Nursing Commons^™

Leading Rural Nurse Academic Progression, Cynthia Jean Larsen

Dissertations (1934 -)

Higher levels of nurse education have been associated with improved patient outcomes and lower healthcare costs. Members of rural populations are vulnerable, having poorer outcomes than urban inhabitants on a number of health indicators. Rural nurses are more likely than urban nurses to enter practice with associates degrees. Hence, academic progression is important for rural nurses and for the health of rural patients and communities. Rural nurse leaders work to promote the academic progression of rural nurses. Grounded theory methodology was used in this study to describe the concerns of and the actions taken by nurse leaders in the promotion …

Dominican Nursing Students’ Self-Reported Mastery Of International Nursing Competencies, Wady Ramirez

Dissertations

The Dominican health care system has many challenges to meet the legal and the population’s health care expectations (La Hoz, 2018; United States Agency for International Development, 2013). The purpose of this study was to evaluate how well Dominican nursing students, who have completed their internship but not yet defended their final career project, assessed themselves against a set of international nursing competencies. In addition, the purpose was to explore any differences in their self-assessments based on whether these students completed their internship at public health care centers or not. Finally, the goal was to determine to what extent do …

Physician Behaviors, Nursing, And Other Obstacles In End-Of-Life Care: Additional Critical Care Nurse Perceptions, Elizabeth Elouise Willmore

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Critical Care Nurses (CCNs) frequently provide end of life (EOL) care in intensive care units (ICUs). Barriers to EOL care in ICUs exist and have been previously published, but qualitative reports from CCNs themselves remain scarce. Qualitative data exploring barriers faced during ICU EOL care may increase awareness of obstacles and help remove them. Objective: Excluding family experiences, what are the major themes recounted by CCNs when asked to share common obstacles experienced in providing ICU EOL care? Methods: Members of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses were randomly surveyed and responses to a single qualitative question were used. …

An Examination Of Certified Nurse-Midwives’ Attitudes And Beliefs Surrounding Breastsleeping: Implications For Advanced Nursing Practice And Education, Lucy Wiesemann

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Breastsleeping, defined as co-sleeping while breastfeeding, is a practice commonly employed in breastfeeding families. However, literature examining this concept, its prevalence, and related education for safe breastsleeping is scant. Providers' attitudes surrounding breastsleeping play an essential role in practice and outcomes when caring for breastfeeding patients and families. The purpose of the study was to examine and describe Certified Nurse-Midwives' attitudes and beliefs surrounding breastsleeping.

Methods: An adapted 18-item Nurse Attitudes and Beliefs Questionnaire-Revised (NABQ-R) online-survey that measured breastsleeping attitudes and beliefs of Certified Nurse-Midwives was administered via an online survey platform (Qualtrics). The quantitative analysis utilized SPSS 25 …

We’Re Both Your Librarian: A Course Collaboration Between An Academic Library And A Health Sciences Library, Stephanie Evers Ard

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

The University of South Alabama is in the process of merging its academic library and health sciences library, which have previously functioned as essentially separate entities. This ongoing process requires many changes, from budget and staff considerations, to revisiting the roles the librarians play in their respective academic communities. This last concern led to a collaboration between two librarians--the Assistant Director for Strategic Initiatives at the health sciences library and the Social Sciences and Student Engagement Librarian at the academic library--in response to a faculty request for an embedded librarian to support a fully-online graduate nursing class in scholarly writing. …

Disruptive Innovation: Impact For Practice, Policy, And Academia, Heather V. Nelson-Brantley, K. David Bailey, Joyce Batcheller, Laura Caramanica, Bret Lyman, Francine Snow

Faculty Publications

The 2019 Association for Leadership Science in Nursing International Conference, Disruptive Innovation, was held in Los Angeles, California, with attendees from 30 US States, Canada, Brazil, and China. Presenters discussed the need for nurse leaders to advocate for health equity, lead evidence-based innovation, how robots and other technology are generating disruptive innovations in healthcare, and building strong academic-practice partnerships to address nursing workforce challenges. This article will report on these important insights.

