Nursing Commons^™

Telemedicine In Schizophrenia, Stacy H. Williams

MSN Capstone Projects

Schizophrenia is a chronic neurological brain disorder that affects approximately 2.6 million adults in the United States alone. This condition affects twenty million people worldwide according to the World Health Organization. “Patients with schizophrenia often die at a considerably younger age than the rest of the population,” (Wallace, 2017). The treatment of this condition is complex because of the array of different symptoms and presented behaviors. Treatment consists of targeting the symptoms. This is done with medication and psychotherapeutics treatments. ‘Despite continued therapeutic advances, the life expectancy of patients with schizophrenia is reduced by approximately 10-25 years compared to that …

Aromatherapy Essential Oil Usage In Managing Chemotherapy Side Effects: A Benchmark Study, Ariana C. Smith

MSN Capstone Projects

This capstone project details the usage of essential oil aromatherapy in managing the common side effects of chemotherapy in the outpatient setting. Patients often report that these side effects to to burdensome and place significant effects on one's quality of life. Through this project, viewers will learn about four common oils, including ginger oil, lavender oil, peppermint oil, and orange oil in managing the side effects of chemotherapy.

Video Education On Fever To Empower And Educate Caregivers, Amanda April Thiel

MSN Capstone Projects

Nursing research and evidence-based practice are an essential part of the nursing profession. This paper includes discussion of the evidence to support an evidence-based benchmark project using a video to educate caregivers on how to care for a child experiencing a fever and an overview of the proposed project process. Fever has been shown to cause parental anxiety, and caregivers tend to seek medical help due to lack of education on how to care for a child with a fever (Bertille et al., 2018; Gunduz et al., 2016). The following PICOT question is the foundation of the proposed benchmark project: …

Integrating The Concept Of Trauma Into An Undergraduate Nursing Curriculum, Jacey Walker

DNP Projects

Adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, are early childhood traumas such as abuse, neglect or household dysfunction that can cause chronic physical and mental health problems across the lifespan. Approximately 61% of the adults in the United States have experienced ACEs. The prevalence of ACEs among nurses is at least comparable to population prevalence, and rates may be higher in subpopulations of individuals who work in helping professions. The stressful and highly interpersonal nature of nursing work may exacerbate and compound the health impacts of a nurse’s underlying ACEs, affecting not only the nurse’s health, but also his or her work …

Empowering Nurse Practitioners To Make Health Policy Change: A Guide To Successful Passage Of Legislation In Utah, Heather Merrill, Lacey Eden, Karlen Beth Luthy

Student Works

Introduction: There is growing political apathy among nurses. This trend must be reversed to make meaningful change in healthcare. In 2017, the authors championed a bill, House Bill 308 Substitution 2 (HB 308 Sub 2), which passed in the Utah Legislature.

Guide: This health policy paper details the process of enacting HB 308 Substitution 2 to guide Nurse Practitioners in enacting legislation. The steps detailed to enact legislation are based on the acronym CHANGE which stands for collecting data, hinge, associations, negotiate, gather, and expect to be the expert. Basics of the legislature are also explained such as timing, the …

Implementation Of The Deterioration Index: A Benchmark Study, Danielle E. D'Aquisto

MSN Capstone Projects

With Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Emergency Department (ED) beds extremely limited during this pandemic, it is time to implement an automated early warning scoring index to assist nurses in identifying clinical deterioration prior to the patient becoming clinically unstable. The goal of using this risk score is early identification of clinical deterioration, with early intervention, and thereby decreasing cardiac arrests outside of the ICU and decreasing unplanned ICU admissions. There are multiple early warning scoring tools, but they all serve one purpose, to calculate a score based upon nursing and physician assessments, lab values, and medical history that will …

Identification And Mitigation Of Environmental Hazards In Psychiatric Patient Suicide Prevention: A Review, Alan Le

DNP Qualifying Manuscripts

Background: Environmental hazards are a factor in the bulk of inpatient suicide cases, which disproportionately impact psychiatric patients. Current measures to minimize suicide risk include process-oriented solutions and environmental safeguards such as breakaway structures.

Aims: To perform a review of the literature that identifies environmental suicide hazards and interventions implemented to abate hazards and reduce suicide risk.

Methods: Electronic databases were searched using relevant keywords. Inclusion criteria consisted of articles published 2009-2020 that identified environmental suicide hazards or examined efficacy of interventions implemented to abate hazards. The Johns Hopkins Research and Non-Research Evidence Appraisal Tools were used for critical appraisal. …

Scholarly Manuscript: Deficiencies In Memory And Effective Education Of De-Escalation Techniques In Mental Health Settings, Balraj Bajwa

DNP Qualifying Manuscripts

Objective: To appraise and evaluate evidence recognizing the lack of effective staff education on de-escalation techniques, the impact that this creates on nursing practice, and staff perceptions on de-escalation methods and techniques in acute care inpatient and/or outpatient mental health settings.

