Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Using Non-Pharmacological Interventions To Promote Sleep In The Intensive Care Unit, Regan Kull

Scholars Week

When patients are in critical condition in the ICU, sleep is not prioritized among all of the patients’ other issues. The lack of sleep may result in a decreased immune system and neurocognitive changes producing delirium, potentially increasing the length of stay, and increasing morbidity, especially in older adults and those who have been in the ICU for a long period of time. The purpose of this review of literature is to examine evidence which studied the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions on sleep quality of patients in the ICU. Among the evidence for this project, it was found that the …

Choosing A Vaginal Birth After A Cesarean Rather Than A Repeat Elective Cesarean Delivery, Sydney Carter

Scholars Week

The VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) rate has been increasing over the recent years. However, it is still a much lower rate as compared to 1996. During this time uterine rupture instances and maternal mortality rates were found to have increased. As a result, facilities over corrected and stopped offering VBACs as an option. Current research shows they are actually safer than a cesarean but most facilities do not offer this option. The purpose of this policy change is to increase the rate of VBACs by providing good education to expectant mothers through their nurses.

Proper Indwelling And External Catheter Use To Reduce Cauti's, Taylor Stephens

Scholars Week

Evidence based practice and research shows that the risk for CAUTI’s increases each day of catheterization. Research also showed that the rate of inappropriate catheterizations was very high. The conclusion made from the research recommended that catheters be removed as soon as possible in order to decrease the risk of CAUTI’s. Interventions to decrease CAUTI and inappropriate catheterization rates includes requiring a new doctors order for the continuation of an indwelling catheter every day and requiring more frequent assessment of the need for a PureWick. This method forces both the doctor and the nurse to assess the patient for the …

Utilization Of Music Therapy In The Icu Setting, Danielle York

Scholars Week

This topic was selected in the hopes of bringing awareness to music therapy and the positive benefits it can have on patients and their pain in a high stress environment. The evidence shows that music therapy can have a positive effect on patient outcomes and is a cost-effective measure that hospitals can easily implement. The education needed to implement this intervention would be geared toward patients that nurses could present to them upon pain report. The evidence proves that this is an efficient way to control patient pain and allow for a more relaxing environment.

KEYWORDS: Music, therapy, pain, education, …

Chlorhexidine: The Fight To End Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia, Jeremy Gaspari

Scholars Week

There is a major problem that affects patient outcomes in the hospital setting. This problem is ventilator-associated pneumonia. Ventilator-associated pneumonia is the second most nosocomial infection in critical care patients. A new policy is needed to ensure that interventions are being done to decrease the risk of patients getting ventilator-associated pneumonia. Ventilator-associated pneumonia also has a high risk of mortality. If interventions are being done, the risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia and mortality will decrease. Prophylactic oral care with chlorhexidine solution is show through evidence to decrease the risk of both ventilator-associated pneumonia and mortality rates. The use of ventilator bundles …

Delayed Newborn Bathing, Trisha Freudenberg

Scholars Week

Abstract:

The title of this paper is Delayed Newborn Bathing. The purpose of this project was to research the evidence and literature that supports the need for a delayed newborn bath. The project discusses the benefits of a delayed bath and what affect it has on the infant’s temperature, blood sugar/blood glucose, and exclusive breast feeding rates. Three evidence-based research studies have been presented within this project (“Impact on delayed newborn bathing one exclusive breastfeeding rates, glucose, and temperature stability, and weight loss”, “Initiative to improve exclusive breastfeeding by delaying the newborn bath”, and “Effects of delayed newborn bathing on …

Using Active Learning To Build A Foundation For Bioinformatics Training., Stacey E. Wahl Ph.D., Amy L. Olex Ms

Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students

As Health Sciences Libraries evolve, the support they offer graduate students has evolved to incorporate many aspects of the research life cycle. At Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences, we have partnered with the Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research to offer training workshops for graduate students who are interested in using bioinformatics to plan, analyze, or execute scientific experiments. We offer two series: 1) an 8-week, 1-hour per week seminar series providing a general overview of available techniques and 2) a week-long intensive, two hours per session, series on utilizing free databases from the National Center for Biotechnology …

