Nursing Commons^™

Non-Psychiatric Nurse Self-Efficacy With Suicidality After An Educational Intervention, Nadin E. Knippschild

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

Lack of acute-care hospital non-psychiatric nurses’ confidence and competence with suicidality has been reported in the literature. Evidence supports multi-modal education to increase recall and improve outcomes. The theory of self-efficacy included concepts of confidence as well as competence and served as the project’s theoretical underpinning. A descriptive design was utilized to examine the effects of an education intervention using various methodologies addressing suicide risk factors, prevention, management, and safe care on nurses’ perceived level of self-efficacy. Methods included a pre-test survey, an education module intervention, and a non-matched post-test survey. The survey used consisted of 11 of the original …

Accelerated Baccalaureate Nursing Students’ Perceptions Of Stress, Ariel Starr Tate

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

Accelerated baccalaureate nursing students are at an increased risk for stress due to the fast pace and intensity of the program. The purpose of this research was to examine the perceived stresses and coping strategies of accelerated baccalaureate nursing students. The Student Nurse Stress Index (SNSI), (Jones & Johnston, 1999) and a qualitative question on coping strategies were completed by 24 ABSN students in an online survey. Results showed students perceived academic factors as the most stressful and first semester students had higher stress level scores than final semester students. Personal time, social support, physical activity, sleep/rest, and religion relieved …

Exploring Medical-Surgical Nurse Turnover And Stratagies, Amber D. Weaver

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

This study explored the issue of medical-surgical unit nurse turnover and strategies to create nurse retention. The goal of this study was to provide nursing administrators with data that shows the cause of nurse turnover in this nursing specialty. The hypothesis was that there will be findings to indicate that medical-surgical nurses are at increased risk for employment turnover due to increased patient load and patient turnover. To study this concept, the Revised Casey-Fink Nurse Retention Survey was utilized. The results of the survey were revealed, and recommendations were made that may lead to nurse retention on the medical-surgical unit.

Teaching Nursing Students To Communicate With Older Adults, Lena Moffitt Mceachern

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

Student nurses have difficulty communicating effectively with older adults. Nurses willing to work with this age groups are in high demand due to the growing population. Lack of knowledge and preconceived ideas deter students from a willingness to work in geriatrics. Improving communication skills by increasing knowledge and decreasing bias in the clinical setting will benefit students and the community. The focus of this project was to discover if instruction, practice through role playing, and completion of a simulation with standardized patients prepare students for communicating effectively with older adults and increase the desire to work with this population. The …

Basic Organizational Skills And Structure For New Nurses: The Boss Method. Using Simulation To Teach Management And Organizational Skills, Kathy W. Locklear

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

The Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program had a deficiency in teaching graduating senior nursing students in the areas of managing and organizing care for an assigned group of patients. By the last semester of the senior year, most of the senior nursing students had no exposure to caring for more than one patient during clinical rotations. In 2017, the senior nursing students’ performance in Team Nursing and Focused Care experiences, which occur during the last semester of the graduating year, demonstrated a lack of ability to care for more than one patient at a time. In 2018, there …

Active Shooter Awareness Education And Training Using Best Practices For Nurses In Acute Care Facilities, Amanda Carol Dean

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

The thought of having an active shooter at your place of work is unimaginable. The thought of having an active shooter at a place of healing is terrifying and distressing for patients, families, and nursing staff. An active shooter event, as defined by Hauk (2018), is when at least one person is actively killing or trying to kill people in a confined populated space. If an active shooter event were to take place in an acute care facility, nurses must be educated on best practices of responding to an active shooter, including identifying the situation, notifying the appropriate personnel of …

Empowering Individuals In The Community: Let Your Wishes Be Known Through Advance Healthcare Planning, Elizabeth Range Parnell

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

Advance healthcare planning in the community is a responsibility that requires informed decision-making, time, and individualized attention. Advance healthcare planning in the community should be an organized process of communication that is intended to assist, engage, and support individuals, their families, and friends in understanding, reflecting upon, and discussing the loved one’s goals, values, and preferences for their future health care needs. The growing older adult population in the United States has increased age-related morbidities, and life-limiting chronic illnesses that increase the demand for quality, yet cost-effective end of life care. When a loved one is sick and unable to …