Methods: Three databases were searched (CINAHL, PubMed, and PsycINFO) to identify articles/reviews which focused on de-escalation techniques and training. Additionally, five journals were also reviewed to help with the search process. Specific inclusion criteria were used to streamline the search process and to help identify articles/reviews which were primarily focused on the desired objective. Five different articles …

Streamlining Care For Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Siavash Rostami Jafarabad

DNP Qualifying Manuscripts

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a chronic and developmental disorder that affects about one out of every 65 children in California, and one in 59 children in the United States. Children with ASD have difficulty communicating and interacting with others, and experience oversensitivity to new stimuli and environments.

Problem: In healthcare settings, children with ASD experience numerous challenges related to lack of adequate knowledge and education of staff regarding ASD, and lack of appropriate environmental and sensory resources which reduce quality of care provided to this population.

Objective: To analyze and evaluate the evidence regarding effective staff education and …

Evaluation Of An Elopement Risk Assessment Tool In An Acute Inpatient Psychiatric Hospital, Beth Lockhart

Dissertations

Persons admitted to acute care, inpatient psychiatric facilities often pose a threat to themselves or others, a situation which could quickly devolve if they were to leave treatment prematurely. There is a need for an elopement risk assessment with appropriate interventions correlating to level of risk. An acute care, inpatient psychiatric hospital implemented an elopement risk assessment tool in March of 2020. This quality improvement project used an observational descriptive design and comprised of a retrospective chart review, aimed to determine the effectiveness of the risk assessment tool on decreasing elopements. Charts of those that eloped in 2019 (n=8) and …

Increasing Adherence Of Pump Integration With Electronic Medical Record Through Simulation, Judi Reeves

Dissertations

Problem: Intravenous (IV) medication errors account for one-third of the medication errors made by nurses in the United States. A measure to combat medication errors is the development of IV pump integration where the IV pump is electronically connected to the electronic medical record (EMR). With IV pump integration, the nurse is responsible for turning on the pump, scanning the medication and the IV pump, and confirming in the EMR. Human error is removed when the IV pump integration system automatically programs and starts the IV pump. This is a technical system which requires the nurse to have expertise in …

Dnp Final Report: The Impact Of The Care Coordination Management Tool On Children With Special Health Care Needs, Keisia N. Sobers-Butler, Ms, Bsba, Rn, Cmcn

DNP Final Reports

Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) population, account for 30% of spending or $233.5 billion of the costs (Bui et al., 2017). Identifying barriers to care in the CSHCN population can be multi-faceted and complex incorporating high utilization of time, and clinical resources. This project aims to evaluate the impact of care coordination, and utilization on the CSHCN population through a Patient-centered Medical Home, use of embedded case management assessing this population through using the evidence-based Care

Coordination Management Tool (CCMT). CSHCN (N=117) and families were assessed using the CCMT at every interaction from September 1, 2020 – November …

Dnp Final Report: The Impact Of Mindfulness Training On Stress, Burnout, And Mindfulness, Denise Mcnulty

DNP Final Reports

Stress and burnout are endemic in the health care profession, and the transition to practice is associated with even more stress and anxiety for new graduate nurses (Boehm & Tse, 2013). Researchers have demonstrated that mindfulness-based interventions mitigate stress and burnout and improve the workplace environment and patient outcomes (Perla et al., 2017; van den Riet et al., 2018). This scholarly evidence-based practice project assessed the impact of integrating mindfulness training into an existing nurse residency program. The team measured burnout, stress, and mindfulness via an online survey at the beginning of the February 2020 residency cohort with repeat measures …

Mental Health Among Nursing Students Amid The Coronavirus Pandemic, Cheydan Crump

Honors College Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of the current pandemic on the mental health of nursing students at a rural university. This study examined various risk factors and potential indicators for mental health, such as changes in physical activity, sleep behaviors, and differing perceptions of support they have received from the nursing program and the participating university, throughout the spread of COVID-19. This study was a non-experimental, analytical study conducted in a rural university in the southern region of the United States. This convenience sample consisted of 21 students, all of which were enrolled in the …

Further Fall Prevention, Kristen L. Janes

MSN Capstone Projects

Falls continue to occur in the acute care setting despite our best efforts. Decreased falls, increased patient safety, decreased cost, and decreased length of stays in the acute care setting are imperative. This is a benchmark study on the concept of an education pamphlet being presented to patients and family members educating on all fall precautions and interventions that are to be expected to be in use during their stay. Study also reflects fall interventions that are in use and have shown to decrease falls.