Helping Stem Graduate Students Fall Into Research, Diana Hartle, Kelsey Forester

Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students

Each Fall and Spring semester, the UGA Science Library hosts a series of workshops for undergraduate and graduate students during one consolidated week focused on research needs. In the past year, librarians at the Science Library noticed a large and growing need for research and wellness support for our STEM graduate students. This led us to begin to collaborate with the graduate school, University Health Center, and other science and medical librarians. Through this collaboration, we reconstructed our semesterly workshop series to be tailored specifically to STEM graduate students. We offered workshops on citation management, tools for tracking scholarly presence, …

Graduate Occupational Therapy Students & Information Literacy: Does A Research Consultation Increase Information Literacy Skills While Lowering Library Anxiety?, Mary C. Rickelman, Christine Moghimi

Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students

In today’s academic environment, students equipped with self-regulated learning and information literacy skills have an excellent opportunity for professional success, given our current information-based practices in health care. Information literacy instruction provided to students early in their coursework will aide them in acquiring competency for the remainder of their studies, especially scholarly projects. Along with information literacy issues, library anxiety has been identified in the literature as a contributing factor to poor academic performance in students. The purpose of this study was to explore components of library anxiety, if present, as well as to help students become more comfortable and …

Students As Investigators: Utilizing Active Learning To Engage Genetic Counseling Students, Stacey E. Wahl Ph.D., Dana L. Ladd Ph.D.

Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students

Providing one-shot instruction sessions can be difficult, particularly in the graduate learning environment. As librarians, we want to provide students with the skills to search effectively for health information without overwhelming or confusing them. In health science graduate programs, we are expected to connect literature searching skills with the content of the courses in a manner that is engaging to students. This challenge can be exacerbated when students are new to graduate school and have not yet become familiar with scientific literature searching or the research process. Two medical librarians sought to overcome these challenges by empowering genetic counseling students …

Librarian At The Colloquium: Delivering Unique Library Content For Phd Students, Susan Franzen

Transforming Libraries for Graduate Students

PhD students have unique needs and require different resources and services from the library than undergraduates, which is especially true of professionals in a nursing program. As clinicians, many do not have experience with the research and writing intensive requirements of a doctoral degree. The majority have not taken classes for years, and their master’s degrees were more hands-on, clinically-based. They often do not feel confident in their ability to search the literature, read closely, or write expansively. A unique avenue through which to meet their needs and share library resources is a PhD colloquium course.

Students take the colloquium …

Covid-19 Update, Wku Staff Senate

Staff Council

COVID-19 update issued by WKU Staff Senate.

We Need Sex Ed, Too! : Addressing The Sexual Risk Behaviors Of System Involved Youth, Nadine Finigan-Carr

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

System involved youth (e.g., youth in child welfare or juvenile services) are a vulnerable population with increased risk for unintended pregnancy, HIV, and STIs. This workshop is designed to (1) identify their sexual reproductive health risk behaviors; (2) describe the related determinants; and, (3) improve awareness of how educators can promote the development of positive sexual risk behaviors among them.

Supporting High School Students To Pursue A Career In Nursing, Linda Murray, Nina Trocky

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

This poster presentation will provide a visual of the model developed for use with high school and community college youth at risk to enhance educational degree completion and transition to the registered nurse career.

Pornography: Adolescent Brain Development & Addiction, William K. Canady

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

This presentation will explain the historical development of pornography. It will highlight three segments: 1- Porn’s impact on brain development of reward pathways, ultimately increasing the appetite for more porn. 2- Porn can be a false substitute for real intimacy, resulting in decreased sexual satisfaction with a real person and increased verbal and physical aggression. 3- Porn promotes sex trafficking, promotes multiple sex partners and reduced STD prevention.

Development And Testing Of Novel Antimicrobial Materials For Additive Manufacturing With Application In Space, Michael Thompson, Jorge Zuniga, Christopher Copeland, Roberto Saavedra, Claudia Cortes Reyes, Andres Acuña Velásquez, Daniel Martínez Pereira, Claudio Soto

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was twofold: (i) develop and test the antimicrobial properties of a polylactic acid- and a polyurethane-based filament, and (ii) use these filaments to manufacture a socket-based prosthesis to verify printability and longevity of the antimicrobial properties. It was hypothesized that the formulation of a novel biocidal copper-based nanocomposite with a biocompatible 3D printing polymer/copolymer can be used for the development of antimicrobial medical devices to mitigate microbial risks during long space flight missions [1, 2, 3].

