Nursing Commons^™

Australian Elective Surgery Patients’ Pre-Operative Preparation, Health Literacy, Learning Preferences And Knowledge Resource Needs: A Cross-Sectional Survey, Cory J. Williams, Jed Duff, Chloe Tannagan

Journal of Perioperative Nursing

Aim: To investigate self-reported health literacy levels, learning preferences and knowledge resource needs of Australian elective surgery patients.

Background: Surgery contributes significantly to global health care, but surgical waitlists, cancellations and delay remain major challenges for health care systems. Pre-operative preparation and patient education about the surgical journey are essential to reducing these disruptions. Unfortunately, preparation and education are limited by short timeframes and one-size-fitsall approaches. Limited information exists about Australian surgical patients’ health literacy levels, learning preferences and knowledge resource needs.

Design and methods: This cross-sectional waiting room survey investigated patient health literacy, preferred education mode and learning styles …

Empowering Low-Income Women With Breast Cancer: Promoting Acupuncture At Community Health Fairs, Katrina Ramos

Nursing | Senior Theses

While research has explored the positive effects of acupuncture on cancer and cancer treatment symptoms, a notable gap exists in understanding its impact on lower-income populations. These individuals encounter barriers to accessing acupuncture, such as limited availability, cost, and provider knowledge. This longitudinal study aims to assess the impact of community health fairs, featuring acupuncture information for breast cancer and chemotherapy-induced symptoms, on the acceptance and utilization rates of acupuncture among low-income women with breast cancer. Collaborating with the Women’s Cancer Resource Center and a local non-profit integrative cancer care clinic in Oakland, we will conduct a three-day health fair …

Hypertension Education To Enhance Health Literacy, Kylee Westrip

Student Scholarly Projects

Practice Problem: The health of patients suffers greatly when their health literacy is not addressed through evidence-based education material.

PICOT: The PICOT question that guided this project was, in adult patients with hypertension (P), how does evidence-based education material (I) compared to the current state of verbal instructions provided (C) affect health literacy rates based on the high blood pressure health literacy scale (O) within 12-weeks (T)?

Evidence: The literature evidence revealed three strong themes, which included information on who is most at risk for low health literacy levels, education delivery methods, and specific education to be used.

Intervention: …

Utilizing The Cdc T-Dap Educational Material To Increase Parental Consent Of T-Dap Vaccination Rates Among Children 11-14 Years, Anita Pates

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Background:The T-dap vaccine is vital to combating vaccine-preventable diseases. "T-dap vaccine can prevent tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis" (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2021). Therefore, providers must identify and educate parents whose child is unvaccinated with the T-dap vaccine. "If an increase in unvaccinated children continues to rise, there is risk for a resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases and potential increase in deaths related to these infectious diseases" (Bowling, 2018, p. 128).

Purpose: The purpose of this DNP project was to implement an educational session targeting parents of children aged 11-14 in a pediatric clinic in an urban area …

Recognizing Barriers In The Elderly Population And Increasing Access To Case Management Services, Loveleena Alex

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Abstract

Implementing case management can lead to fewer hospitalizations in the elderly population. Barriers influencing the number of hospitalizations include low socioeconomic status, transportation needs, health literacy, financial strain, multiple comorbidities, underserved populations, medication availability, availability of community resources, and access to primary care. A review of the available literature revealed that by addressing these barriers in a primary care setting and implementing case management, the number of hospitalizations can be decreased and the quality of life in the elderly population can be improved. This quality improvement project implemented a screening and referral process for chronic care management in the …

Health Literacy And The Feasibility Of Using Video-Based Education In The Emergency Department, Jenifer Carvell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Background: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) defines health literacy as the degree to which an individual has the capacity to find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others. In the emergency department (ED), it is estimated that the prevalence of inadequate health literacy can reach as high as 88 percent. There is a need to implement literacy-sensitive interventions in the ED. Purpose: The purpose of this project was to engineer an intervention that explored the feasibility of the use of personal technology to deliver video-based education to adult …

