Emergency Medicine Commons^™

Addressing Stroke Care Disparities Through Patient Education, Christina Annerino

Honors Capstones

It has been found across current studies and evaluations of stroke care and patient outcomes that there is a disparity in disability and mortality between male and female patients who have experienced stroke. The aforementioned studies did not identify the cause of this disparity, although a number of hypotheses for this phenomenon were provided. This study then conducted a preliminary survey of 130 participants, both men and women, aged 18-80 years old, to evaluate potential barriers to accessing stroke care and receiving treatment effectively. Preliminary survey data demonstrated consistent gaps in knowledge related to stroke risks, stroke symptoms, and when …

Evaluating Blood Pressure Methods In Non-Traumatic Intracerebral Hemorrhage: A Two-Site Prospective Observational Study, Desiree Cihelka

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Purpose. Blood pressure (BP) management is difficult and complex in the treatment of acute non-traumatic intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Despite mean arterial pressure (MAP) being the most reliable measure of noninvasive automatic oscillometric (NIBP) in clinical practice, clinicians instead rely on systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP) values to guide clinical practice. Given the widespread use of NIBPs for obtaining BP values in the acute care setting, we determine the agreement between SBP, DBP, and MAP measured by NIBP, manual cuff, and Arterial lines (A-lines) in patients with ICH. Study Aims. To understand the agreement between SBP, DBP, and …

Perception Of Pediatric Readiness Across A Health System's Emergency Departments, Rebekah L. Sabo

Doctoral Dissertations & Projects

The recent pandemic and pediatric respiratory syncytial virus surge have reinvigorated pediatric care readiness conversations. National strategies and associations exist to guide health systems in improving the quality of emergency care offered to pediatric populations by first assessing readiness for care. These research strategies center on survey implementation and staff engagement in general emergency departments with the goal to improve staff readiness to care for pediatric patients that may present for treatment. What impact would developing a consolidated pediatric readiness program that includes: pediatric emergency care coordinator designation for each emergency department, pediatric readiness education and committee engagement have on …

Pods: A Team-Based Approached To Reduce The Left Without Being Seen Rate In An Urban, High-Volume Emergency Department, Charis Keane Md, Daryn Brauner Msn, Amy Bobbit Rn, Nikki Campbell Bsn, April Alfano Ms

Posters

The purpose of this QI project is to evaluate the impact of the Patient-Oriented Discharge System (PODS) model, a registered nurse-provider team-based approach, on reducing the rate of LWBS in a high-volume, urban ED

Preventing And Responding To Workplace Violence In The Emergency Department, Janina La Porte, Stefanie Lai, Alicia Rodriguez

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

No abstract provided.

Improving Emergency Department Belongings Inventory Electronic Medical Record Documentation, Shanekia Garrett, Stefanie Lai, Jairo Pagan, Wendy Lu, Katie Whitehead

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

No abstract provided.

Improving Emergency Department Belongings Inventory Electronic Medical Record Documentation Rates, Stefanie Lai

Providence Nursing Research Conference 2023 – Present

Background: Electronic Medical Record (EMR) education and training for RNs should be multifaceted and targeted to the RN clinical workflow. Input from direct care RNs is essential to ensure EMR education is relevant and effective. Shared Governance at a community hospital identified quality and safety concerns among inpatient RNs. RNs reported that belongings inventories were not consistently documented in the EMR for Emergency Department (ED) admissions. Hospital policy requires belongings inventory EMR documentation for all admitted patients. An audit of charts for ED admissions over three months revealed only 5% compliance with this policy.

Purpose: The purpose of this project …

Preventing And Responding To Workplace Violence In The Emergency Department, Stefanie Lai, Alicia Rodriguez

Providence Nursing Research Conference 2023 – Present

Background: Workplace violence (WPV) is defined as physical violence or verbal threats of physical violence, regardless of whether an employee sustains an injury. Emergency department (ED) staff are at high risk of exposure to WPV, which can lead to burnout, job dissatisfaction, and secondary stress. Effective preparation for and response to WPV incidents can help mitigate these negative effects. Multicomponent interventions, including education, safety huddles, behavioral health rapid response teams, and environmental modifications, have been shown to reduce WPV incidents and increase staff perceptions of safety.

Purpose: The purpose of this evidence informed-quality improvement project was to increase knowledge of …

An Educational Intervention Differentiating Pressure Injuries From End-Of-Life Wounds, Alicia Perez Varela, Annette Callis

Providence Nursing Research Conference 2023 – Present

Background

End-of-life (EOL) wounds are identified in the literature as Kennedy Terminal Ulcers (KTU), Skin Failure (SF), Trombley-Brennan Terminal Tissue Injury (TB-TTI), and SCALE (Skin Changes at Life’s End). EOL wounds have a similar appearance to pressure injuries (PIs) with a fundamentally different etiology. The misclassification of EOL wounds as PIs results in increased Hospital Acquired Pressure Injuries (HAPI), hospital fines, and less-than-optimal EOL wound management.

