Nursing Commons^™

Patient Education In The Emergency Department, Bryan K. Devinney

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

Patient education is a core component to the practice of nursing in many countries, including the United States. Emergency department nurses are often overwhelmed with the number of patients they must care for in short amounts of time. The patients are often in varying stages of evaluation and treatment, and the nurse may be involved in one-on-one interventions with these patients. This can leave little time for patient education, especially if the nurse does not feel like the patient education is meaningful or useful. Various factors can influence the ability and desire of the emergency department nurse to provide proper …

Nurse Manager Role Perception In An Acute Care Facility, H. Gale Waters

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

The Nurse Manager role is a crucial part of the healthcare delivery system in an acute care facility, particularly in the current wave of healthcare reform. These are unprecedented times for nursing leadership as they develop and move in a new direction. The role of Nurse Manager is complex with numerous studies including: past roles, characteristics, innovation, outcome, education, and advancement. This study observed the role through the point of view of the Nurse Manager. The Nurse Managers participated in a survey in which they ranked themselves on a one to five scale, with one being a novice in the …

Evidence-Based Blood Conservation Education For Icu Nurses: A Pre And Post-Test Evaluation Of Nursing Knowledge, Stefanie M. Bull

DNP Projects

Purpose: The purpose of this evidence-based education project was (i) to evaluate baseline nursing knowledge of anemia, blood conservation and transfusion medicine, (ii) to identify current blood conservation practice and the nurse’s prior exposure to blood conservation education (iii) to determine the potential impact of evidence-based education on nursing knowledge, and (iv) to determine the impact of education on the nurse’s attitudes towards future implementation of blood conservation practices based on the nurse’s self report.

Setting: The project was implemented in the Cardiovascular and Thoracic ICU (CVICU) at an 875-bed level-1 Trauma and Multi-Organ Transplant Center located in central Kentucky. …

The Effects Of Oral Pain Medication Being Administered In Phase I As Compared To Oral Pain Medications Administered In Phase Ii, Dana Jones

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

Healthcare and the provision of care are ever-changing as governing bodies over-see and regulate the way institutions provide care for patients. Pain assessment, reassessment, and pain management are a focus nationally and healthcare providers are held accountable for how pain is managed for patients. One piece to this broad topic is the use of oral pain medications, more specifically in the ambulatory surgical patient. The purpose of this project was to compare the length of stay, reported pain scores, and total amount of IV medications administered between patients who receive the first dose of oral pain medications in Phase I …

Hearing The Child's Voice: Their Lived Experience In The Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Andrea Prentiss

All Publications

Background: More than 200,000 children are admitted annually to Pediatric Intensive Care Units (PICUs) in the US. Research has shown young children can provide insight into their hospitalization experiences; child reports rather than parental reports are critical to understanding the child’s experience. Information relating to children’s perceptions while still in the PICU is scarce.

Aims: The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate school age children’s and adolescents’ perceptions of PICU while in the PICU; changes in perceptions after transfer to the General Care Unit (GCU); differences in perceptions of school age children/adolescents and those with more invasive procedures. …

Trauma Resource Nurse: A Leadership Role In A Pediatric Level 1 Trauma Center, Claudia Hines

Theses and Graduate Projects

Nurses in a pediatric emergency department are accustomed to caring for critically ill and injured children. Pediatric trauma requires nurses to have a high level of expertise. However, along with this expertise, nurses need to demonstrate strong leadership skills to be an effective partner in the trauma team. Attaining a pediatric level I trauma designation by the American College of Surgeons generated uncertainty in emergency nurses' perceptions of their ability to care for trauma patients. Emergency departments within trauma centers have recognized the need for specialized nursing programs or nursing roles in the care of trauma. Nursing leadership competencies, interprofessional …

Nurses Perceptions Of Family Presence During Resuscitation In The Emergency Department, Jennifer L. Jennings

Master's Theses, Dissertations, Graduate Research and Major Papers Overview

Family presence during resuscitation has been a controversial and much debated topic for many years. In the past decade, the movement toward family presence has steadily grown. The Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) and the American Heart Association (AHA) have endorsed family presence and incorporated guidelines for its implementation. Although becoming more accepted in practice, there are still many hospitals without family presence policies, and some nurses and other health care providers continue to identify concerns about its’ use. The purpose of this project was to survey nurses’ perceptions of family presence during resuscitation in the Emergency Department. A researcher developed …

Assessment Of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury By Advanced Practice Registered Nurses, Mary Lou Garey

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

The purpose of this project was to evaluate the knowledge about assessing mild traumatic brain injured patient by the advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) as reflected in the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Acute Concussion Evaluation (ACE) Tool Kit. A descriptive cross-sectional survey research design was used to assess knowledge about the evidenced based assessment of APRNs practicing in an urgent care setting as established by the CDC for the evaluation of acute concussion. Specifically the history and physical assessment practices of the APRNs for the mild traumatic brain injured patient (MTBI) were evaluated in relationship to the CDC / …

Augmentative And Alternative Communication In The Intensive Care Unit, Jonathan Todd Sizemore

Online Theses and Dissertations

Current research is lacking on the frequency of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) system use in intensive care units (ICU) and clinical decision making patterns. AAC is use of any alternative method of communication when oral communication cannot be achieved (ASHA, 2013). Patients in the ICU may become nonverbal for many reasons including tracheostomy, mechanical ventilation (McKinley, Pooke, & White, 2010) and intubation (Radtke, Bauman, Garrett, & Happ, 2011). Being nonverbal in the ICU may lead to poorer health outcomes (Patak, Wilson-Stronks, & Costello, 2009). AAC systems may improve outcomes by allowing patients to communicate more clearly with family, friends, …

A Tool To Assess The Signs And Symptoms Of Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection: Development And Reliability, Thomas Blodgett, Sue Gardner, Nicole Blodgett, Lisa Peterson, Melissa Pietraszak

Thomas Blodgett

The purpose of this pilot study was to determine the inter-rater reliability of four clinical manifestations of catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) among hospitalized adults with short-term indwelling urinary catheters using a tool developed for this purpose: the CAUTI Assessment Profile (CAP). Study participants included 30 non-pregnant English-speaking adults, recruited from 2 community hospitals. Three nurses assessed each participant for fever, suprapubic tenderness, flank tenderness, and delirium using standardized techniques. Based on the generalized kappa statistic and 95% confidence intervals, there was evidence of strong inter-rater reliability for fever (kappa = 1.00, 0.793 – 1.207), suprapubic tenderness (kappa = 0.39, …