Addressing Health Illiteracy In The Hispanic Community – A Call To Action: An Integrative Review, Sarah Akers Dersch

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The United States Hispanic population is rapidly growing; however, existing healthcare endeavors are insufficiently accommodating this expansion. This demographic is linked to multiple serious health problems, including obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cardiac disease, cancer, and liver disease. In order to improve health outcomes within this community, interventions, such as health literacy screening, need to be further explored to identify current insufficiencies and help this population overcome these health challenges. This integrative review seeks to determine the effectiveness of current health literacy screening tools among native Spanish speakers in the U.S. This review seeks to amalgamate data from various studies to demonstrate …

A Retrospective Review Of A Local Healthcare Process Designed To Improve Understandability, Actionability, And Readability Of Written Documents For Veterans, Erica Wilson

College of Health Sciences Posters

Preventable chronic diseases are plaguing our veterans. Health literacy is an important component of prevention and chronic disease self-management. People need health literacy skills to read and understand information. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) calls the Veterans Health Education and Information (VHEI) Committee for a review process to improve the understandability, actionability, and readability of VHEI resources.

This retrospective review of a local evidence-based process improvement is being implemented at the Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center (DCVAMC) to satisfy a VHA directive to improve the understandability, actionability, and readability of written materials. The local process improvement involves a robust …

Empowering Low-Income Women With Breast Cancer: Promoting Acupuncture At Community Health Fairs, Katrina Ramos

Nursing | Student Research Posters

No abstract provided.

Improving Home Health Nurses' Knowledge Of Heart Failure Self-Care Management, Nenette Hoffman

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Abstract

Background: Heart failure results in life-altering and devastating illnesses, predominantly among older adults. Heart failure management is complex, and requires patients and their caregivers to actively monitor symptoms and sufficiently understand care management to maintain health-promoting behaviors. While home health nurses have the primary role as patient educators of their patients with heart failure, evidence from the literature indicates that nurses lack sufficient knowledge to fulfill this role.

Local Problem: Nurses’ inadequate knowledge of heart failure self-care management has been associated with insufficient patient education, the inability of patients to perform heart failure self-care management, worse clinical outcomes, and …

Implementation Of Written Discharge Instructions For Common Diagnoses In The Urgent Care Setting, Melissa Kulp, Kristin Elmore

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Abstract

Discharge instructions are an important tool providers use to communicate information to patients about their medical diagnosis after they return to their home environments. When patients understand and follow discharge instructions there are improved outcomes, fewer callbacks, and decreased return visits. The purpose of this quality improvement project were (a) to develop and distribute discharge instructions at or below a sixth-grade reading level, (b) on common diagnoses appropriate for a rural community, (c) decreased the need for subsequent office visits, and (d) decreased call volumes at a rural walk-in clinic. A large-scale literature review was conducted to determine the …

How Is Health Seeking Behavior And Patient Outcomes For Latin Immigrants Affected By Language Barriers, Socioeconomic Status And Health Literacy?, Cassandra Sanchez

Nursing | Senior Theses

Background

Language barriers cause a disconnect between patients and health care workers. What further causes a disconnect is when patients have a lower level of education in addition to having a language barrier. I will be focusing on Latin immigrant individuals in the United States for my research. Many Latin immigrant patients may not have gone to school in their native countries, so their education level is lower making it harder to understand discharge information or patient teaching. When patients are unable to have that health literacy it may lead to negative patient outcomes due to not adhering to medication …

Evaluating College Students’ Health Literacy And Its Effects On Their Perceptions Of Information Concerning Mask-Wearing In The Covid-19 Pandemic Ve Information Concerning Mask-Wearing In The Covid-19 Pandemic, Hannah S. Ketchum

