Quality Improvement Commons^™

Process Improvement To Return Stabilized Behavioral Health Patients To Primary Care, Tessa Woodroof

Epsilon Sigma at-Large Research Conference

Purpose: The purpose of this project is to increase the number of open patient appointments by implementing a validated process in which stabilized behavioral health patients are repatriated to primary care. Currently, there is an increased demand for behavioral health services and decreased supply of behavioral health clinicians at the Nashville Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC).

Aims: This project aims to teach behavioral health providers how to identify appropriate patients and complete successful discharges while helping primary care providers integrate the repatriation process into their workflow. Without the proposed intervention, veterans initiating behavioral health services in the catchment area will …

Boarding Barriers For Psychiatric Patients In Emergency Departments, Emmeline B. Martin Bsn, Rn, Alison Rossano Bsn, Rn, Diana Dedmon Dnp, Aprn, Fnp-Bc

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Objective To identify past or current literature about emergency department holds and psychiatric patients consisting of the evaluation of patient outcomes, satisfaction and equity of care. It is already known that shorter boarding times from the emergency department to a psychiatric unit have positive patient outcomes such as a decrease in readmissions, increase in patient satisfaction and efficiency in appropriate treatment.

Method A scoping review to analyze data by grouping articles into themes which included authors, date of publication, aims/purpose, methodology, sample, interventional details, and the key findings in each article. Excluded articles included those discussing COVID-19 and case management. …

Implementation Of Daily Nhppd Calculator In The Acute Care Setting, Spencer Y. Cho

Student Scholarly Projects

Practice Problem: In the United States, it is estimated that hospitalized patients experience an adverse event that require a rapid response and/or code blue event in 3% to 18% of hospitalizations.

PICOT: In the adult medical-surgical inpatient (P), does the implementation of a daily NHPPD calculator (DNC) (I) compared to an annual staffing methodology for calculating NHPPD (C) reduce rapid response calls, code blue episodes, and unplanned admission to critical care (O) over 8 weeks (T).

Evidence: Seven studies provided evidence that implementation of staffing methodology, nursing surveillance, and nurse staffing that supports meeting targeted nursing hours per patient …

Using Digital Storytelling To Assess Patient Experience With Management Of Diabetes In Everyday Life (Model) Study Intervention, Arati Joshi

Longitudinal Scholar's Project

African Americans are disproportionately affected by obesity-associated diabetes compared to their White counterparts. While social determinants of health may contribute to their poor health outcomes, studies have shown that pragmatic primary care-based interventions can be effective in improving the management of obesity-associated diabetes. The Management of Diabetes in Everyday Life (MODEL) is a pragmatic randomized comparative effectiveness trial of three approaches (health coaching, text-messaging, and enhanced usual care) to supporting medically underserved African American patients with uncontrolled diabetes in improving their self-care decisions. The purpose of this study is to assess the effect of the MODEL program participation on the …

Call To Action: Improving The Care Of Older Patients In Emergency Departments. A Much-Needed Collaboration Between Emergency Medicine Physicians And Geriatricians., Saket A. Saxena

Journal of Geriatric Emergency Medicine

No abstract provided.

Uncovering The Educational And Self Management Need In People With Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Zachary Palumbo

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Project

The purpose of the study was to assess the current knowledge of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), self-management skills, and resources for IBD in people suffering from the condition. Self-management skills and education have been shown, along with medical treatment, to show improvements in symptom activity and overall quality of life (Conley & Redeker, 2016).The study used Orem’s Self-Care deficit theory as the theoretical framework. A mixed methods design was chosen for this particular study. The project provided an educational video and a pre and post-survey through email. The questionnaire and pre-test (Appendix A) was given before the education, and Appendix …

Physical Therapist Assistant Training: Documentation Guidelines, Megan A. Mcchristy

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

This essay details the development of a training document for physical therapist assistants to improve their documentation and clearly lay out the legal requirements and company expectations of their documentation. The final draft has been finished and is planned to be distributed in Quarter 2 of 2022.

Emergency Airway Management In Covid-19 Patients And Risk To Healthcare Workers: A Low-Middle Income Country Data From The Intubate Covid Registry, Faisal Shamim, M Nazir, Naseem A. Sheikh, Asma Salam, Badar Afzal Khan

Department of Anaesthesia

No abstract provided.

