Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Fall Prevention In The Ed, Ninojoseph Lacap

Master's Projects and Capstones

This project focuses on the prevention of patient falls in the emergency department (ED). Kaiser Santa Clara Hospital is an academic medical facility in the heart of Silicon Valley. The facility has a 46 bed ED with an average daily census of 220, specializing in stroke, pediatrics, heart, and left-ventricular assist device (LVAD) patients. For the calendar year of 2016 there were thirty-reported patient falls in the ED. The global aim is to reduce the patient fall rate by 35% for the 2017 calendar year. The project’s objective is to continue the road to patient safety and to have less …

Development Of A Formalized Mentorship Program For Newly Licensed Registered Nurses At A Large Community Medical Center, Javier Moreno

Master's Projects and Capstones

With mentorship being a key to addressing several issues at a large community medical center, the leadership of the institution engaged with students of a Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) Program to conduct a thorough assessment. This paper addresses the charge for a standardized and formalized evidence-based approach to a nurse mentorship program to address key areas that enhance not only the work environment but also the quality of care. These key areas include the 1) promotion of professional development and engagement via 2) acquisition of skills necessary to achieve nursing competence, 3) address lateral violence, 4) increase in staff retention …

Pregnancy Loss In The Emergency Department, Gudrun Reiterhiltebrand

Master's Projects and Capstones

Abstract

The aim of this project is to improve the care for patients experiencing pregnancy loss in the emergency department (ED). Objectives are to enhance understanding of staff about the patients’ experience and their knowledge on how to best care for emotional needs, thus improving quality of patient care, work satisfaction, knowledge, confidence and comfort levels, while decreasing experienced stress. The project was implemented in a midsized community hospital with 117 beds, which discharged 74 patients with “interrupted pregnancies” over the previous year from the ED. The project was directed toward nurses, doctors, care partners, chaplains, and social workers. The …

Development Of A Formalized Mentorship Program, Rozlyn Bauer

Master's Projects and Capstones

The purpose of this project is to help increase retention of newly licensed registered nurses (NLRN) at a large community medical center. The medical center loses approximately 20 NLRNs per year which is costly for the medical center. The loss of NLRN can be attributed to decreased job satisfaction, poor nursing competence and lateral violence between the nursing staff. Evidence shows that mentorship is a proven, evidence-based approach to solving these issues and more (Hodgson & Scanlan, 2013).

Not only can mentorship help increase retention, address lateral violence, increase job satisfaction and nursing competence but, it can also help enhance …

Investing In The Float Pool: A Cost Effective Alternative For Staffing Shortages, Christen Straw

Master's Projects and Capstones

Abstract

Inpatient facilities have historically utilized contract nurses as a short-term solution to staffing shortages. Research suggests that utilizing the float pool provides a cost-effective alternative that has the potential to save the organization millions of dollars per year. This project aims to explore the financial impact of the float pool by increasing the volume of nurses by 50% within six months, individualizing the onboarding process to fit the needs of this complex department, and initiating a shared decision making model for identifying and implementing change. The overarching goal of this project is to provide a cost-saving alternative to staffing …

Business Intelligence Competencies: Making Healthcare Data Come Alive, Christina Bivona-Tellez

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Business Intelligence Competencies: Making Healthcare Data Come Alive While a wealth of healthcare related data exists, nurse leaders (NL) have yet to understand its implications and adopt analytical skills to lead in the transformation of care delivery. Information science is at a new frontier for nursing to embrace. It is critical for nursing leadership to advance and support business intelligence (BI) and interactive data visualization (IDV) skills across the organization and advocate for greater engagement of nurses in health system decision making. With these new tools and competencies, nursing and other health professions can innovate best practices, providing enhanced quality, …

Cultivating A Culture Of Compassion Among Newly Graduated Registered Nurses: An Evidence-Based Mobile Learning Toolkit, Benson Yeung