Honors Program Projects

Background: Mask-wearing was a controversial and polarizing phenomenon during the COVID-19 pandemic. Beliefs concerning mask-wearing differed depending on sources of information concerning the pandemic, levels of health literacy, political leaning, demographics, or other factors. This project attempted to connect college students’ level of health literacy to their understanding of and adherence to mask-wearing in the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a gap in research connecting health literacy to understanding information concerning pandemics and an even bigger lack of studies conducted that relate college students’ health literacy to their perception of illnesses or pandemics. It is important to understand the impact of …

Health Literacy And Its Association With Human Papilloma Virus Vaccination Among Adults: Findings From The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, Vinodh Bhoopathi, Bhagavatula Pradeep, Maharaj Singh

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Health literacy is associated with the utilization of preventive health services. We examined the association between health literacy (HL) levels and receipt of at least one dose of the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination. We analyzed the data from the 2016 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) among adults aged 18 to 32. The primary outcome variable was the ‘yes/no’ response to the question that assessed whether the participant received at least the first dose of HPV vaccination. The primary independent variable was a summative HL score (range 3 through 12) we created for each respondent by adding the scores …

Effects Of Telesimulation On The Health Literacy Knowledge, Confidence And Application Of Nursing Students, Susan Patton

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Background: Assessing and addressing health literacy (HL) in patients is an essential role of the nurse and a critical component of nursing student education. Yet, large gaps exist within nursing school curricula with regard to the development of HL knowledge and skills, and the confidence to implement practices that target HL. Furthermore, effective training modalities that examine the transformation of nursing students’ knowledge into practice through the development of confidence during experiential learning have not been well explored.

Purpose: Evaluate the effectiveness of a HL information and a HL telesimulation intervention on the HL Knowledge, Application and Confidence of first-semester …

Evaluation Of An Education Program Implementation For Adults With Stage 4 And 5 Chronic Kidney Disease, Dana Marie Carter

Dissertations

Abstract

Problem: Patients with long-term medical conditions represent a significant public health issue. Therefore, patients diagnosed with a chronic illness must have a high level of health literacy (HL) to manage their condition effectively. This Quality Improvement (QI) project evaluated the impact of an existing education-based program for stage 4 and 5 chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients and its effect on laboratory values compared before and after an NP-led education program that included vascular access, and modality choices.

Methods: A retrospective chart review was completed on 20 patients with an inclusive diagnosis of CKD stage 4 or 5 from …

Increasing Advance Directive Rates In Primary Care: Implementation Of A Redesigned Form, Abbie Cheatham, Samereh Abdoli

Graduate Publications and Other Selected Works - Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

Background: Less than half of individuals 65 and older have completed an advance directive despite evidence to their benefit. Lack of advance directives can have emotional and financial consequences for the family and individual. A major barrier to advance directive completion is the high literacy level most state sponsored forms are written at, with the average form written at a high school level. Methods: This quality improvement project was a three-month trial to increase the number of advance directive rates at a primary care clinic in the Knoxville area. Five Wishes, written at an 8th grade reading level was …

Evidence-Based Intervention To Improve Health Literacy Among Older Adults With Newly Diagnosed Atrial Fibrillation, Johana Rowe

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Background and Significance: Atrial fibrillation (AFib) is the most common arrhythmia encountered in the healthcare setting. As of 2018, approximately 6.1 million people in the United States were living with AFib which is projected to increase to 12.1 million by 2030. Older adults are at higher risk of developing AFib and its complications. AFib is a chronic condition that requires targeted patient education by healthcare providers in different healthcare settings. Patient’s low health literacy regarding the condition is a significant barrier to therapy adherence. Given the high rate of poor health literacy among individuals newly diagnosed with AFib and the …

Reducing Medication Non-Adherence With Improved Health Literacy Interventions: An Evidence-Based Practice Quality Improvement Project, Unity Wiles

DNP Projects

Introduction

Health literacy is the ability to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate healthcare decisions and follow instructions for treatment. Patients with low health literacy have been predicted to have poor health outcomes. The inclusion of the single-item literacy tool into the admission process of this project involved the patient-centered-care characteristics of improved patient experience, lower health cost, improved clinical experience, and better outcomes.

