Diseases Commons^™

Standardizing Naturalistic Teaching Opportunities For Problem-Based Learning In Diabetes Education: A Quality Improvement Project, Austin Mccaslin

DNP Projects

Significance and Background:

Poor diabetes management is linked to serious long and short-term health complications. Despite this, medication adherence is a significant problem in adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Management is further complicated by low socioeconomic status, even when mitigated by free healthcare, highlighting health literacy as a culprit of disparities. Evidence shows that a common barrier for adolescents is proficiency in dose determination. Carbohydrate counting is an integral skill, necessary for attaining glycemic control. At a homecare agency serving adolescents with poorly controlled diabetes by providing oversight of medication administration and education, it was noted that patients continued to …

Improving Heart Failure Patient Referrals To The Center For Advanced Heart Failure & Pulmonary Vascular Disease At Hartford Hospital: A Quality Improvement Project, Dawn M. Surprenant

DNP Projects

Significance and Background: According to the Health Resources & Services Administration (2021), health literacy is the degree to which individuals have the capacity to process and understand basic health information to make appropriate health decisions. Low health literacy is prevalent in populations such as older adults, minorities, and in individuals with lower socioeconomic status and living in medical underserved areas. Recommendations are to access health literacy in cardiac patients, especially in the acute care setting to improve health outcomes upon discharge.

Purpose: To determine whether a health literacy assessment in hospitalized congested heart failure patients, before discharge, will affect referral …

Physical Activity Interventions In Children With Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis: A Systematic Review Of Randomized Controlled Trials, Maura D. Iversen, Marie Andre, Johan Von Heideken

Physical Therapy Faculty Publications

Introduction: Children with juvenile arthritis (JA) experience pain, stiffness, fatigue, and decreased motion leading to difficulties with daily activities and low physical activity (PA). PA is critical to improve health and function and mitigate JA-associated symptoms. This study evaluated the evidence for PA interventions in children with JA.

Materials and methods: A systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of PA interventions in children with JA was conducted. Ovid (Medline), Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and CINAHL databases were searched for papers published in English between 1/1/1946 and 9/1/2021. Studies which concurrently assessed medical interventions were excluded. Participant and intervention characteristics and …

Identifying And Co-Managing The Hiv-Infected Adult: A Guidebook For Primary Care Clinicians, Jason Leider, Susan F. Lelacheur, Julie G. Stewart Dnp, Mph

Nursing Faculty Publications

This guidebook was designed to help primary care clinicians improve their performance in terms of HIV identification and co-management. Surmounting barriers to opt-out screening, making an HIV diagnosis, and preventing transmission and opportunistic infections will be discussed, as will selection of initial therapy and considerations for patients receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART).

Associations Between Performance On The Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure And Regional Brain Volumes In Children With And Without Velocardiofacial Syndrome, Kevin M. Antshel, Jena Peebles, Nuria Abdulsabur, Anne Marie Higgins, Nancy Roizen, Robert J. Shprintzen, Wanda Fremont, Robert Natasi, Wendy R. Kates

Communication Disorders Faculty Publications

Ninety-two children with velocardiofacial syndrome (VCFS), a genetic disorder caused by a microdeletion of chromosome 22q11.2 and an age, race, and gender-ratio comparable sample of 59 control participants were included in the project. Participants received an MRI as well as a comprehensive neuropsychological battery; the primary outcome measure in the current report is the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure (ROCF). Children with VCFS performed less well on the ROCF and have lower whole brain volume compared to controls. After controlling for whole brain volume differences, children with VCFS have bilaterally less parietal lobe gray and white matter yet more frontal lobe white …

Typical Symptoms Are Predictive Of Acute Coronary Syndromes In Women, Kerry A. Milner, Marjorie Funk, Amy L. Arnold, Viola Vaccarino

Nursing Faculty Publications

Background: Previous research suggests that the presentation of acute coronary syndromes (ACS) may differ in women and men. No study has prospectively evaluated the role of a comprehensive set of typical and atypical symptoms and whether different symptoms on presentation predict ACS diagnosis in women and men. Methods and Results: We directly observed 246 women and 276 men seen in the emergency department with symptoms suggestive of ACS and documented their symptoms verbatim. ACS was eventually diagnosed in 89 (36%) women and 124 (45%) men on the basis of standard electrocardiogram and cardiac enzyme criteria. Presence of typical symptoms (chest …

Presentation And Symptom Predictors Of Coronary Heart Disease In Patients With And Without Diabetes, Marjorie Funk, Janice B. Naum, Kerry A. Milner, Deborah Chyun

Nursing Faculty Publications

The aims of this prospective, observational study were to compare: (1) symptom presentation of coronary heart disease (CHD) between patients with and without diabetes and (2) symptom predictors of CHD in patients with and without diabetes. We directly observed 528 patients with symptoms suggestive of CHD as they presented to the ED of a 900-bed cardiac referral center in the northeastern United States. There were no significant differences in symptom presentation of CHD between patients with and without diabetes, although patients with diabetes were slightly more likely to present with shortness of breath (P =.056). Patients with diabetes reported …

Differences Between Blacks And Whites With Coronary Heart Disease In Initial Symptoms And In Delay In Seeking Care, Sally B. Richards, Marjorie Funk, Kerry A. Milner

Nursing Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Mortality rates for coronary heart disease are higher in blacks than in whites. OBJECTIVES: To examine differences between blacks and whites in the manifestation of symptoms of coronary heart disease and in delay in seeking treatment. METHODS: Patients were directly observed as they came to an emergency department with symptoms suggestive of coronary heart disease. The sample included 40 blacks and 191 whites with a final diagnosis of angina or acute myocardial infarction. RESULTS: After controlling for pertinent demographic and clinical characteristics, logistic regression analysis revealed that blacks were more likely than whites to have shortness of breath (odds …