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Empathy, kindness, and compassion are some of the humanistic values essential to nursing practice particularly in today’s patient and family-centric healthcare environment. A genuinely empathetic and caring relationship between a nurse and a patient not only enhances the quality and safety of care but also contributes to patient satisfaction, compliance to treatment, and overall health outcomes. Debate amongst educators and researchers continues to grow as to whether these uniquely humanistic values are innate or if they can be taught. How do nurses acquire the knowledge, skills, and attitudes towards the delivery of compassionate patient care? What strategies are best suited …

Aligning Theory And Evidence-Based Practices To Enhance Human Flourishing In Nurse Executives, Jim D'Alfonso

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Today’s nurse executives lead highly complex and bureaucratic organizations undergoing sweeping reform at an unprecedented rate of change. Change and high levels of stress are the norm in health care, and ineffective stress management can hinder organizational performance and adversely impact personal wellbeing. The risks of nurse executive burnout and unprecedented turnover led to the development of a 4-hour program to teach theory-guided and evidence-based stress management techniques. The program was intended to increase awareness, enhance effective stress management skills, and improve the nurse executive’s ability to flourish in high stress environments. A pre-intervention and 6-month post-intervention assessment (n …

Readiness For Improving Safe Care Delivery Through Web-Based Hospital Nurse Scheduling & Staffing Technology: A Multi-Hospital Approach, Lisa Massarweh

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Hospital scheduling and staffing practices are linked to patient safety, nurse satisfaction, and cost outcomes (Steege & Rainbow, 2017). Staffing, while complex, is ultimately central to the overall success of the hospital. Demands to eliminate events that cause death or serious harm, produce high patient satisfaction scores while maximizing workforce productivity, test any administrator’s skillset. Providing qualified staff in the right place at the right time can be challenged by restrictive union contracts, variable patient acuities, staff attendance, and mandated staffing ratios. These demands may lead to overtime utilization. There is a growing understanding of the negative effects of healthcare …

Process Improvement Manual: Front And Back Office, Hafsah Badar

Master's Projects and Capstones

The global aim of this project is to decrease variations and improve efficiency in the tasks assigned to the support staff at an outpatient breast clinic. The breast center has a five-person administrative team who rotate through four positions monthly. The specific aim is by May 1, 2017, 100% of the five employees will have a comprehensive knowledge of their role, and adhere to a standardized way of completing tasks. The CNL Leadership themes used were Educator, Team Leader Manager, and Outcomes Manager. Informative interviews were conducted with the staff to gauge the unique needs of the team. 100% of …

Breast Cancer Patient Preparedness For Transition To Survivorship: Individualized Survivorship Care Plans, Kimberly Beringer

Master's Projects and Capstones

Purpose. For breast cancer survivors, after-effects of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy can be substantial, and recurrence is a concern requiring constant surveillance. National healthcare organizations have promulgated guidelines that include providing individualized survivorship care plans (SCP’s). At a northern California oncology department, SCP’s will be prepared for breast cancer patients and delivered in-person by the oncology nurse navigator (ONN).

Method. The author worked with the ONN to develop the format and content requirements for the SCP’s. The ONN prepared individualized plans for patients and scheduled in-person appointments to deliver the SCP’s. A feedback survey to assess preliminary impact was then …

I’M A Big Kid Now: Enhancing Transition Rn Residents’ Confidence During Pediatric Patient Care, Emily W. Lam

Master's Projects and Capstones

The title of the clinical nurse leader project is “I’m a Big Kid Now: Enhancing Transition RN Residents’ Confidence During Pediatric Patient Care”. The project aims to improve the support components for Transition RN residents during their Transition RN Residency at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. The clinical leadership theme that correlates to this project is communication. The clinical nurse leader’s role is to act as an educator and a facilitator throughout this project. In examining the clinical nurse leader competencies, competencies “use performance measures to assess and improve the delivery of evidence-based practices and promote outcomes that demonstrate delivery of …