Purpose

The National Action Plan to improve Health Literacy seeks to engage organizations, professionals, policymakers, communities, individuals, and families in a linked multi-sector effort to improve health literacy. Low …

Health Literacy In Acute Care Benchmark Study, Micah Duke

MSN Capstone Projects

Poor health literacy levels directly correlate to poor patient discharge adherence and to an increase in repeat emergency department visits and healthcare costs. In addition, poor health literacy levels are directly correlated to a decrease in patient health outcomes. Studies clearly demonstrate that determining patient health literacy levels can be used to develop appropriate discharge instructions and education that will improve patient adherence and health outcomes, thus reducing emergency department readmissions and healthcare costs.

The purpose of this benchmark project is to implement procedures for consistently obtaining patient health literacy levels, along with language preferences, using the HLS-SF12 and to …

Teach-Back Program To Improve The Quality Of Patient Medication Education, Dawn Africa

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractInstitutions are invested in improving healthcare providers’ ability to enhance the quality of patient teaching. The teach-back method provides tools and strategies for promoting patient-focused learning and has the potential to increase nurses’ conviction and confidence in teaching patients about their medications. Nurses are not routinely taught how to teach patients, and they usually lack confidence in teaching about medications. This project was developed using the Donabedian model of structure, process, and outcomes. Studies and journal articles were searched through a variety of libraries and online sources, including the internet, using various teach-back and patient literacy combinations of search terms, …

Perceptions Of Hypertensive Adults With Low Health Literacy About Self-Management Of Hypertension, Ngozi Scholar Chukwuemeka

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractHypertension (HTN) is one of the most significant risk factors for morbidity and mortality worldwide and is responsible for the annual deaths of approximately 9 million people globally. A major problem with HTN self-management (SM) is low health literacy (HL), which is associated with poor health outcomes and self-care. The purpose of this explanatory sequential, mixed method study, guided by Pender’s health promotion model, was to explore the perceptions of adults with HTN and low HL about the SM of their HTN. A total of 32 adults with HTN were screened using the Newest Vital Sign health literacy screening tool. …

Fear, Faith And Finances: Health Literacy Experiences Of English And Swahili Speaking Women Newly Diagnosed With Breast And Cervical Cancer, Diana Kassaman, Tayreez Mushani, Peterson Kiraithe, Sharon Brownie, Margaret Barton-Burk

School of Nursing & Midwifery, East Africa

Breast and cervical cancer are among the leading causes of cancer-related deaths globally. In Kenya, delayed presentation and diagnosis contribute to breast and cervical cancer mortality. The Kenyan government acknowledges the cancer burden with estimated 39,000 new cases diagnosed and 27,000 deaths per annum. Mortality can be reduced if cancer is diagnosed early and with appropriate treatment. Health Literacy (HL) about cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment is important in reducing mortality, but there is little understanding about HL levels, experiences of patients diagnosed with breast and cervical cancer and the contexts in which they make decisions. In this study, health …

Improving Patient Health Literacy: Implementation Of Health Literacy Tool & Hematology Oncology Patient Education Checklist, Ala'a Samih Mitoubsi, Karen Lasater

Graduate Publications and Other Selected Works - Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

Purpose: Increase health literacy and communication using a tool with a discharge checklist to facilitate communication and understanding among patients, physicians, and nursing staff.