Tests Of Revisions To The Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire, Eileen Gigliotti, William Ellery Samuels

Publications and Research

Objectives:To compare the accuracy of averaged scores from the original Norbeck Social Support Questionnaire (NSSQ)and averaged scores from each of three new NSSQ versions (NSSQ-R.aid, NSSQ-R.n/a, and NSSQ-R.format). These three new versions of the widely used NSSQ were developed to address three previously identified concerns regarding score accuracy: the Aid subscale’s examples of aid, lack of an n/a response option, and the network nomination/rating procedure.Missing data rates were also assessed.Methods:A convenience sample (N=223) completed one of the four NSSQ versions. Score accuracy (restriction) was assessed by size of correlation between averaged scores (averaged score/network size) and network size, with low …

A Syllabus Revised For The Writing Assignment, Younglee Kim

Q2S Enhancing Pedagogy

The writing workshop led the faculty to learn how to prepare and teach writing courses. Through the reviewing and discussing the articles about college students' writing with other faculty members from different departments, more knowledge of significant problems among students' writing classes and successful strategies for teaching the writing were achieved. Furthermore the achieved knowledge was utilized into successfully developing and revising writing courses and writing assignments. One of the workshop activities was to revise a syllabus for writing courses and writing assignments. Population health assessment was revised by using the knowledge and the colleagues' comments. This course is to …

Geospatial Variation In Caesarean Delivery, Jennifer Vanderlaan, Johnathan A. Edwards, Anne Dunlop

Nursing Faculty Research

Aim: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the variation in caesarean delivery rates across counties in Georgia and to determine whether county-level characteristics were associated with clusters. Design: This was a retrospective, observational study.

Methods: Rates of primary and repeat caesarean by maternal county of residence were calculated for 2008 through 2012. Global Moran's I (Spatial Autocorrelation) was used to identify geographic clustering. Characteristics of high and low-rate counties were compared using student's t test and chi squared test.

Results: Spatial analysis of both primary and repeat caesarean rate identified the presence of clusters (Moran's I = 0.375; …

Evidence Based Practice Positively Affects The Delivery Of Nursing Care, Miranda Lee

Student Research Poster Presentations 2020

No abstract provided.

Post Procedural Care Of Patients Receiving Percutaneous Transhepatic Biliary Drainage Catheter Placement, Erin Pacelli, Jennifer Almeda, Christina Graham, Malcolm Sydnor, Kunal Patel

VCU Health Nursing

A recent review of patients undergoing transhepatic biliary drainage catheter placement showed a 30-day readmission rate of 28%. New post-procedural processes were created to standardize the care of this patient population to decrease readmission rates and improve patient satisfaction.

Selecting A Journal For Your Manuscript: A 4-Step Process, Claire Olivia Sharifi, Robin Buccheri

Gleeson Library Faculty and Staff Research and Scholarship

Background Identifying the most appropriate journal for a manuscript can be challenging for both experienced and novice nurse authors. Several factors should be considered when selecting a journal (e.g., peer-reviewed, target audience, type of manuscripts accepted, type of copyright and publishing model used). Selecting the most appropriate journal can save time for both authors and publishers.

Purpose The purpose of this article is to provide nurses, particularly those new to scholarly publishing, with clear, plain language guidance on the processes and considerations involved in selecting a journal for publication.

Methods A librarian and a nurse educator collaborated to develop an …

Infection Prevention In Patients Receiving Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy Through Proper Hemodialysis Line Care, Nicole Ingram, Susan Mckenna

VCU Health Nursing

The goal was to reduce Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy (CRRT)-related Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infection (CLABSI) rates by introducing a just-in-time re-education toolkit for proper hemodialysis (HD) line care in adult Intensive Care Units (ICU).

CRRT requires specialized expertise delivered in the ICU setting with the support of HD nurses. Problem-solving when cartridges clot or clog requires ICU nurses to return the blood and notify HD to restart therapy. Current evidence supports the use of white Curos^TM caps and Tego^TM connectors when deaccessing lines in order to prevent CLABSIs, air emboli, and bleeding. A learning needs assessment revealed inconsistent …

Correlational Impact Of Workload, Teamwork And Retention Rate For Clinical Nursing Units, Phillip J. Nutter

Master of Science in Nursing Theses and Projects

Healthcare organizations face an impending shortage of over one million nurses. Staff turnover adds costs to healthcare and decreases the morale of the unit. Teamwork has been shown to be related to engagement as engagement has been shown to be related to retention. Understanding how teamwork mitigates increasing workload at the unit level is critical to reducing turnover at the nursing unit level. This research explored relationships between teamwork and productivity and teamwork and retention rates for nurses. The Neuman Systems Model was used as the framework to guide this retrospective correlational analysis with teamwork as a flexible line of …

Essential Notes On Pathophysiology For Advanced Practice Nurses, Alex Sargsyan

Open Educational Resources

This text is a compilation of lecture notes from pathophysiology courses I have taught over the last ten years. The goal of the text is to equip future advanced practice nurses with knowledge of pathophysiology for common diseases and disorders they may encounter in the primary care setting.