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 …

Non-Opioid Pharmacologic Agents In The Treatment Of Non-Cancer Chronic Pain In The Outpatient Setting, Diane Eannotti

DNP Projects

Opioid prescription related overdose deaths have increased substantially with evidence demonstrating only modest short-term benefits in chronic pain and thus represents the need to identify alternative treatments to opioids. A needs assessment performed for a federally qualified community health center revealed patients presently taking non-opioid pharmacologic agents in the treatment of chronic non-cancer pain (CNCP) needed additional education in managing multiple non-opioid medications. A targeted approach at improving patient experience and population health supporting the quadruple aim was undertaken with this project.

Purpose: The purpose of this quality improvement project consisted of performing medication management visits for 28 referred patients …

Promoting Psychological Resilience In Healthcare Workers In Times Of Crisis: Lessons Learned From The Covid-19 Pandemic, Callie Shirley

Senior Theses

HIV-related services have been interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic in South Carolina (SC). However, many HIV care facilities demonstrated their organizational resilience in adapting to new challenges. One facilitator of organizational resilience, psychological resilience, has become increasingly studied in the health area during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the heightened burdens placed on healthcare workers. Psychological resilience in regard to healthcare facilities is defined as the ability of the health workforce to adapt to adversity and is beneficial to mental health outcomes of the employees. Current literature on psychological resilience has identified facilitators such as support from leadership, a positive …

Predictors Of Hyperkalemia And Outcomes Of Dyskalemia In Us Veterans With Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease Transitioning To Dialysis, Ankur Dashputre

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Background: The kidneys play a crucial role in maintaining homeostasis of serum potassium levels (K+). Patients with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) are at a higher risk of experiencing dyskalemia events (i.e. hyper- and hypokalemia; especially the former) and thus future adverse outcomes. Currently, there is a dearth of literature on prediction models for hyperkalemia and the effects of dyskalemia on outcomes such as incidence of ischemic stroke and short-term hospital/emergency room (ER) utilization in an advanced CKD population transitioning to dialysis. Objectives: Using a nationally representative sample of US veterans with advanced CKD transitioning to dialysis, in the pre-dialysis …

Purpose, Subject, And Consumer Comment On "Perceived Burden Due To Registrations For Quality Monitoring And Improvement In Hospitals: A Mixed Methods Study", Sylvia J Hysong, Patrick O'Mahen, Jochen Profit, Laura A Petersen

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Zegers and colleagues’ study codifies the perceived burden of quality monitoring and improvement stemming from the work by clinicians of registering (documenting) quality information in the medical record. We agree with Zegers and colleagues’ recommendation that a smaller, more effective and curated set of measures is needed to reduce burden, confusion, and expense. We further note that focusing on validity of clinical evidence behind individual measures is critical, but insufficient. We therefore extend Zegers and colleagues’ work through a pragmatic, tripartite heuristic. To assess the value of and curate a targeted set of performance measures, we propose concentrating on the …

Level Of Comfort In Evaluating Older Patients Amongst Medical Students And Emergency Medicine Residents, Lily L. Berrin, Phraewa Thatphet, Anita N. Chary, Surriya C. Ahmad, Don Melady, Shan W. Liu

Journal of Geriatric Emergency Medicine

Introduction

As the population ages, emergency physicians must be better equipped to manage the complex needs of older patients. While geriatric core competencies have been developed for medical students and emergency medicine (EM) residents, little work has been done to evaluate EM trainees’ comfort with these competencies, or their interest in and barriers to learning more about Geriatric Emergency Medicine (GEM).

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study of EM residents and medical students in their clinical years of training with interest in EM. We used an online self-administered survey to evaluate trainees’ self-reported comfort with previously reported geriatric competency domains, …

Succinic Semialdehyde Dehydrogenase Deficiency (Ssadhd): Qualitative Needs Assessment For Patients With A Rare Neurological Disorder, Cassandra Bovee, Kayla Woodring

Annual Research Symposium

No abstract provided.

Geriatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship Journal Club: To Ct Or Not, Marie-Pier Lanoue, Kira Gossack-Keenan, Don Melady

Journal of Geriatric Emergency Medicine

No abstract provided.

Oral Care Bundle Impact On Staff Assisted Oral Care, Sabrina Oliver

Student Scholarly Projects

Practice Problem: Non-ventilator hospital acquired pneumonia (NV-HAP) is more common than ventilator acquired pneumonia. Oral care is the only modifiable risk factor for all patient populations.

