Alcohol abuse has been a major burden on the society. In the fight against it a key issue the education of the primary care nurses has been ignored. This study evaluates the effect of education program on the attitudes, beliefs, and confidence levels of primary care nurses regarding alcohol abuse and its treatment. Data from the Project Mainstream educational intervention were used with permission from the investigators. Two hundred one students and faculty of nursing at Vanderbilt University participated in the intervention, which was designed to train primary care providers in the Brief Negotiated Intervention technique for early detection and …

Nurses' Perception Of Family Presence During Resuscitation, Josephine Njoku

Master's Projects

Background Family witnessed resuscitation (FWR) is the concept of allowing family members at bedside during cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Studies have shown that the lack of standard policies by hospitals regarding FWR forces nurses to make different decisions regarding family presence at bedside during resuscitation. The framework for this study is Sandman's teleological model. Objectives To examine nurses' perceptions of having family members present during adult cardiac resuscitation. Methods A descriptive study of 57 registered nurses (n = 57) from northern California was conducted. Participants completed a mailed survey consisting of a 22-item Likert scale questionnaire titled "Family Presence Risk-Benefit Scale." Results …

Nurse's Perceptions Of Causes Of Medication Errors And Barriers To Reporting, Virginia M. Ulanimo

Master's Projects

Objective: To describe medical-surgical nurses' perceptions of frequent causes of medication errors, of what constitutes a medication error, and of what are the barriers and empowerments to reporting. The study also explored the nurses' perceptions of the effect of physician order entry (POE) and barcode medication administration (BCMA) on medication errors. Background: Causes of medication errors have been investigated by numerous researchers in an attempt to determine safe medication administration process. Information technology (IT) systems enhance patient safety. No published studies were found on nurses' perceptions of medication errors in a setting with IT systems in place. Method: A descriptive …