Fall Prevention: Remote Video Monitoring, Shawna Moser

MSN Capstone Projects

Patient safety is a top priority for all healthcare organizations, but as a healthcare facility, is everything, within the means of the facility, being done to ensure patient safety? Challenges exist for all healthcare organizations when faced with patient safety, but there it is a necessity for these healthcare organizations to overcome these challenges and protect their patient population. A common challenge within the acute care setting is the prevention of falls. “Falls during hospitalization harbor both clinical and financial outcomes” (Gringauz et al., 2017, p. 1). Research on fall interventions has shown that a multifocal approach is most effective …

Impact Of A Telephone-Based Care Management Program On Health Outcomes For Patients With Type 2 Diabetes And Hypertension, Abbegail Miller

DNP Projects

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and hypertension (HTN) were the 7th leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for over 160,000 deaths annually. Complications related to T2DM and HTN are preventable with lifestyle modifications and medications. However, research has shown that lack of patient self-management, poor medication adherence, and physician time restraints limit disease improvement. A telephone-based care management program (CMP) provides a solution to meeting patient needs. Purpose: The purpose of this scholarly project was to evaluate individual biomarkers for glycemic and HTN control, as well as self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) over one year of …

Self-Reliance And Self-Efficacy As Determinants Of Mental Health Treatment Seeking Intention In A Sample Of Student Service Members/Veterans, Leigh Holdsambeck

DNP Projects

Problem Statement: High rates of mental illness and poor treatment seeking have plagued the military for decades. As an organization that demands resilience, sacrifice, strength, and courage from its members, many servicemembers develop deep-seated self-reliance and self-efficacy. Though essential in many critical situations, these traits often complicate a servicemember's willingness to seek care for a mental health concern. Student servicemembers/veterans (SSM/Vs) are at an increased risk for poor mental health outcomes owing to the compounded stressors of military service and academia. Purpose: To measure the impact of elements of military service, namely self-reliance and self-efficacy, on mental health …

Early Mobility In The Intensive Care Unit: An Integrative Review On Safe Practices, Jessica Poehler

Nursing Masters Papers

The effects of immobility in the intensive care unit (ICU) lead to significant short and long-term complications among patients. Early mobility practices positively impact patients’ cognitive and physical outcomes while in the ICU and post ICU discharge; however, patient safety barriers exist with implementing early mobility interventions. An integrative literature review was completed to summarize early mobility practices among individuals in the ICU, adverse safety events that occurred during mobilizing, and best practices to prevent adverse safety events from occurring. Using CINAHL, PubMed, OVID, and ProQuest, eleven articles were analyzed for level and quality of evidence, including two randomized controlled …

How Do Canadian Public Health Agencies Respond To The Covid-19 Emergency Using Social Media: A Protocol For A Case Study Using Content And Sentiment Analysis, Anita Kothari, Lyndsay Foisey, Lorie Donelle, Michael Bauer

Nursing Publications

Introduction Keeping Canadians safe requires a robust public health (PH) system. This is especially true when there is a PH emergency, like the COVID-19 pandemic. Social media, like Twitter and Facebook, is an important information channel because most people use the internet for their health information. The PH sector can use social media during emergency events for (1) PH messaging, (2) monitoring misinformation, and (3) responding to questions and concerns raised by the public. In this study, we ask: what is the Canadian PH risk communication response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of social media? Methods and analysis …

Post-Operative Nausea And Vomiting Risk Assessment, Lindsay Majors

MSN Capstone Projects

Patients who must undergo surgery with general anesthesia sometimes experience nausea and vomiting. This is a potential side effect of general anesthesia and is termed post-operative nausea and vomiting, or PONV. The screening process prior to surgery usually includes questions regarding previous problems with PONV; however, this only applies to patients who have had previous experiences with surgery and general anesthesia. Relying on a patients’ history of PONV alone to predict this unwanted side effect limits the providers’ ability to assess and prophylactically treat PONV. Assessing for risk of PONV using a pre-operative risk assessment tool can help to identify …

How Do Canadian Public Health Agencies Respond To The Covid-19 Emergency Using Social Media: A Protocol For A Case Study Using Content And Sentiment Analysis, Anita Kothari, Lyndsay Foisey, Lorie Donelle Phd, Rn, Fcan, Michael Bauer

Publications

INTRODUCTION: Keeping Canadians safe requires a robust public health (PH) system. This is especially true when there is a PH emergency, like the COVID-19 pandemic. Social media, like Twitter and Facebook, is an important information channel because most people use the internet for their health information. The PH sector can use social media during emergency events for (1) PH messaging, (2) monitoring misinformation, and (3) responding to questions and concerns raised by the public. In this study, we ask: what is the Canadian PH risk communication response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of social media? METHODS AND ANALYSIS: …

Exploring The Impact Of Care Delivery On Families Of Children With Medical Complexity, Shelby Pawlowski

