Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Environmental And Occupational Health Risks: Educating Undergraduate (Adn-Bsn) Nursing Students For Safer Practice, Dorinda A. Mercado

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Background: Globally, adverse health effects, including deaths and disabilities, occur from living or working in unhealthy domains where exposure to environmental and occupational hazards exists. A multitude of these hazards are present in clinical settings in the healthcare environment where nurses care for patients and risk ongoing exposures to toxic substances.

Problem: Environmental and occupational health education is rarely included in the standard undergraduate nursing curriculum, contributing to a deficit among nurses in environmental health awareness and knowledge.

Methods: The study design was a pre/post evaluation of a single cohort (n=32) of undergraduate nursing students to assess environmental and occupational …

The Dedicated Education Unit: Increasing Capacity And Confidence, Heather Marie Van Housen

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Background: In the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) 2020 annual survey, nursing schools turned away 66,274 entry-level applications to baccalaureate nursing programs in the United States due to a faculty shortage and clinical placement sites (AACN, 2021).

Local Problem: Hospitals need more qualified nurses to meet community needs. The need for clinical faculty and additional clinical placement sites disrupts the workforce pipeline through local nursing schools. A new approach to clinical education is needed to prepare more students for the growing complexities of independent nursing practice.

Methods: Dedicated Education Unit (DEU) implementation to expand pre-licensure nursing student clinical …

Purposeful Nurse Hourly Rounding: Plan To Decrease Patient Falls During A Pandemic, Robbie Masangkay

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Problem: Patient falls remain a critical and persistent safety problem in healthcare today. The prolonged impact of the COVID-19 pandemic raises leadership concerns regarding the safe care of high-risk COVID patients and mitigating the increased stress and potential risks of infection to clinical staff.

Context: This Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) scholarly project details implementation of an evidence-based purposeful nurse hourly rounding (PNHR) pilot project designed to decrease the incidence of patient falls on a designated COVID-19 unit.

Measure: A modified PNHR rounding tool was implemented to guide focused elements for key nurse/patient interactions.

Interventions: …

Purposeful Nurse Hourly Rounding: A Plan To Decrease Patient Falls During A Pandemic, Robbie Masangkay

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Aims: This paper describes the design of a purposeful nurse hourly rounding pilot to decrease the incidence of patient falls on a COVID-19 designated unit in an acute hospital setting.

Background: Falls in acute care hospitals are a persistent patient safety problem. The COVID-19 pandemic has added to concerns to safely care for high-risk COVID patients while mitigating the risk of infection for frontline staff.

Methods: A PNHR pilot project was designed for implementation in a 28-bed COVID-19 designated unit in a not-for-profit acute hospital in California. A modified PNHR rounding tool guides focus points for every nurse/patient interaction. Pre- …

The Nurse Will See You Now: Improving Nurse-Led Chemotherapy Teaching, Laura Oka

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Abstract

Problem: According to The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) 2020 World Cancer Report, cancer has contributed to 9.6 million deaths in 2018 and is now globally considered the second most common cause of death (IARC, 2020).

Context: As a cancer patient moves beyond diagnosis, there becomes a need to introduce the plan of care and education related to evidence-based treatments with an intent to cure. As the delivery of these treatments continues to move toward outpatient care, herein lies the challenge of sharing important information with the patient to improve health outcomes.

Intervention: This DNP change of …

Continuous Glucose Monitoring And Diabetes Management During Pregnancy, Nicole Beamish

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Continuous Glucose Monitoring and Diabetes Management During Pregnancy

Abstract

According to the Scope of Practice, Standards of Practice, and the Standards of Professional Performance for Diabetes Educators, registered nurses play an integral role in the promotion of diabetes self-management education and training in diabetes care (AADE, 2017). This paper upholds the standards set forth by the American Association of Diabetes Educators (2017) governing body, to stimulate the process of peer review, promote documentation of the outcomes of diabetes self-management education and training (DSME/T), encourage research to validate practice and improve quality DSME/T and diabetes care for pregnant women who use …

Increasing Access To Medicare Annual Wellness Visits In Primary Care; Utilizing Registered Nurses As Part Of An Interdisciplinary Team Based Approach, Iyo Kubota

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Background: In order to provide evidence-based preventive care to the aging population, Medicare began providing free annual wellness visits (AWVs) to its beneficiaries in 2011. The AWVs are a great opportunity for primary care providers to develop personalized preventive care as well as health promotion. However, many primary care practices especially those with limited resources struggle to incorporate AWVs into their busy primary care practice. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services allows other providers than physicians, NPs and PAs to perform those visits including registered nurses, health educators, and registered dietitians.

Methods: A pilot project was conducted with 12 patients …

Caring Science Education: The Essence Of Professional Practice For The Registered Nurse, Linda C. Ackerman

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Problem: Hospitals have moved from caring, healing environments to business or economic models of caring institutions that focus on census instead of on patients and on technology instead of on touch or human connection (Watson, 2006).