Neurocognitive Effects Of 12-Hour Shifts On Bedside Nurses, Caroline N. Miller

Merge

The student researcher conducted a research study to determine if there was a significant difference in the neurocognitive abilities of bedside nurses at the beginning of a 12-hour shift versus the end of the same shift. The student researcher hypothesized there was a significant difference in the neurocognitive abilities of bedside nurses at the beginning of one’s shift as compared to the end of the same shift. Conversely, the null hypothesis stated there was no significant difference in the neurocognitive abilities of bedside nurses at the beginning of one’s shift as compared to the end of the same shift. An …

Qi: Saving Skin, Saving Lives, Carrie Ann Kinney

Student Research Poster Presentations 2020

Quality Improvement (QI) projects are interprofessional team efforts, developed to improve health-care quality. Pressure injury prevention has been identified by the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) as a key nursing sensitive outcome. QI projects such as the Deal with Heels project, the Save Our Skin program, and the implementation of designated turn teams have significantly reduced the incidence of hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPIs). This has reduced the risk of patients developing severe complications, which significantly improves health outcomes.

Successful Mentorship In Perioperative Surgical Services Can Happen! Developing The M.A.P.P. (Mentorship Amongst Peers Program), Natalie Sorensen, Diane Hanson-Johnson

VCU Health Nursing

Description of Team: Multidisciplinary team consisting of Nurse Educators, Registered Nurses, Certified Surgical Technologist, Administrative Staff, and a Health Care Partner. This team came together with a common goal of improving morale, breaking out of silos, and ultimately increasing retention throughout Perioperative Surgical Services.

Preparation and Planning: Research was performed previously on retention by Clinical IV Registered Nurse as part of her Master’s in Nursing program thesis. She presented the research to department leaders as a method to improve satisfaction and in turn, increase retention. In April 2018 a mentoring planning workshop was held with team members from each unit …

Deleting A Sacred Cow From The Emr: Removing Gastric Residual Volume Assessments, Christoph Lecznar

VCU Health Nursing

Purpose: The purpose of this Evidence-based practice (EBP) project was to implement current guidelines related to gastric residual volume (GRV) assessments for monitoring of feeding intolerance.

Background: Metabolic support of patients is critical for the survival of critical illness and optimal recovery. Enteral nutrition is the preferred method of delivery, but its success is dependent upon the bedside clinician₂. Current clinical practice guidelines do not support the practice of monitoring GRVs however₂; greater than 98% of critical care nurses utilize GRV monitoring to assess for feeding intolerance₁. In our urban Academic Level I Trauma …

A Qualitative Descriptive Analysis Of Erowid Gabapentinoid Forum Posts, Haylee E Figg Rn Bsn Student, Rachel Vickers-Smith Phd, Mph

Undergraduate Arts and Research Showcase

Purpose/Background: With increased controls on opioid prescribing, the CDC has suggested prescribing gabapentinoids as a first-line alternative to opioids for pain. However, there have been an increasing number of reports of gabapentinoid misuse. Drug use forums are online spaces where individuals can anonymously post about their drug use experiences and may provide insight on gabapentinoid misuse. The purpose of this study was to extract and analyze posts from the drug use forum, Erowid, to examine reports of gabapentinoid misuse.

Methods: Data for the study was drawn from 53 pregabalin forum posts and 89 gabapentin forum posts by unique usernames. In …

Enhancing Teamwork In Nursing Students, Heather Rawson

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to equip senior practical nursing students (n = 11) with the skills needed to increase their feelings of preparedness to join an intradisciplinary team in the workplace after graduation. This project utilized a pre-test/post-test design using TeamSTEPPS^® Teamwork Attitudes Questionnaire (T-TAQ) to determine if participation in TeamSTEPPS^® training and a simulation exercise enhanced perception of teamwork in senior practical nursing students. A paired t-test was performed to analyze the data collected from the questionnaires acquired before and after the TeamSTEPPS^® training. The results showed a t-value of 8.49, greater than …

Rural Practical Nursing Students' And Faculty Members' Perceptions Of Supports And Barriers To Success, Amy J. Randall-Mcsorley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Practical nursing program students at a rural vocational school (RCC) in the midwestern United States were graduating at a low rate that was putting the school at risk to not meet accreditation standards set by the Council on Occupational Education. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of practical nursing program students and faculty at RCC about institutional, situational, and dispositional supports and barriers students faced toward graduation. The conceptual framework, Cross’s model of barriers to adult learning, was used to identify institutional, situational, and dispositional supports and barriers. A bounded case study design was employed to …

Exploring Leadership And Research In Nurse Practitioner Roles Across Australia And Ireland: A Mixed-Methods Study, Mary Ryder

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Introduction

The Nurse Practitioner role is recognised as the highest level of clinical nursing. Leadership and research are identified as core attributes for Nurse Practitioners in the regulatory frameworks. There is an expectation that as clinical leaders, Nurse Practitioners have the ability to transform healthcare delivery within their specialist area of practice.