DNP Projects

Background: Children with medical complexity (CMC) are considered most medically fragile and require the most health care needs. Medical care for CMC is described as fragmented, uncoordinated, and crisis-driven with a tendency to over-medicalize the child and under-support the family. The intimate link between caregiver and child health supports further exploration of factors that may influence family health-related quality of life (FHRQOL) in families of CMC. Purpose: The purpose was description of the population of CMC receiving rehabilitation services in the community setting and exploration of the impact of a comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation facility (CORF) on FHRQOL. Review of Evidence: …

A Quality Improvement Project To Improve Communication And Reduce Hospital Readmissions, Mackenzie Thomas

DNP Projects

Background: More than 25 million people are readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of nursing home admission. With most nursing home patients receiving Medicare, Medicaid, or other publicly funded services, readmissions significantly burden the healthcare system. Poor communication within nursing homes may contribute to poor health outcomes and unplanned hospital readmissions. Purpose: To reduce readmission rates at two skilled nursing facilities by improving staff communication through consistent use of the INTERACT STOP AND WATCH (SW) tool. Design: The quality improvement project reviewed all admissions, transfers, and readmissions occurring before and during the project to determine the impact of the …

Rn Perception Of Resources, Communication, And Leadership During Covid-19 And The Impact On Rn Satisfaction And Turnover In A Multi-Hospital System, Gina Bullington

DNP Projects

Abstract

While RN retention has been a perennial challenge, COVID-19 has exacerbated the problem. The project’s purpose was to study RNs’ perception of communication, resources, and leadership during COVID-19, and the impact on RN turnover in a multi-hospital system. 3280 RNs’ engagement survey responses and turnover percentages from pre-COVID-19 (November 2019) were compared to engagement survey responses and turnover percentages 12 months later (November 2020). 90% (n = 2963) were female and 43% (n = 1396) were between the ages of 25 and 39 years. The majority of RN respondents were employed 1-9 years (59%, n = 1934). …

The Health Impact Of Intensive Case Management On Women With Oud And Their Infants, Shannon Rappe

DNP Projects

Postpartum women with an opioid use disorder (OUD) are at high risk for treatment disengagement, leaving them vulnerable to overdose and death between seven and twelve months postpartum. Intensive case management programs have been proposed as an effective strategy to reduce barriers and increase treatment engagement among postpartum women. The purpose of this study was to evaluate program outcomes of postpartum women with OUD and the health outcomes of their infants when engaged in an intensive case management program postpartum. The study was a retrospective review of secondary data collected on 221 postpartum mothers and 225 infants of mothers who …

Black Maternal Mortality In The United States, Grace Phelps

Honors College Theses

Black maternal mortality is a looming issue in the United States as the rate of Black maternal deaths is 3-4 times higher than the average rate for White women. Research establishes that this is a multifaceted issue of care quality, preexisting health, biases and racism, and structural inequalities. This study aims to discuss the statistics, contributing factors, and possible solutions to the issue of Black maternal mortality. Specifically, this study aims to educate nursing students on the matter and test the implications an educational session has on knowledge about Black maternal mortality and how health care professionals can be part …

Eating For Health, Tanya Reese

Theses and Graduate Projects

As anxiety and depression have increased exponentially, researchers have discovered a link between nutrition and incidences of anxiety and depression. The communication between the gut and the brain is imperative for mental health. The inflammatory process that is initiated in the intestinal tract can change the chemistry of the brain resulting in anxiety and depression. Newman’s Theory, Health as Expanding Consciousness, helps people to identify patterns in their food choices and change those patterns to choose healthier foods. This scholarly project was implemented to teach youth and adults living in a rural community about the link between food and anxiety …

Promoting Wellness For College Athletes Through Mindfulness Meditation, Lisa R. Braatz

Theses and Graduate Projects

The practice of mindfulness meditation may be beneficial for college athlete’s mental health and wellness. College athletes are in a period of significant personal growth and experience high amounts of stress related to athletic performance, academics, and peer relationships. Integrating mindfulness meditation for college athletes has been linked to improving relaxation, concentration, and performance while decreasing fatigue and negative emotions related to fear or anxiety. This scholarly project explores the implementation of four mindfulness meditation sessions on perceptions of stress, mental focus, athletic performance, and presence in female college track and field athletes. The participants were attending an urban college …

From Bunks And Bars To Sidewalks And Skies: Support For Reentry From Incarceration, Ashley Ann Steen

Theses and Graduate Projects

Currently, there are over 2.3 million inmates in the prison system throughout the United States (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2018). Over 10,000 ex-prisoners are released from America's state and federal prisons every week and studies show that approximately two-thirds will likely be rearrested within three years of release (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2018). This scholarly project will explore the literature on why inmates face such a high rate of recidivism. It will further explore the current programming that is provided to inmates prior to release back to the community and offer a questionnaire to utilize in all reentry programs to …