Changing Cna Perceptions Of Substance Use Disorders, Frank Alagna

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

Healthcare workers have perceptions of the patients they care for on a day to day basis. These perceptions may have negative impacts on patient care and therapeutic relationships. Substance use disorder (SUD) patients present a unique challenge due to factors related to the disease process. Certified nursing assistants (CNAs) spend a significant amount of time working with this patient population in the acute care setting. An educational intervention was prepared and presented to newly hired CNAs in a rural regional hospital in the southeastern United States to change perceptions of (SUD). Components of the educational intervention included a 30 minute …

Perceived Effects Of Faith Community Nursing On Quality Of Life And Overall Health, Vicie Renee Rutherford

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

Faith Community Nursing (FCN) is a nursing practice specialty that focuses on the intentional care of the spirit, the promotion of an integrative model of health, and the prevention and minimization of illness. The FCN nursing specialty is believed to be an effective specialty to reverse the trend for declining health by aiding in the improvement of quality of life (QoL) and overall health for increasing numbers of people with multiple health problems; however, minimal research data and literature was available to substantiate the claim. This MSN thesis explored the relationship between FCN ministries and QoL and health by conducting …

Nurse Manager Leadership Styles, Tristy Morrison

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

Strong leadership skills are crucial to establish, grow, and sustain a healthy work environment in healthcare. Transformational leadership behaviors drive nursing teams to achieve higher levels of engagement, increased nursing satisfaction, increased retention rates, and higher commitment levels to the organization. The purpose of this research was to assess the transformational leadership characteristics among assistant nurse managers, managers, and directors, in a southeastern hospital in the United States. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ-5X) was administered to evaluate the leadership characteristics. A convenience sample of 14 nurse leaders rated themselves as more transformational than the norm with an average score of …

Case Managers’ Perceptions Of Effective Interventions, Julia Williamson

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

Case managers (CM) identify patients with high emergency department (ED) utilization and barriers to healthcare services. CM interventions need to be evaluated related to high ED utilization, identification of effective interventions, and improving patients’ self-management skills. Current literature supports the review and implementation of identified CM interventions to reduce non-emergent ED utilization, and improved patients’ health literacy, and self-management abilities. There is a lack in research related to CM perceptions’ of effective interventions to reduce ED utilization. The purpose of this study was to examine CM perceptions’ of patients’ low health literacy and self-management skills, identify barriers to self-care, and …

Staff Nurses’ Perception Of Standardized Bedside Shift Report And Safety Assessment, Lara Scarborough

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

This study was conducted to explore a group of Medical-Surgical staff nurses’ perception of a unit-based procedure change, which included implementation of a standardized bedside shift report with a comprehensive safety assessment. The goal was to gain insight from the staff nurses via a qualitative survey to provide data for nurse leaders to examine common perception themes associated with implementation of bedside shift report with a standardized safety assessment. Themes derived from data analysis indicated that nurses perceived bedside shift report to increase patient safety but felt that some nurses were not willingly participating in bedside shift report. Staff nurses …

Mental Health Concerns In African American Churches: Pastoral Preparedness In Counseling, Melody Samuel

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

African Americans rely heavily upon their pastors for more than spiritual guidance. Pastors are known as gatekeepers in the African American community serving as a resource to address a multitude of issues for their congregant from personal issues such as finances and marital issues, grief and bereavement, to physical and mental health issues. The aim of this study was to examine pastoral preparedness for counseling of mental health concerns in the African American church. To better understand the demand of mental health counseling for their congregants and assess the pastor’s perception of educational and training needs, 35 pastors and/or associate …

The Evaluation Of Video Teaching On Preoperative Anxiety In The Outpatient Pediatric Surgical Patient, Jennifer Glenn

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

Preoperative anxiety is common among pediatric surgical patients. Numerous studies have evaluated measures to reduce preoperative anxiety in both adult and pediatric patients; however, limited research exists on the impact of preoperative video teaching in pediatric outpatient surgical patients. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of preoperative video teaching on preoperative anxiety in pediatric patients age seven to 14 undergoing outpatient surgery.