Purpose

To examine the effectiveness of an educational intervention on EOL wounds in increasing nurse confidence in providing End-of-Life Care (EOLC) and differentiating PIs from EOL wounds.

Methods

This quasi-experimental study used the 28-item …

A Better Tool For Ed Fall Risk Assessments: The Monego-Barra Ed Fall Risk Assessment Tool (Moba), Roxanne Barra, Mary Waldo, Angela Graves, Jessica Monego

Providence Nursing Research Conference 2023 – Present

Background

The incidence of falls has been increasing in emergency departments (EDs), with some resulting in harm. In a large health care system in the Western United States, the Morse Fall Risk Assessment Tool (Morse) is used across care settings, despite not being validated in the ED. Other ED tools in the literature are the Memorial ED Fall Risk Assessment Tool (Memorial) and Kinder 1 Fall Risk Assessment Tool (Kinder). These three tools contain risk factors that may not be specific to EDs or are missing relevant factors. This led the researchers to create the Monego-Barra ED Fall Risk Assessment …

Adherence To Sb5195 Naloxone Distribution Requirements At Discharge From The Emergency Department, E Stewart, J Delfeld, J Mckay, J Corhei, Kailyn Elliot

Providence Nursing Research Conference 2023 – Present

Background: Washington State, mirroring a national crisis, experienced a surge in opioid-related deaths, with 17,502 fatalities from 2007 to 2021. This trend aligns with the U.S.'s broader opioid epidemic, marked by 70,000 drug overdose deaths in 2017, data show overdose deaths involving opioids increased from an estimated 70,029 in 2020 to 80,816 in 2021. Overdose deaths were from synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl. In response, empowering registered nurses (RNs) in emergency departments (EDs) to issue Nurse-Initiated Orders (NIO) for patients to discharge from the hospital with physical naloxone pre-pack kits to be used in the community, an opioid antagonist, has …

Medication Errors Among Als Providers In The Prehospital Setting, Cody Vaughn Gibson, Victor Jimenez Jr

Annual Research Symposium

EMS providers administer a variety of medications to patients in the prehospital environment, and while there are numerous published studies on medication errors pertaining to the hospital environment, there are comparatively fewer studies which focus on the prehospital environment. Therefore, the purpose of this survey is to investigate the type and frequency of medication errors occurring in the prehospital environment.

Effectiveness Of Antibiotic Stewardship For Healthcare Providers At Urgent Care Clinics, Helen T. Adewole

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Antibiotics have revolutionized modern medicine; however, the overuse in urgent care and primary care significantly contributes to the global burden of infections resistant to available antimicrobial medicines. Approximately 30% of the antimicrobials prescribed in acute care settings are unnecessary. Patient demand for antibiotics has seemingly skyrocketed following the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Practitioners must be knowledgeable about antibiotic stewardship initiatives, such as the wait-and-see approach, to reduce antibiotic overuse and improve the trajectory of antibiotic resistance and patient health outcomes. The gap in practice was the limited awareness of scientific evidence-based tools to partner with patients and improve antibiotic prescription patterns. …

Veterans Direct Admission Reassessment Tool Validation For The Reduction Of Rapid Response Code Blue, And Code Stroke Team Activations In Newly Arrived Direct Admission Veterans, Joshua Monroe Wells

DNP Projects

Abstract

Purpose: Rapid clinical assessment of newly arriving direct admission veteran patients to the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System (VAHCS) Lexington is of the utmost importance to determine current patient condition, alteration from previously known condition at time of provider acceptance or time of report, and appropriate level of care for these veterans. The facility has seen an increase in the number of unexpected patient declines by direct admission patients presenting to medical surgical units at the VA Health Care System Lexington KY. This recurrent decline resulted in the facility performing a Root Cause Analysis (RCA), which identified …

Reducing Emergency Department Decision To Admit To Disposition Time Using The Sydney Triage To Admission Risk Tool, Jolyn Sackmann

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Practice Innovation Projects

Background: Long emergency department (ED) length of stay (LOS) is associated with increased mortality, delay in care, longer inpatient (IP) stays, readmission risk, poor patient satisfaction, and opportunity for error. Within the ED LOS is a quality indicator measuring the time a provider determines a patient will be admitted to the time the patient leaves the ED for an IP unit, called ED-2. Prolonged ED-2 indicates impaired ED output.
/="/">Local Problem: Despite previous interventions, the ED-2 at a rural Midwest hospital was about 63.5 minutes; the goal set forth by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid is 35 minutes …

