Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

They Responded, We Listened: Improving Stroke Education And Patient Satisfaction, Melissa Meighan

DNP Qualifying Manuscripts

The annual decrease in stroke mortality rates in the United States has slowed, but in certain populations, such as Hispanics and in southern U.S. states, mortality rates are increasing. Stroke remains the number one cause of adult disability. A previous stroke is a risk factor for a second stroke. Prompt treatment is essential for positive outcomes. Patients need to present to the hospital no more than 4.5 hours from last known well for intravenous alteplase treatment and six to 24 hours from last known well for endovascular therapy. Based on the literature, the majority of patients are not presenting to …

Caring Science Education: Measuring Nurses Caring Behaviors, Linda Ackerman

DNP Qualifying Manuscripts

Abstract

In preparation for this DNP project and, in reviewing research and evidence-based practices it was found that there are limited research study articles available specifically focusing on caring science educational programs utilized as an intervention to inform and impact the nurses caring behaviors while caring for patients within a heath care environment. There are multiple survey tools directed at the patient which assess the caring behaviors based on the patient’s perception however, there are limited tools that examine the nurse’s perception of their caring behaviors and their personal professional practice as it relates to caring science or relationship-based care …

Nutrition Education To Improve Health Outcomes In Community Dwelling Older Adults, Sara Giessinger

Master's Projects and Capstones

Abstract

The proportion of people age 60 and over is growing faster than other age group, and will double by 2050 from approximately 605 million to 2 billion worldwide, in addition to the 80 and over population quadrupling by the same time. Non-communicable diseases such as obesity, cancer, coronary heart and lung disease, diabetes, hypertension, insulin resistance, and hyperlipidemia,represent 63% of deaths annually worldwide. Due to the immense contact nurses have with clients, they play a key role in screening, referrals and education to guide this demographic to improved health outcomes through nutrition and physical activity interventions (Xiaoyue, Parker, Ferguson, …

Promoting Transgender Cultural Awareness And Sensitivity Through Education: It Starts With A Pronoun, Jacob Adkison

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Background: Health and social disparities affect the quality of life of transgender and gender nonconforming people in a negative manner as opposed to that of their cisgender counterparts (James et al., 2016). Gender discrimination, the lack of medical insurance, and a shortage of culturally competent providers contribute to some of the healthcare barriers in this population. The absence of supportive education for healthcare practitioners for providing culturally sensitive care impacts the transgender and gender nonconforming persons’ desire to seek routine health maintenance due to stigma, which can result in poor health outcomes (Bauer et al., 2009).

Methods: To help fill …

Enhancing Health Literacy Using Teach Back Method To Increase Patient Adherence, Tram Mendoza

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Health literacy is an important component of successful health care delivery and relies on both individual and systemic factors to achieve. For individuals not trained in the medical field, health literacy can be a complicated and perplexing web of information to navigate. Patients can have varying degrees of health literacy affecting their understanding of health conditions, especially the elderly, immigrants, minorities, and the low-income populations. Limited health literacy can pose risks on a patient’s well-being, interfere with their self-care and health maintenance, and possibly create obstacles for the patient if health instructions are not clearly understood. One proven model of …

Decreasing Environmental Health Risks In The Philippines: Implementation Of A Culturally Appropriate Screening Tool, Alyssa Samson

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Objectives: The purpose of this DNP project was to increase the knowledge of environmental health risk factors in the Philippines among nurses and doctors located within that healthcare system. The overall goal was to educate providers on local environmental health risks, provide training for the use of a screening tool (Tagalog Environmental Health and Safety Assessment Tool [TEHSAT]), and provide resources aimed at increasing screening of at risk populations and provide opportunities for education and health promotion.

Methods: This project included a two-part educational training session. The first part included a preliminary presentation on environmental health and the use of …

Improving Pressure Ulcer Education, Fernando Romeo Zamarripa Guzman

Master's Projects and Capstones

An educational gap exists at the point of care with regards to pressure ulcer prevention for hospice clients. Medical personnel provide oral instructions, but they do not provide sufficient tools for future reference. This project consists of improving pressure ulcer education at the point of care. The nursing staff consists of ten nurses who act as case managers. They are a big part of client care within the hospice setting, which can vary from home care or care in a designated facility. To improve the current practice of providing just oral instructions to patients, an educational tool was created to …

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 …

Electronic Health Record Utilization And Education: Improving Role-Specific Confidence And Competence In The Outpatient Setting, Nicole Neuman