Design and Methods: The study operated as a two group, post-test comparison study, in which a convenience sample of 60 patients were randomized to either the control (30 patients) or study (30 patients) …

Teaching Adult Learners Knowledge About Care Transition (Talk-Act): A Quality Improvement Project To Promote Nursing Communication, Tammy D. Trivette

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

There is a growing incentive to recognize a way of improving the hospital discharge process to empower patients to succeed in care transition. Nurses play a crucial role in the prevention of hospital readmission by focusing on high-quality discharge instructions (Hesselink et al., 2014). When a patient is successful in self-care the improvement to the discharge process reduces unnecessary hospital readmissions (Roberts, Moore, & Jack, 2017). This doctoral project aimed to provide insight into a growing hospital discharge problem, the underlying causes, and an overview of results from a change in processes. Both communication and patient comprehension play significant roles …

Cultivating Confidence: Creating A Flipped Classroom Environment, Hallie H. Barnett

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

The purpose of this pilot study was to examine if the application of the flipped classroom teaching method versus traditional lecture in new hire hospital nursing orientation played a role in practicing nurses’ self-confidence to competently practice at the patient’s bedside. By exploring two different teaching methods in orientation, a correlation would be determined to recognize self-confidence levels with the nurse’s ability to use policy, procedure, and equipment when responding to a medical emergency in a new facility. The research study was conducted using a convenience sample at a community hospital during nursing orientation which occurred consistently twice per month. …

Improving Nurses’ Confidence In Early Identification Of Sepsis, Kristi Brawley

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

Sepsis is the body’s extreme response to infection, which is a life-threatening medical emergency and must be treated promptly. Emergency Department (ED) registered nurses are at the frontlines of patient treatment, requiring them to be educated on the most recent guidelines and protocols when it comes to early sepsis identification. This study implemented educational sessions on early identification and initiation of treatment in sepsis for the ED nurse population to improve their overall confidence in identifying potentially septic patients. It was found that the education sessions increased the nursing staff who participated overall confidence in early identification of sepsis patients.

Prevention And Alleviation Of Patient Emotional Harm, Yolanda Neal

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

The healthcare encounter is a setting in which a patient experience or customer service concern can occur. Patients who experience disrespect in this encounter may be less likely to use health care services that improve health outcomes. Emotional harm has been defined as, “something that affects a patient’s dignity by the failure to demonstrate adequate respect for the patient as a person. Emotional harm leaves the patient feeling violated, damages the patient-provider relationship and erodes trust”, (Sokol-Hessner, 2015, p. 551). Kaplan (2015) suggested that emotional harms experienced by patients can erode trust and damage patient-provider relationships. Such injuries can be …

Perceived Confidence Levels Of Nc School Nurses With Emergency Preparedness, Gina Mace Greene

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

School nurses have a critical role in a school setting during an emergency. In many situations, they are the first and only health responders on the scene. School nurses must be confident in their knowledge and skills to implement in many different types of emergencies. This study presents the results of the perceived competence levels of NC School Nurses with emergency preparedness. An anonymous survey showed results that more school nurses are more confident with medical emergencies and least confident with pandemic and bioterrorism related emergencies. Some types of emergencies may only pose a low threat of incidence in a …

Investigating Compassion Fatigue In Medical-Surgical Nurses, Tammy Darlene Shepherd

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

Medical-surgical nurses are consumed by providing care to patients and families and often forget to care for themselves. Compassion fatigue can lead to lack of caring for one’s self in the nurse’s life. The purpose of this thesis was to examine the existence of compassion fatigue among medical-surgical nurses and determine the correlation between the range of years of nursing experience and range of age in years. A review of the literature has identified that nurses should practice self-care to combat compassion fatigue. The theoretical framework was based on Jean Watson’s Theory of Transpersonal Caring. The Professional Quality of Life …

Understanding The Autism Spectrum Disorder Population: An Opportunity To Improve Patient Care, Jean A. Timmons

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

There is a documented need for caring education regarding patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) for nursing students and nursing staff. The autism spectrum population is increasing, one in 59 children in the United States as reported by the CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network (as cited in Baio et al., 2018). Nurses are expected to provide appropriate care, showing respect and understanding at all times to both the client and family. Through lack of knowledge and misunderstanding the ASD population has not been given this care. Based on Watson’s Theory of Caring, an educational ASD caring program …