Background

The voice of Nurse Practitioners is limited in the current literature related to how they view their leadership contribution to Nursing. There has been some criticism in the evidence to date related to volume, consistency and transferability of Nurse Practitioner research. However, there is a shortage of …

To Investigate Nurse Preceptors’ Perceptions Of Their Role And Responsibilities When Preceptoring Undergraduate Nursing Students In The South West Of Ireland, Jia O’Connell

Theses

Background: In Ireland, there is limited research and no clear guidance related to a preceptor’s role and responsibilities. The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (2016) has indicated that it plans to develop a national approach to preparing preceptors for their role and responsibilities.

Aim: To investigate preceptors' perceptions of their role and responsibilities when preceptoring undergraduate BSc nursing students.

Research design: A correlational, quantitative descriptive design.

Data collection: The Preceptor Roles and Responsibilities Assessment (PRRA) (Omer, Suliman and Moola, 2016) was adapted for data collection. The modified PRRA comprised of 4 preceptor roles encompassing 43 preceptor responsibilities, utilizing a …

Examining Instructional Methods In End-Of-Life Nursing Education: Lecture Vs. Simulation, Jonathan M. Benson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Undergraduate nursing programs have historically glossed over end-of-life care, if their curricula addressed it at all. This lack of instruction can leave practicing nurses feeling poorly prepared to deliver this specialized care. Feeling incompetent and lacking confidence may lead to poorer attitudes regarding this nursing specialty. Thus, effective continuing education activities are paramount in equipping nurses to provide this care and improve attitudes towards caring for terminally ill patients and their families. The purpose of this study was to examine how registered nurse attitudes towards end-of-life care are impacted using a simulation-based learning experience compared to a traditional face-to-face lecture …

Methods To Increase The Rate Of Childhood Vaccinating, Mary Beth Tillman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Vaccinations such as polio, diphtheria, varicella, and meningitis help to protect a child from life-threatening illnesses which have previously been contained by routine vaccinations. However, misinformation, negative press, and other contributing factors, have influenced caregivers to refuse to vaccinate their children placing the children at risk for contracting the disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends regular vaccinations for children beginning as newborns, yet the vaccination rate remains below acceptable levels. This project was developed to provide an educational program guided by Orem’s self-care theory and intended to increase nurses’ knowledge of vaccination and ultimately vaccination rates. A …

Exploring Health Literacy In The Acute Care Setting In A Rural Border Region, Shiloh Williams

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Health literacy is important to ensuring patients have the necessary knowledge and skills needed to actively participate as a member of their own healthcare team. Patients with low health literacy are at increased risk for poor outcomes and limited participation in decisions affecting their health or treatment plan. Using the Social Ecological Model (SEM) as a framework, the purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between medical-surgical registered nurses, medical-surgical patients and the registered nurse’s (RN) assessment of their patient’s health literacy of those who live in a rural-border region. The study’s sample consisted of 84 pairs of …

Knowledge, Attitudes, And Practices Of Healthcare Professionals Working In Schools Regarding Tickborne Disease Prevention And Lyme Disease In New York State And Maryland, Kristen Howard

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Background: Ticks, Lyme disease, and other tickborne diseases are a concern of public health entities in Maryland and New York State. Children are at an increased risk of contracting a tickborne disease. Healthcare professionals working in schools (HPWS) are often front-line providers and health educators for school-aged children. The knowledge, attitudes, and practices of HPWS regarding ticks and tickborne disease is currently unknown. While there are educational materials available, uptake and use of these programs is also unknown.

Hospital Nurses’ Perceptions Of Computer-Assisted Instruction For Professional Development, Katherine Irizarry

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) is increasingly being used for professional development. However, at one hospital in the northeast region of the United States, it was observed that nurses were not completing their CAI professional development modules and were failing to meet continuous education requirements. This qualitative case study explored professional nurses’ perspectives regarding the usefulness of CAI as a mode of professional development. The conceptual frameworks used to guide this study were Davis’ theory of technology acceptance, and Knowles’s theory of andragogy. The research question explored how professional nurses perceived the usefulness of CAI to assimilate new learning. The participants in …

Evaluation Of A New Nurse Mentor Program, Corinne Romano

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Novice nurses in the facility had a turnover rate of 32% in 2017 and 2018, despite participation in a novice nurse residency program. This project was the 3-month formative evaluation of a 1-year mentor program designed for novice nurses. The mentor program had been created to augment the residency program and support practice transition for novice nurses. The project questions explored the results of the process evaluation at the 3-month mark of the year-long mentorship program for the first cohort and recommendations to the mentor coordinators for continuous quality improvement. This quality improvement project followed the PDSA (plan-do-study-act) methodology. The …