Nursing Care During Natural Disasters, War Zones, And Mass Casualty Incidents: Implications For An Educational And Professional Overhaul, Erin N. White

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Emergency situations around the world are inevitable. Any nurse who practices for any period of time is sure to encounter situations like these. Their hospital may be flooded with traumatic and severely life-threatening patient cases where supplies can become scarce. In these situations, a nurse and all other healthcare personnel are expected to act effectively, efficiently and in a highly organized way. Despite this need, many hospitals fail to implement effective disaster preparedness programs and plans. This leaves healthcare workers at a loss for how to treat patients, communicate within and outside of the hospital, coordinate transport, and all the …

How To Save A Life: The Impact Of Cpr And Bleeding Control Education On Adolescents, Emily Charlton

Nursing | Student Research Posters

Background: Out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and uncontrolled traumatic bleeding are two of the leading causes of death globally. Death due to OHCA and bleeding is largely preventable. With appropriate bystander intervention, positive outcomes in cases of OHCA and traumatic bleeding would greatly increase. Purpose: Bystander ability and intent to provide emergency cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and bleeding control is dependent on educational programs including death prevention first aid. Upon review of research, a gap was identified in adolescent death prevention training. The purpose of this proposed prospective study is to determine the effect of a high school education curriculum …

Sepsis Criteria On Triage (Scot): Sepsis Alert, Kristie Givens

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Sepsis is a serious life-threatening condition that kills hundreds of thousands of patients every year and is a major leading cause of death. Sepsis is a medical emergency where early identification and prompt treatment are crucial for survival. Despite assessment tools for early recognition, a delay in antibiotic therapy remains. A sepsis alert (Code Sepsis) in the emergency department could improve sepsis care, spare countless lives, and save billions of dollars nationwide, annually. The implementation of a Code Sepsis will trigger a team to deliver immediate treatment and ensure one hour antibiotic administration times. The John Hopkins Nursing Evidence-Based Practice …

Massive Transfusion And Shock Index, Kasey House

MSN Capstone Projects

Hemorrhagic shock is one of the leading causes of preventable death in military trauma patients. Literature shows that pre-hospital transfusions of blood products within the combat environment have shown to have a greater likelihood of survival. This has produced a challenge in the pre-hospital setting to have a standardized method of predicting the patient’s need for a massive transfusion. In the last few years, the development of a Massive Transfusion Protocol (MTP) has become the standard to quickly deliver blood products to actively bleeding patients. Every minute waiting to administer blood products increases mortality by 5%.

While initiating an MTP …

Wellness Review 2023, Part 1, Brian A. Ferguson, Martin Huecker

Journal of Wellness

Introduction: The 2023 Part 1 summary reviews research on wellness in healthcare professionals published outside of JWellness from January 1, 2023 to June 30, 2023.

Methods: Editors conducted a Boolean search of titles and abstracts in PubMed utilizing keyword identifiers pairing healthcare personnel (providers, nurses, and other staff) with a well-being metric. Of 416 relevant articles, an intriguing and innovative 30 were selected for inclusion, with two additional articles manually curated.

Literature in Review: This sample of the recent literature into healthcare professional wellness included multiple targeted interventions and studies of resilience. Main themes that emerged include: positive systematic healthcare …

Nurse Initiated Standing Orders: A Process Improvement At An Emergency Department In Interior Alaska, Justin D. Melberg

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Emergency Departments (EDs) are a valuable and limited public health resource. In addition to treating acute medical emergencies, EDs bridge the gaps in urgent care and primary care accessibility, operating twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, providing care regardless of an individual’s ability to pay. EDs across the country operate at or above capacity regularly, and overcrowding is projected to increase due to decreased facilities and available inpatient beds. Innovative measures are necessary to increase patient throughput and decrease length of stay while maintaining quality care. Nurse initiated standing orders, also known as nurse driven protocols, standing orders, …

Hospital Development Of A Hybrid Emergency Department - Inpatient Care Observation Unit, Anna Powell, Paul Clark Rn, Phd, Ma, Faen, Karan Shah

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Introduction: This project aimed to design and implement an emergency department-managed observation unit that improves inpatient bed and emergency department stretcher capacity, decreases observation patient length of stay, earns high patient satisfaction scores, and generates a positive fiscal impact on the organization.

Methods: This quality improvement project followed a 1-group, pre- and postprogram implementation design.