Background and significance: In the United States, 90 million people are affected by low health literacy impairing their ability to understand and comprehend health information (Institute of Medicine et al., 2004). Another 40 million Americans have difficulty reading complex texts that makes reading health information difficult (Institute of Medicine et al., 2004). The Affordable Care Act emphasizes the need for increased self-care as a key strategy for improving health care costs and improving the quality …

Improving Health Literacy Among Veterans Through An Educational Campaign On Urgent And Emergent Care: A Quality Improvement Project, Emily Dimarino

Master's Theses and Capstones

Background: Inappropriate use of the VAMC UCC can translate to delays in care and costly transfers. A local VAMC UCC noted that many of their veterans presented for care at the UCC rather than choose to seek care at a local emergency department. This quality improvement project focused on the impact of educational handouts in improving understanding of the VAMC UCC capabilities to overall reduce inappropriate visits and delays in patient care. Methods: Veteran participants utilizing the UCC (n = 10) completed pre-intervention surveys regarding their current health literacy using the Brief Health Literacy screening tool (BRIEF), as well as …

Effectiveness Of Provider Education Concerning Prediabetes Treatment In Mississippi, Marlana Mcfarland

DNP Projects

Prediabetes is defined by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) as having an A1C of 5.7-6.4% or a fasting plasma glucose of 100-125 mg/dl. Prediabetes greatly increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and cardiovascular disease (ADA, 2019). The purpose of this Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project was to determine if providing education to PCPs, practicing in MS, regarding the implementation of a prediabetes treatment algorithm improved their knowledge and implementation of the ADA guidelines. The intention was to bring increased awareness of ADA guidelines regarding the current treatment recommendations for patients with prediabetes to PCPs. A …

Discerning The True Dilemma Of Diabetes Among Hispanics, Ramon Ponce

Nursing | Senior Theses

There is a common misconception that the primary role of nurses is to follow doctors’ orders and treat patients who are currently suffering and experiencing pain. Chronic illnesses such as diabetes can be prevented and better managed if the population who is greatest at risk is better informed and educated on the disease. Different cultures and ethnicities have different foods that unfortunately puts them at risk to get diabetes. Hispanics typically follow a diet that is high in carbohydrates, saturated fats, and sugars that greatly contribute to the development of diabetes. Often, Hispanics are not educated enough to comprehend the …

Pediatric Health Literacy, Morgan E. Sapper, Grace G. Lloyd

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

Abstract

Background: Unless you are a healthcare provider or licensed healthcare professional, understanding the United States healthcare system and its accompanying medical jargon can be confusing and overwhelming to try to navigate. Even more difficult is comprehending what resources are available to specific populations and how to gain the most benefit from these offered resources. Limited health literacy skills have been identified as the largest barrier in identifying an individual’s health outcomes. Health affects every stage of life. The purpose of this paper is to analyze what health literacy implementations look like as well as the age and developmental stage …

Culturally Appropriate Health Education: Translation Of A Parturient Pain Relief Options Pamphlet Into French And Spanish, Francis Minor, Austin Cook

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

The rise of immigration worldwide introduces a diverse, multicultural population of patients seeking healthcare in the United States. Barriers to communication, both spoken language and culturally associated communication norms, limit immigrant women’s ability to seek, gain access, and follow through with perinatal care. In order to provide safe, effective, and culturally sensitive care, recognition of language and cultural differences of all individuals must be considered when providing patients with educational materials (Perera et al., 2012; Plumbaum et al., 2014). The aim of this project was to translate an existing pain relief options pamphlet into French and Spanish in order to …

Increasing Compliance And Patient Outcomes In Hypertensive Patients Using The Hill- Bone High Blood Pressure Compliance Scale, Lauren Huff, Allyson Barbee, Julie Milton

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Hypertension has been globally rated the most common non-communicable disease as well as the most common cause of premature death (Johnson, et al., 2019). The identified problem of focus for this project was to increase medication compliance within hypertensive patients as well as increase provider knowledge of compliance issues with the utilization of the Hill-Bone High Blood Pressure Compliance Scale. We administered a case study via Qualtrics to Illinois nurse practitioners via the ISAPN email list-serve. We provided an anonymous pre-and post-survey to each participant regarding their current area of practice, patient history taking behaviors, and views on the ease …