Master's Projects and Capstones

The call for meaningful use of electronic health records (EHR) and its universal benefits are well known. Despite mandates for change resistance to adoption of paper-less system remains problematic. Non-use of the EHR has persisted in the outpatient specialty care setting in spite of 4 all-staff trainings and stakeholder backing. This project suggests that implementing team leadership and educational tools provides staff with confidence and supportive resources to achieve proficiency. Objectives for this project include (a) providing staff with training and tools to access self-guided troubleshooting videos, follow quick-guide checklists for crucial tasks, and provide handouts for patient portal access, …

Community-Based Asthma Intervention Programs And Their Impact On Childhood Health Outcomes And Burdens On The Healthcare System, Danika Ng

Master's Projects and Capstones

Since 1997, asthma prevalence rates have increased by 3% annually, leading to a current rate of 18.4 million adults and 6.2 million children with asthma, high hospitalization and emergency department visit rates, and an overall healthcare spending of 50 billion dollars. However, this increase in prevalence is disproportionately impacting children. Asthma is the third leading cause for hospitalization in children, have higher proportions of children being hospitalized with asthma symptoms, and have higher rates of asthma attacks. Recent literature shows that perceived lack of adequate education in areas such as medication adherence, medical device usage, asthma trigger avoidance, lack of …

Supporting Nurse Education In The Implementation Of A Pediatric Delirium Assessment Protocol In The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Lucy Camarena, Rn, Bsn, Cnl, Cpn, Phn

Master's Projects and Capstones

Delirium has historically been under studied, more so in the pediatric population, despite its long term effects on patients’ health. The deficit in knowledge of delirium leads to an increase in hospital stays and unnecessary unit expenses. My intention with this change project is to increase the awareness of delirium in the pediatric delirium by providing an educational intervention to the PICU nurses. After conducting a root cause, SWOT and cost analysis, I determined that successful education of the PICU nurses about delirium could substantially decrease its incidence. Using Ronald Lippitt’s Change Theory and the CNL competencies as guides I …

Increasing Patient Satisfaction And Decreasing Hospital Readmission Due To Deep Venous Thrombosis By Providing Anticoagulation Education For Orthopedic Patients, Margaret Gniewosz

Master's Projects and Capstones

Abstract

Improving Process on Oral Anticoagulant Education for Orthopedic Patients

The aim of this project is to improve anticoagulation education for orthopedic patients to increase patient satisfaction. The microsystem for this project is a medical-surgical (MS), 50-bed unit in a medium size hospital. Because orthopedic patients are at high risk to develop DVT postoperatively, proper anticoagulants and anticoagulation education is an important aspect of patient care. By implementing a well-designed and easy-to-read patient handout on anticoagulants with instructional script for nurses will empower patients to achieve higher level of anticoagulant knowledge and in result, increase patient satisfaction. A preliminary round …

Improving Preadmission Testing Nurses' Knowledge Of Aortic Stenosis And Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement, Alberta Lynn Canale

Master's Projects and Capstones

Abstract

The purpose of this Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) project was to reduce gaps in nursing knowledge through staff education. Guided by the CNL theme of educator and information manager, the goals were to increase PreAdmission Testing (PAT) nurses’ knowledge of severe/critical aortic stenosis (AS), transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedure and patient selection, and satisfaction with knowledge by 10%. Rapid growth of the TAVR program has contributed to a gap in nursing knowledge leading to inconsistent patient care and education. An educational program was developed and spread through a series of Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles. Pre- and post- implementation surveys were …

Development Of A Breastfeeding Class Specifically For Working Moms, Maryleah S. Needels

Master's Projects and Capstones

Successfully breastfeeding mothers who are planning to return to work and remain exclusively breastfeeding their infants have a knowledge deficit as to the federal law protecting their rights along with the basic skills for pumping, storing, and bottle-feeding of breast milk. There is a significant drop in breastfeeding rates at both the 3 and 6-month marker, which coincides with maternal return to employment. After attending the Working Moms Breastfeeding Class, 100% of mothers reported an increase in knowledge surrounding the law and the CDC’s basic skills for handling pumped breast milk based on a pre/post questionnaire. Bandura’s theory of self-efficacy …

Utilizing Tiger Competencies To Improve Informatics Practice, Kwun Ying M. Fung

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Nursing Informatics (NI) is quickly becoming an essential part of nursing. From the classroom, to the bedside, and to the boardroom, nurses across the nursing continuum are expected to use NI in their practice with the hopes of delivering better quality care to their patients. However, the training and education of NI provided to all levels of nurses is unable to keep up with the pace of technology. This project seeks to improve the NI competency of the nursing workforce at a pediatric hospital through an educational course using NI competencies identified by the Technology Informatics Guiding Educational Reform (TIGER) …

