Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

A Nurse Mentor Program In A Long Term Acute Care Hospital, Regina Masters

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Nurse turnover is a national problem with the potential to affect quality of care and patient outcomes. A Long Term Acute Care Hospital (LTACH) with nurse turnover rates above the national average as high as 28% sought to address this problem. A review of the literature identified nurse mentor programs increasing registered nurse (RN) satisfaction and decreasing turnover. Therefore, the purpose of this project was to implement a mentor program for newly hired RNs. Mentors were paired with new RNs for a four-week program. Pre and post intervention data were collected via the McCloskey Mueller Nurse Satisfaction Survey (MMSS) and …

Medication Error Reporting To Improve Patient Safety, Dianna Madden

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

In 2006, the Institute of Medicine estimated that 1.5 million preventable adverse drug events occur in healthcare facilities annually (Institute of Medicine, 2006). Each ADE adds approximately $8,750 per hospital stay (Institute of Medicine, 2006). In 2017, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimated that 1.3 million people are injured annually from medication errors (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2017). For the purposes of this project, all Registered Nurse staff on the Medical-Surgical unit were mandated to participate in an education targeted at medication error reporting, the importance of reporting, and a demonstration of inputting an error into the …

Transitional Care Medical House Call: A Pilot Project, Ron B. Ordona

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Problem Description: Vulnerable, homebound older adults are highly susceptible to unplanned 30-day hospital readmissions, which is costly for the healthcare system. As a result, health care expenditures for this population continue to rise. Studies have shown that transition of care programs, when complemented with home-based primary care delivery, may improve health care outcomes for this population.

Purpose: The purpose of this quality improvement pilot project was to implement medical house calls as a component of transitional care management (TCM) and measure patient outcomes such as unplanned 30-day readmission rates and correlate predictors of readmission. As a secondary outcome, the project …

Education And Enhanced Support To Improve Breastfeeding Success: A Quality Improvement Project In A Rural Community, Amberlyn Kay Gentry

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Abstract

Problem Description: Breastfeeding continuation rates fall below the Healthy People 2020 goal of 60.6% for any breastfeeding at six months postpartum. In Navajo County, Arizona the breastfeeding rate for WIC participants was 36.9%. Breastfeeding provides health benefits to babies and women and decreased health care costs. A quality improvement project was developed and implemented with a pilot group of participants in a rural Northeastern Arizona community.

Interventions: After a thorough literature review, four interventions were selected. These included: development of a community health coalition, prenatal breastfeeding education, administration of a new baby tea event, and extended support …

Improving Care For Adult Clinic Patients With A History Of Poor Glycemic Control, Bonnie M. Clark

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Problem Description: Patients of one internal medicine clinic were found to have nearly twice the rate of diagnosed diabetes and poor glycemic control, when compared with national rates. Given this, certain aspects of the patient-provider dyad system, such as inadequate provider time, knowledge, and resources; may have contributed to the ability of some patients to adapt to a lifestyle with consistent diabetes self-care.

Intervention: An evidence-based diabetes protocol was developed, a diabetes self-management training (DSMT) curriculum was adapted to local context, and three cycles of patient-centered DSMT classes were delivered to provide individual and group-based support to participants. Completion of …