Context: As nurse leaders, we have an obligation to create an environment of authentic, professional, human caring practices within our organizations. Caring science empowers nurses to balance the art and science of clinical judgment by engaging and collaborating with the patient and their family, focusing on the needs of the whole person, honoring the unique perception of health and healing, and engaging them to …

Implementation Of A Mentor Program To Support Nurse Retention: A Pilot Project, Lucy Camarena

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Abstract

Problem: Primary factors affecting nurses’ decisions to stay at an organization include nurse self-concept, job satisfaction, and professional growth. A high turnover rate of nurses poses a risk to patients’ safety and healthcare outcomes. The implementation of mentor programs in institutions that employ new nurses has been shown to reduce turnover rates, increase the quality of patient care, and empower nurses in professional development. The existing literature supports the use of mentor programs and encourages their implementation in healthcare institutions.

Interventions: The DNP project’s goal was to identify effective methods of promoting positive nurse self-concept and increasing job satisfaction …

Utilizing Motivational Interviewing To Encourage Weight Loss In Primary Care, Wendy Sergeant

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Purpose and Background: The purpose of this project was to educate nurse practitioners (NPs) and nurses (RNs) to promote healthy changes in obese individuals using the principles of Motivational interviewing (MI). Obesity is a growing epidemic in the United States with two out of every three adults considered overweight or obese. Their health problems become costly and deadly. Ideally, RNs and NPs are the front line providers in this struggle of obesity because of their philosophy of health promotion. RNs and NPs can screen and address obesity through lifestyle counseling. Motivational interviewing, a proven and effective counseling method, is useful …

Teamstepps: A Foundation For Shared Governance In A High-Risk Obstetrical/Neonatal Service Line, Genevieve Wright

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Abstract

Problem: Declining registered nurse (RN) engagement in the maternal child health (MCH) department, despite improvements in RN staffing, some reductions in nurse-patient ratios, the addition of support staff resources, and a focus on quality and safety.

Context: The project setting is an MCH department of a 184-bed community hospital, part of a large national organization, serving a diverse population in Northern California. The initial stakeholders included RNs, managers, and assistant managers; the team was later expanded as the project developed (see Appendix A).

Intervention: The original aim of this project was to improve nurse engagement among frontline nurses through …

Caritas Intervention To Reduce Stress And Increase Resilience Among Caregivers, Randy L. Williams Ii

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Problem

Workplace stress and burnout consistently rank among the highest concerns in surveys of caregivers. A gap analysis was conducted among a group of patient care coordinators and medical social workers. The gap analysis identified a need for tools to address stress, feelings of being overworked, and irritability.

Context

The setting is an acute care trauma facility providing care to general medical–surgical adult patients, cardiac care, pediatrics, and maternal child care. This facility exists within a larger integrated health care system, consisting of more than 20 acute care facilities in Northern California. The participants were patient care coordinators and medical …

Improving Pediatric Oral-Systemic Health Through Motivational Interviewing: An Interprofessional Training Intervention, Oksana Prodan

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Introduction: In response to the prevalence of early childhood carries (ECC) in the United States, recommendations were established for pediatric primary care providers to routinely incorporate oral-systemic health promotion services into clinical practice. An interprofessional education project was developed between Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) and dentistry students in San Francisco to assist trainees in the effective delivery of oral systemic health promotion services. Improving health promotion communication skills was identified as an area of need for both sets of learners. Therefore, the IPE activity was designed to incorporate Motivational Interviewing (MI) into the training along with pediatric oral …

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (Mbsr) In Reducing Stress In Nursing Students: An Integrative Review And Toolkit, Donna J. Petko

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Background: Across the country, nursing students are experiencing alarming amounts of stress. While stress is a common phenomenon, it has been shown to negatively impact nursing student performance and general health. One solution to this issue is mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). Reported effects of MBSR include stress reduction; mindfulness; improvements in self-esteem; increase in general health; a decrease in anxiety; and an increase in empathy. Because MBSR is not widely included in nursing curricula, students are not learning stress reduction techniques needed to manage daily stress. Purpose: To address this gap, a DNP project was implemented at a university site. …

Leadership Rounding: Improving Frontline Nurse Satisfaction, Erin Bashaw

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

The amount of time nurse managers and senior leadership spend with frontline or bedside staff impacts their ability to empower, engage and retain staff. Improving nurse satisfaction in relationship to teamwork, perception of senior leadership and attitude about direct management should be a priority of all organizations. Leaders that recognize the power of an intergenerational and interdisciplinary workforce will be influential for dynamic change and visionary development. Advancing overall teamwork as a nursing department, developing a better rapport with senior leadership and improving the relationship between direct management and front-line nurses is in the best interest of patient care.