Quality Improvement: An Update For Outpatient Oncology Education, Nicole R. Gee

Master's Projects and Capstones

This project is focused on quality improvement in patient satisfaction with regard to side effect management after oncology patient education. The global aim of this project is to improve oncology-specific patient education through the development of an evidenced-based educational binder to be given to patients in a hospital outpatient infusion center and used as an educational guide for nursing staff. Effective standardized patient education has been seen to improve: satisfaction, quality of life, adherence, self-management, outcomes, and reduce unnecessary emergency room visits (Dalby, 2013; Mann, 2011; Smith et al., 2013). A rise in patient confidence for nausea and vomiting self-care, …

Reduced A1c Levels Through Diabetes Self-Management Strategies In The Teen Population: A Systematic Review, Nicole O'Neil

Master's Projects and Capstones

This project utilized current evidence-based practices to improve the diabetes education in the endocrine clinic for the adolescent population ages 15-18. Based on a clinic audit, an average hA1C level of 8.1% was revealed. The goal was to decrease these levels from 8.1% to 7.9% within 90 days through the implementation of the revised diabetes brochure. Evidence suggests the following: DSME improves clinical outcomes and quality of life; an A1C level >7% is associated with increased risks of complications ; teaching aimed at lowering glycemic levels have decreased numerous complications; there is a need to ensure age appropriate, family-centered care, …

Delirium Education For Nurses On A Medical-Surgical Unit, Carole Santos

Master's Projects and Capstones

Failure to recognize delirium compromises patient safety and may lead to harmful outcomes. By June 2015, nurses on medical-surgical units will screen 100-percent of patients for delirium according to an established protocol. The project mesosystem is a 411-bed, level I trauma center and teaching hospital; the microsystem is a 28-bed medical-surgical telemetry unit.

An audit of microsystem data collected over four months in 2014 revealed that delirium was consistently underidentified (10% in September, 26% in October, 34% in November, and 22% in December), suggesting that medical-surgical nurses were not equipped to effectively perform delirium screening.

Nursing education consisting of bedside …

In-Patient Self-Management Diabetes Education, Amy Matthews

Master's Projects and Capstones

The diabetes program strives to provide diabetes self-management education to the in-patient with diabetes. The specific aim is to improve and standardize diabetes education for the inpatient with diabetes by June 2015. The microsystem is a medical surgical unit for patients 18 years and older who present with diabetes as either a primary diagnosis or secondary diagnosis. Fifty percent of the diabetes patients on this unit are ages 65-89 years old, twenty nine percent are ages 50-64. The unit has 32 beds and is filled to capacity ninety five percent of the time. The fishbone diagram revealed our microsystem lacked …

Improving Nurse Education On Research Informed Consent, Tina Rasooli

Master's Projects and Capstones

As the number of human participants in clinical trials continues to grow, it is increasingly imperative that research nurses are educated about valid research informed consent to improve patient outcomes. As patient advocates, nurses must be aware of the components and principles of valid informed consent in order to protect the rights, safety, and wellbeing of their patients as human subjects. The research nurse must also be aware of their available resources and who to contact if they suspect a problem or a lack of patient comprehension of the study. In order to address these needs, an evidence-based performance improvement …

The Potential Of 3-D Virtual Worlds In Professional Nursing Education, Margaret M. Hansen Edd, Msn, Rn, Peter J. Murray, W Scott Erdley

Nursing and Health Professions Faculty Research and Publications

Three-dimensional (3-D) virtual worlds (VWs), such as Second Life, are actively being explored for their potential use in health care and nursing professional education and even for practice. The relevance of this e-learning innovation on a large scale for teaching students and professionals is yet to be demonstrated and variables influencing adoption, such as increased knowledge, self-directed learning, and peer collaboration, by academics, and health care professionals requires empirical research.

A Success Story In Shifting The Paradigm Together : Partnership Between Service And Education In Building An Onsite Clinical Nurse Leader Program, Enna Edouard Trevathan

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Access to advanced academic preparation has been an important consideration in the design of educational programs for the working professional nurse. Nursing education has a history of developing and implementing strategies to respond to their needs beyond the traditional, on campus classroom setting. Nursing programs were early adopters of distance learning technologies, from the first two-way audio, one-way video classes, to satellite, two-way video classes to the recent proliferation of web-based programs. However, an innovative alternative is proposed - bringing the course work to the employment setting and designing the program to be responsive to the learning needs of the …