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Full-Text Articles in Nursing

Creating A Palliative Care Referral To Improve Quality Of Life In Heart Failure Patients, Johnny Garcia May 2017

Creating A Palliative Care Referral To Improve Quality Of Life In Heart Failure Patients, Johnny Garcia

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Background: A transitional care program was developed at a southern San Diego hospital to guide patients dealing with heart failure from an inpatient to an outpatient setting to decrease hospital readmissions. Although, very successful with a quarterly readmission average of 9%, patients that are considered end-stage heart failure categorized by ejection fraction less than 30% and have greater than one visit in a thirty day period do not qualify for transitional care. These patients’ readmission rates average 50%. The literature shows that patients who will not significantly improve within six months would benefit from palliative and hospice care, thus a …


End Of Life Care Practices For Patients Who Die In Intensive Care Units (Icu), Jila Ghabeljoo May 2017

End Of Life Care Practices For Patients Who Die In Intensive Care Units (Icu), Jila Ghabeljoo

Doctoral Projects

Today, one in five hospital deaths happens in the intensive care unit with the expectation of twice as many by 2030. Increasing, mortality has triggered a growing attention to end-of-life (EOL) care in the ICU. However, the lack of coveted EOL and palliative care skills creates a challenge for ICU nurses. The aim of this study was to assess the current practices of EOL care in the ICU. In this quantitative research, a retrospective chart review method was employed to analyze the collected data from a population 60 EOL patients who died in the ICU of a Southern California hospital. …


Development Of A Guideline For Hospice Staff, Patients, And Families On Appropriate Opioid Use, Trenika Alexander-Goreá Jan 2017

Development Of A Guideline For Hospice Staff, Patients, And Families On Appropriate Opioid Use, Trenika Alexander-Goreá

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is an identified problem with patients receiving suboptimal pain management at a hospice agency in the northwestern United States. At this agency, undertreatment of pain is prevalent. Evidence indicates that this may be a result of a lack of guidelines, education, and knowledge of appropriate prescribing. Known barriers to the correct prescription and administration of potent opioids in the hospice setting include prevailing beliefs, knowledge, skills, and attitudes, all of which can impact care negatively. Contextually, hospice principles mandate patient comfort and caregiver involvement in continuous quality improvement, which includes adequate and informed pain management. Moreover, hospice metrics demand …


Primary Care Nursing Barriers To Identifying And Referring Patients To Palliative Care, Angela F. Rutherford Jan 2017

Primary Care Nursing Barriers To Identifying And Referring Patients To Palliative Care, Angela F. Rutherford

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

Palliative care (PC) is an interdisciplinary approach that specifically focuses on improving quality of life for people living with chronic, life-limiting illnesses (Kelley & Morrison, 2015). Ideally, PC should be initiated at the time of diagnosis. Research suggest that PC referrals are often delayed until there is a clearly terminal event, leading to unnecessary suffering from preventable symptoms and poor quality of life (Wilson, Avalos, & Dowling, 2016). The aim of this MSN thesis was to determine what barriers exist in the primary care setting to identifying and/or referring patients to PC programs. A descriptive study was performed utilizing an …


Hospice And Palliative Care: Imperative To The Education Of Nursing, Crystal Lynn Jordan Jan 2017

Hospice And Palliative Care: Imperative To The Education Of Nursing, Crystal Lynn Jordan

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

Many advanced practice nursing programs do not have hospice and palliative care content included in their curricula. Reviewing the literature regarding the nature of hospice and palliative care content in advanced practice nursing curricula revealed few published studies. Rather than a small snapshot of what end-of-life care entails, it is vital to integrate end-of-life care into every aspect taught in advance practice nursing school. The purpose of this thesis was ascertain the nature of hospice and palliative care content contained in advanced practice nursing curricula. A survey was sent to advance practice nursing program directors asking for information related to …