Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Using Education To Promote Waste Segregation And Waste Reduction In The Operating Room: A Quality Improvement Initiative, Sarah E. Landgraf

Master's Theses and Capstones

Background: The operating room (OR) is known to be one of the largest producers of medical waste and of the surgical specialties, orthopedic surgery tends to the largest portion of this. Waste from the OR can be mitigated by recycling non-contaminated materials. This reduces the number of raw materials needed to create new products, decreases landfill use, and lowers hospital costs.

Local Problem: It was observed that a gap in knowledge existed related to recyclables in the OR of a large medical center in New England. Also, it was observed that there was potential for waste and recycling to be …

Exploring & Mitigating Workplace Incivility At A Rural Community Hospital, Jacquelyn Ethier

DNP Scholarly Projects

Workplace Incivility (WI) is a well-known challenge in healthcare, with decades of mounting evidence showing the effects on workplace culture, healthcare worker retention and patient safety. The nursing workforce has become increasingly vulnerable to all stressful elements of the work environment. Organizational leadership must develop and deploy mitigation strategies to minimize the negative consequences of these behaviors for nurses, and the entire healthcare team. The purpose of this quality improvement project is to assess the current state of nurse perceptions of WI at a rural community hospital and deploy evidence-based education on strategies to address and mitigate WI. The method …

Ophthalmic Nursing Education: The Key To Unlocking Patient Access To Retina Services, Jacob P. Mcginnis

Master's Theses and Capstones

Background: Ophthalmology, the medical field dedicated to the human eye and visual system infrequently uses nurses due to a lack of nursing knowledge about ophthalmology.

Local Problem: An ophthalmic microsystem in the Northeastern United States is experiencing increased demand for services and decreased access to their retina section. The microsystem does not utilize nurses in the clinic because of education and training barriers. The specific aim of this quality improvement (QI) project is to increase nursing knowledge about ophthalmology from baseline to an overall passing score of 80%.

Methods: This QI project sought to see if registered nurses could …

Improving Emergency Department Nurses' Self-Perceived Self-Efficacy In Early Recognition Of Patients In A Mental Health Crisis, Mary Kay Silverman

DNP Scholarly Projects

Abstract

The two largest counties within Southwest Florida (SWFL) are Lee and Collier where mental health evaluations for children under the state’s Baker Act have more than doubled between 2011 and 2017 (Gluck & Zeitlin, 2019, p. 4). Given the marked increase in mental health evaluations, early recognition, assessment with initiation of treatment by nurses in the pediatric emergency department (ED) who present with behavioral health complaints must be a priority for emergency department leaders. Purpose: This quality improvement (QI) project proposed to improve a nurses’ self-efficacy through expanding knowledge in the recognition and identification of the signs and symptoms …

Inefficiency In The Post Anesthesia Care Unit: A Quality Improvement Initiative, Ashley St. Martin

Master's Theses and Capstones

Background: The post anesthesia care unit (PACU) is a busy environment in which nurses communicate with patients, family members, and a large team of perioperative professionals. PACU nurses were experiencing an unmanageable number of work interruptions due to a higher patient census which increased the daily surgical caseload.

Aim: The purpose of this project was to improve efficiency and nurses’ job satisfaction by making work interruptions manageable in the PACU.

Methods: Based on Kotter’s Change Theory, a quality improvement initiative was implemented using a change in the communication process. Qualitative and quantitative data was gathered in the PACU and on …

Instilling Diet And Exercise Confidence: Influence Of Nurse Body Size, Erin Murdock Spaulding

Honors Theses and Capstones

This paper reports a research study focused on perspective of nurse body size and how it affects confidence in a nurses’ ability to provide education on diet and exercise. The study followed a descriptive method design guided by a cross-sectional survey with quantitative variables. Results show that there is increased confidence in a nurse’s ability to provide education and influence habits regarding diet and exercise when the nurse role models such behaviors. Other findings presented include respondents’ perception of their body mass index versus their actual body mass index, percentage of respondents with health care conditions related to obesity, and …