PICOT: The PICOT question that guided this project was: In non-ventilated patients in a tertiary care setting (P), how does implementing an oral care bundle (I) compared to the current practice of individual tasks without a bundle (C) affect adherence to facility oral care standard of patients receiving oral care at least once a day (O) over six weeks (T)?

Evidence: Lack of an oral bundle that has been proven to decrease …

Perception Is Everything: Implementation Of A Peer Evaluation Program For Nurse Leaders In A Hospital Setting, Teruko Williams

Student Scholarly Projects

Practice Problem: A hospital in the Sacramento County area seeking the ANCC Pathway to Excellence Program^® designation determined upon performing a gap analysis that Element of Performance 2.8, a peer evaluation program, was absent, thus creating a deficiency in the fulfillment of the requirements for the designation.

PICOT: The PICOT question that guided this project was: In nurse leaders (P) how does the development of a formal peer evaluation process (I) compared to no formal process (C), influence the performance outcome score of self-efficacy (O) over 8 weeks (T)?

Evidence: The evidence demonstrated that if a …

What’S In A Name? Understanding Failure To Thrive And Frailty In The Emergency Department, Katherine Selman, Christina Shenvi

Journal of Geriatric Emergency Medicine

No abstract provided.

Pitfalls Of Delirium Screening In Older Adults, Danya Khoujah, Debra Eagles

Journal of Geriatric Emergency Medicine

No abstract provided.

Association Of Electronic Medical Records And Opioid Prescription, Archana Suwal, Jemimah Okonjo, Stacie Deslich, Alberto Coustasse

Management Faculty Research

A Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) is an electronic database that tracks controlled substance prescriptions in a state. PDMPs can provide health authorities timely information about prescribing and patient behaviors that contribute to the epidemic and facilitate an agile and directed response. Electronic Prescribing for Controlled Substances (EPCS) aimed to eliminate paper prescriptions by allowing clinical prescribers to write prescriptions electronically, making them digital and trackable for both the prescriber and the pharmacist and has been an essential part of any health information technology system, as well as a requirement for 'meaningful use' (Blumenthal & Tavenner, 2010). However, one of …

A Call For An Integrated Approach To Improve Efficiency, Equity And Sustainability In Rare Disease Research In The United States, Meghan C Halley, Hadley Stevens Smith, Euan A Ashley, Aaron J Goldenberg, Holly K Tabor

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

To build a more efficient, equitable, and sustainable approach to rare disease research in the United States, we must prioritize integrated research infrastructure and approaches that focus on understanding connections across rare diseases.

Physician And Patient Moves In The Hospital Do Not Move Patient Satisfaction: A Single-Center Retrospective Analysis, Basil George Verghese, Nagesh Jadhav, Walter A. Polashenski, Carl H. Reynolds

Advances in Clinical Medical Research and Healthcare Delivery

Background. Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) is a standardized survey for measuring patient's experiences at US hospitals. There is a shift towards geographically assigning patients and physicians. However, its impact on patient satisfaction scores has not been studied.

Objective: Examine the correlation between patient experience and overall hospital rating with the number of physicians seen and the number of times the patient was moved during a hospitalization.

Methods: A retrospective observational study was performed using select HCAHPS & Press Ganey survey questions to assess physician satisfaction scores and overall hospital rating and recommendation scores.

Results: There …

Implementation Of A Drive-Through Covid-19 Mass Vaccination Site: Experiences From Louvax–Broadbent In Louisville, Kentucky, Ruth Carrico, Sarah Beth Hartlage, Valenchia Brown Msn, Aprn, Fnp-C, Sarah M. Bishop, Luanne Didelot, William Hayden, Beverly Williams Coleman, Sarah Tan, Delanor Manson, Kellie Kane, Dawn Balcom, Paul Kern

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Background: Response to the COVID-19 pandemic has required innovative approaches to vaccination, including methods to rapidly and safely immunize communities. A major challenge to such a response involved access to untapped healthcare worker resources. The Louisville, Kentucky, response involved the use of a large volunteer workforce to supplement local public health employees in planning and implementing a large-scale drive-through vaccination event. The objective of this manuscript was to outline processes involved in training a mass immunization workforce and implementating a large-scale COVID-19 community vaccination.

Approach: Competency-based and standardized training was provided for every volunteer before working their shift. Volunteers worked …

Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections: Patient Characteristics, Treatment, And Clinical Outcomes In One South Texas Acute Care Hospital, Kimberly A. Ambrosini, Jose Campo Maldonado

MEDI 9331 Scholarly Activities Clinical Years

Background: Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CA-UTIs) account for 40 percent of nosocomial infections worldwide. Their elimination is at the forefront of quality improvement in one South Texas acute care hospital.