Results: In the first year of operations, 40% of the total observation patients treated in this hospital were managed in the new observation unit. Emergency department observation unit length of stay across all patient complaints was half of the average length of stay for observation …

Poster: Improving Emergency Department Belongings Inventory Electronic Medical Record Documentation, Shanekia Garrett, Stefanie Lai, Jairo Pagan, Wendy Lu, Katie Whitehead

2023 South Division Nursing Research Conference

Improving Emergency Department Belongings Inventory Electronic Medical Record Documentation Rates Background: Electronic Medical Record (EMR) education and training for RNs should be multifaceted and targeted to the RN clinical workflow. Input from direct care RNs is essential to ensure EMR education is relevant and effective. Shared Governance at a community hospital identified quality and safety concerns among inpatient RNs. RNs reported that belongings inventories were not consistently documented in the EMR for Emergency Department (ED) admissions. Hospital policy requires belongings inventory EMR documentation for all admitted patients. An audit of charts for ED admissions over three months revealed only 5% …

Poster: Improving Emergency Department Belongings Inventory Electronic Medical Record Documentation, Shanekia Garrett, Stefanie Lai, Jairo Pagan, Wendy Lu, Katie Whitehead

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Improving Emergency Department Belongings Inventory Electronic Medical Record Documentation Rates Background: Electronic Medical Record (EMR) education and training for RNs should be multifaceted and targeted to the RN clinical workflow. Input from direct care RNs is essential to ensure EMR education is relevant and effective. Shared Governance at a community hospital identified quality and safety concerns among inpatient RNs. RNs reported that belongings inventories were not consistently documented in the EMR for Emergency Department (ED) admissions. Hospital policy requires belongings inventory EMR documentation for all admitted patients. An audit of charts for ED admissions over three months revealed only 5% …

Oxygen Therapy Education To Improve Oxygen Safety In The Emergency Department: A Quality Improvement Project, Latania Wolfe

DNP Projects

Background and Significance: Oxygen is often administered in emergency departments (ED) in US without the nurses and other healthcare staff inputting orders for this medication. This gap in placing orders poses a risk to patient safety and poses a regulation issue.

Purpose: The goal of this quality improvement project is to increase the rate of orders placed for patients using oxygen in ED staff by 12% from March 1, 2023 to May 31, 2023.

Methods: The Model for Improvement guided this quality improvement project. Two PDSA cycles were completed.

Results: PDSA #1 Completed SWOT analysis and used information to …

Implementation Of A Patient Care Specialist Role To Enhance The Patient Experience In A Pediatric Emergency Department, Jillian Brodeur

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Background: Patient-centered care (PCC) has been an emerging trend in healthcare for the past two decades (Walsh et al., 2022). PCC and the patient experience have become essential measures of the quality of care provided and are linked to reimbursement dollars and improved patient outcomes (Rapport et al., 2019).

Purpose: The purpose of the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project was to improve the patient experience in the Emergency Department (ED) of a metropolitan hospital. The DNP project focused on the benefit of a patient advocate in the ED to improve the patient experience. The project sought to improve …

Foley Catheter Algorithm, Chary Mathew

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Urinary catheterization, indwelling and intermittent are simple and common procedures performed in hospitals, emergency rooms, nursing homes, and clinics to ensure adequate urinary output in patients who cannot void efficiently or closely monitor fluid intake and output. Though simple and straightforward in most cases, catheterization can become a challenging procedure with complications in the absence of a standardized protocol for difficult catheterization (Ghaffary et al., 2013). This Quality Improvement Project aimed to develop a standardized Foley catheter algorithm/ flow chart available in our institution's intranet and laminated charts in nursing stations and procedure rooms with Foley catheter insertion indications, types, …

Integration Into Professional Practice: Emergency Medical Services, Eva Finkelstein

Senior Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

Exploring Hapi Incidence In Patients Admitted Through The Ed: A Quality Improvement Initiative, Alexa L. Tietgens

DNP Projects

Each year in the U.S., pressure injuries, or PIs, are responsible for more than 60,000 patient deaths and billions of dollars’ worth of treatment costs. Research shows that roughly 95% of all PIs are preventable by following evidence-based practice guidelines which include early identification of patients at risk, frequent skin assessments, and implementation of prevention strategies. However, the ED environment creates unique risks for PI development due to the routine use of hard surfaces (i.e., stretchers, backboards, exam tables) and frequent hospital overcrowding. Although nurses play a pivotal role in PI prevention, frequent staffing shortages, high patient acuity levels, and …

Implementation Of A Code Lobby Surge And The Impact On Left Without Being Seen Rates, Nicole Plouffe

Student Scholarly Projects

Practice Problem: Crowding of emergency departments contribute to higher-than-average left without being seen (LWBS) rates. LWBS patients pose risks to the hospital as well as to one’s own health.

PICOT: The PICOT question that guided this project was in a pediatric emergency department (P), does implementation of a “Code Lobby Surge” (I), compared to standard care (C), decrease left without being seen rates (O) within eight weeks (T)?

Evidence: Surge interventions and decreasing the visual of crowding have shown to decrease LWBS rates.

Intervention: “Code Lobby Surge” was implemented to decrease LWBS rates and improve throughput within the …