METHODS: Polylactic Acid-based Filament Development-The development of a polylactic acid-based filament involved several processes, such as fermentation …

Pharmacist-Prescribed Birth Control: A Policy Analysis, Brianna Full

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Although unintended pregnancy in the United States has steadily decreased from 2008, rates are still unacceptably high as almost half (42%) of all pregnancies are not wanted or timed correctly (Finer & Zolna). In 2011, 2.8 million of the 6.1 million pregnancies in the United States each year were unintended. Public health professionals are worried about unintended pregnancy because research shows that unwanted or mistimed pregnancies come with associations to adverse maternal and child health outcomes, such as delayed prenatal care, premature birth, and negative physical and mental health effects for children (Frost, Frohwirth & Zolna, 2016). Also, two-thirds (68%) …

Psycho-Physiological Reactions To Automated Leadership, Seth Hackleman

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

We all remember the 2008 Disney Pixar film Wall-E. This amazing children’s movie highlights the relationship between two robots and a human pilot on a mission to save the planet. Advances in artificial intelligence and computer technology are enabling new and exciting opportunities for humans to interact with machines. Where humans often change jobs or inevitably retire, machines can be employed for lifetimes. This fact makes them prime candidates for replacing human leaders in some circumstances to avoid the knowledge loss that can occur when a human leader changes position or no longer works in an organization. While human-to-human leadership …

Characterization Of Dimerization Domains On The Mannose-6-Phosphate/Insulin-Like Growth Factor 2 Receptor, Tyler Degener

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

The mannose-6-phosphate/insulin-like growth factor 2 (M6P/IGF2) receptor is a transmembrane protein with the ability to sequester growth factors from the extracellular matrix. This behavior links the receptor to tumor suppression. On a structural level, the extracellular portion of the protein is segmented into 15 homologous repeats, which can be divided further into 5 triplet domains, labelled 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, 10-12, and 13-15. Each triplet receptor displays its own unique ligand binding affinity, including the ability to form dimers with triplets on a second M6P/IGF2 receptor. In fact, previous studies indicate that this protein functions optimally when dimerized. Thus, the purpose …

Utilizing Chemical Mutagenesis To Determine U21 Mechanism Of Action In Toxoplasma Gondii, Andrew Pham

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

The abstract has been removed to protect intellectual property of the project.

Longitudinal Analysis Of Gait In People With Parkinson’S Disease To Improve The Detection Of Risk Of Falls, Ryan Meidinger

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Within 3 years of diagnosis, more than 85% of people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) develop gait problems, which may lead to falls resulting in serious injury and reduced quality of life. The evolution of gait impairments with PD progression and the relationship between locomotor performance and falls in PD are unclear. In addition, large individual variations exist at the level of gait performances corresponding to specific levels of disease severity. Deficits in cognitive and sensory-motor functions in PD also impair the ability to walk while doing another task (i.e., dual-tasking). When attentional resources in PD patients are allocated to more …

Impacts Of Mitoquinol Mesylate Intake On Vascular Function And Cognitive Impairment In Patients With Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Case Study, Lindie Strickler

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a decline in cognitive function to a greater extent than natural aging. It has been suggested that reduced brain blood flow is strongly associated with reduced cognitive function and neurodegenerative diseases, of which is partially attributed to excessive reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Mitoquinol mesylate has been shown to scavenge ROS and improve vascular function in healthy older adults. However, the effects of mitoquinol in MCI patients have not been investigated.

Purpose: to elucidate the impacts of mitoquinol intake on vascular endothelial function (flow-mediated dilation, FMD), arterial stiffness (pulse-wave velocity, PWV), and cognitive function in …

Lessons Learned From Designing A Health Monitoring System To Improve First Responders Safety User Interface, Janaki Devi Naveena Akula, Jackson Urrutia, Hitesh Kumar Khatri, Anusha Manda, Jacob C. Grothe

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Every day, first responders put their own lives at risk to help individuals, families, and communities. They experience many safety and health hazards on the front-line that can lead to injuries, chronic illnesses, and even death. Chronic illnesses include cancer, heart diseases, and behavioral health issues that often cause first responders life expectancy to be significantly shortened.