Methods: Over a period of 6 months, five CA-UTIs occurred in one South Texas acute care hospital. These cases were identified via regular surveillance by Infection Prevention staff and the Laboratory Department of the hospital. This research reviews patient age, sex, length of stay, bacteria contracted, appropriate antibiotic use, patient characteristics, and overall outcomes.

Results: Between the months of July and December 2021, 5 CAUTIs were contracted. Patients …

Maternal Wellness: Self, Matrescence, Obstetric Violence, And Self-Care, Vanessa V. Vales-Lewis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In this dissertation, I engage in a self-study through an examination of my experience of matrescence (i.e., the transition to motherhood). I discuss my praxis in the development of a self-study on maternal wellness as it applies to my well-being as both a researcher and the researched. In Chapter 1, I preface this study by highlighting critical scholars and the bricoleurs who have been foundational in my undertaking of this work on a narrative study on maternal wellness. Using bricolage as part of a research methodological framework that involved key scholarly methodologies of authentic inquiry, emergence and contingence, and narratology, …

Temporary Epicardial Pacing Wires In Isolated Coronary Artery Bypass Graft: Necessity Or Force Of Habit?, Mian Mustafa Kamal, Abdul Ahad Sohail, Majid Osman, Shiraz Hashmi, Muhammad Mehdi, Asma Altaf Hussain Merchant, Hasanat Sharif

Section of Cardiothoracic Surgery

Objective: To determine the frequency of Temporary epicardial pacing wires usage and its predictors in the immediate postoperative period in isolated coronary artery bypass graft surgery.
Methods: The longitudinal study was conducted at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, from September 2019 to August 2020, and comprised adult patients of either gender who underwent isolated coronary artery bypass graft in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery. Demographic, peri-operative and post-operative Temporary Epicardial Pacing Wires use data was extracted from patient's files and the institutional electronic database. Logistic regression models were built to explore predictors of Temporary epicardial pacing wires usage. Data …

Perioperative Registries In Resource-Limited Settings: The Way Forward For Pakistan, Usama Waqar, Shaheer Ahmed, Ayesha Nasir Hameed, Namrah Aziz, Hina Inam

Medical College Documents

Capable of improving surgical quality, perioperative registries can allow performance benchmarking, reliable reporting and the development of risk-prediction models. Well established in high-income countries, perioperative registries remain limited in lower- and middle-income countries due to several challenges. First, ensuring comprehensive data entry forums to power the registries is difficult because of limited electronic medical records requiring sustained efforts to develop and integrate these into practice. Second, lack of adequate expertise and resources to develop and maintain registry software necessitates the involvement of software developers and information technology personnel. Third, case ascertainment and item completion are challenging secondary to poor-quality medical …

Barriers In Surgical Research: A Perspective From The Developing World, Nadeem Ahmed Siddiqui, Muhammad Aanish Raees, Rehan Nasir Khan, Farhan Zafar

Department of Surgery Docs

Research in surgery has led to significant advances over the last century in terms of how medicine is practised in and outside the operating rooms today. Surgical research in the developed countries is responsible for most of this advancement, but it is often inapplicable in resource-limited settings in the developing world. Lower- and middle-income countries are in a unique position to take this work further, but they are limited by certain barriers. These barriers could broadly be classified under social and cultural, infrastructure, financial, ethical, and personal categories. These barriers are often not fully realised, but can potentially be addressed …

Evaluating Patient Experience At A Novel Health Service For Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Prisoners: A Pilot Study, Lachlan Arthur, Ana Herceg, Heidi Shukralla, Jason Payne, Julie Tongs Oam

Journal of the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet

Background
The Winnunga Alexander Maconochie Centre Health and Wellbeing Service (AMCHWS) is the first prison health service operated by an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation in Australia. This pilot study developed and implemented a patient experience survey to evaluate the novel model of healthcare delivered by the Winnunga AMCHWS to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners.

Methods
Patients accessing the Winnunga AMCHWS between February and May 2020 were invited to participate in the study. Descriptive data were analysed and compiled for demographics, patient satisfaction, patient perception of care quality, cultural safety, and patient thoughts on the Winnunga AMCHWS.

Findings
Sixteen …