According to the National Fire Protection Association, there were 64 on-duty firefighter deaths in 2018. Sudden cardiac death accounted for about 40% of the on-duty fatalities. During 2017, there were an estimated 44,530 documented exposures to hazardous conditions (e.g. chemicals, fumes, radioactive materials) …

Comparison Of Eye Gaze Behaviors Across Samples Of 8- And 9-Month-Old Infants At-Risk For Autism, Aaron Borcyk, Sarah Schmidt, Hannah Lopez, Shari Deveney, Anastasia Kyvelidou

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Though a precise etiology for autism remains unknown, two infant populations present with particularly high risk: younger siblings of children diagnosed with autism and infants born prematurely with low birth weight. The aim of the present exploratory study was to determine differences in social and nonsocial eye gaze behaviors between two samples of 8­ and 9­-month infants from high ­risk groups.

Review Of Aging-Related Changes To The Neuroendocrine System And Implications For Older Caregivers, Nicholas Miller

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

This abstract has been removed to protect the intellectual property of the project.

Quantitative Analysis Of Sexual Function In Women Up To 1-Year Postpartum, Amber Kelly

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Background. Sexual satisfaction is a strong predictor of relationship satisfaction and a component of general well-being. Changes in sexual behavior are common during pregnancy and the subsequent transition to parenthood. Currently, little literature exists that examines the breadth of factors contributing to decreased female sexual functionality during the postpartum period. Identifying factors associated with decreased female sexual function following childbirth has the potential to improve postpartum women’s sexual satisfaction and overall quality of life. The study seeks to answer the following research questions: RQ 1: What impact has childbirth had on frequency of sexual activity in women within the first …

Comparing Individual Perceptions Of Food Desert With Quantitative Measures In Omaha, Nebraska., Hector N. Samani, Bradley Bereitschaft

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Food deserts have been linked to an increase in chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes, due to lower access to affordable and healthy foods. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) outlines various methods and variables for defining food deserts, in attempts to standardize what constitutes a food desert or their characteristics. The USDA identifies the state of Nebraska as having both rural and urban food deserts, with an increase of food insecurity from 1.1% – 3.0% between 2007 and 2012 and warns of further increase of food deserts and its impact if measures are not taken. However, there …

Unintended Pregnancy Among The Lgbtq+ Population, Kenna M. Barnes

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Unintended births are related to adverse health outcomes for both parents and children (Mosher, et al., 2012). For the context of this research, unintended will include both mistimed (too early) and unwanted (wanted to avoid pregnancy) pregnancies. Non-heterosexual women, defined as anyone who has same-sex sexual behaviors, attractions, or identities, make up about 5.1% of the population according to Williams Institute (2019). The impact of unintended pregnancy among non-heterosexual individuals is not well understood, creating large disparities in the community. This has manifested in emotional, physical, and social wellness gaps compared to their heterosexual counterparts (Buchmueller & Carpenter, 2010; Everett …

Integrating Aviation Technology, Emergency Services, And Human Resilience: Considerations From Social Scientists, Chelsea A. Lenoble Ph.D., Joel M. Billings Ph.D., Allison A. Kwesell Ph.D., Ray H. Chang Ph.D.

National Training Aircraft Symposium (NTAS)

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) have a range of applications within the field of disaster response. This presentation offers a novel framework of psychosocial considerations designed to advance UAS and disaster management integration. Social scientists highlight important challenges to the effective integration of three primary entities: UAS, the team of teams that responds to disasters, and populations affected by disasters.

The presentation adopts an emerging theoretical perspective on the intersection between UAS capabilities and disaster phases and extends it by bringing necessary attention to social science issues. Specifically, the framework outlines psychosocial considerations and areas of improvement for preparation (training), response …

Fatigue In Collegiate Aviation, Flavio A. Coimbra Mendonca Ph.D., Erik Levin, Julius Keller Ph.D., Aaron Teo

National Training Aircraft Symposium (NTAS)

Flight training has received little attention in fatigue research. Only transfers of knowledge gained in commercial and military aviation have been applied to general aviation without bridging the gap to the training environment. The purpose of this study was to assess collegiate aviation students’ perceptions of lifestyle and mitigation strategies related to fatigue. Participants were recruited from a Midwestern university’s accredited Part 141 flight school and a partner fixed base operator (FBO). The researchers of this study used a survey questionnaire to gather quantitative and qualitative responses. The majority of participants (68%) had logged less than 250 flight hours and …