Nursing Commons^™

The Effect Of Patient To Nurse Ratios On Nurse Burn Out, Resignation, And The Quality Of Patient Care, Alyssa Bedenbaugh

Symposium of Student Scholars

Background: In the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, the country is facing a nursing shortage and experiencing increasing amounts of nurse burn out and resignation. Current practice on many medical surgical floors in hospitals is to assign six patients to one nurse. Nurses struggle to complete patient care during their shift for all patients leading to rapid burn out in nursing followed by early resignation and a decrease in patient care, satisfaction, and safety. The purpose of this research is to determine the effect patient to nurse ratios has on nurse burn out, nurse resignation, and the quality of patient …

Does The Enhanced Recovery After Surgery Protocol Decrease Length Of Stay In Cardiac Valvular Patients?, Justyse Williams

Symposium of Student Scholars

Background: Patients undergoing cardiac valvular surgery have an extensive recovery process that can result in an average hospital stay of 7 days and maximum stay of 10 days. Valvular surgical patients also could face complications like heart block, pericardial tamponade, and atrial fibrillation. The purpose of this project is to implement change within the recovery process to help improve patient outcomes by decreasing the length of stay for patients undergoing cardiac valve replacements. Literature Review: The enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocol is a multimodal process implemented before, during, and after surgery to achieve early recovery and discharge. This process …

Repositioning Patients To Prevent Pressure Ulcers, Janeth Covarrubias

Symposium of Student Scholars

The purpose of this project is to demonstrate whether alternating between the nurse and certified nurse aid (CNA) to reposition immobilized patient’s every two hours, as opposed to being repositioned solely by one person, will reduce pressure ulcer development.

Background: Nurses and CNAs work together to turn patient’s every 2 hours, but some patients have stated that they have not been turned all day; consequently, they’ve developed new pressure ulcers or are not healing from previous ones. Without interventions, patients are at risk for developing severe infections, lengthening their hospitalization, and increased pain levels.

Literature review: Like the registered …

The Effects Of Prenatal Patient Education Regarding Epidural Anesthesia, Auburn Merritt

Symposium of Student Scholars

This project is important because there is a lack of education for prenatal women regarding epidural anesthesia which causes misunderstanding, confusion, a deficit of knowledge, and a lack of support. The purpose of this project is to analyze and suggest the importance of proper education regarding epidural anesthesia. Proper prenatal education causes resolution of misconceptions as well as causes patients to be more satisfied with their pain management during labor. Evidence that I found suggested that after proper education more pregnant women planned to receive epidural anesthesia (Cutajar, 2018). Women preferred detailed education to increase knowledge of the risks and …

Back Injuries Among Nurses: An Intervention To Reduce Injury And Increase Patient Satisfaction, Grace E Farmer

Symposium of Student Scholars

Nurses have a very high susceptibility to back injuries due to the physical demands of the job. While there are safety measures in place, back injuries are still the number one cause of workplace injuries in this field (Ibrahim et al., 2020). This is an important problem to understand because workplace injuries in the nursing field affect more than just the injured nurse. When nurses and care partners are not in their best health, they are unable to treat the client with a high standard of care. Injuries can also lead to staffing shortages which in turn, leads to a …

The Effect Of Uninterrupted Breaks On Quality Of Care Delivered By Bedside Nurses, Bryce Farmer

Symposium of Student Scholars

Abstract

The purpose of this evidence-based practice project is to evaluate the effects of ensuring an uninterrupted 30-minute break during each shift on the quality of care delivered by inpatient nurses working 12-hour long shifts. An uninterrupted break constitutes a complete absence of patient care including answering work-related calls and watching patient monitors. Nearly half of nurses report that they are not fully free of patient-care responsibilities when taking breaks at work [6] and continually miss meal breaks, often getting only a few minutes of break time each shift [1, 3, 5, 6]. Nurses physically exert themselves every shift by …

Psychiatric Medications: Does Education Affect Medication Prescriptions?, Surina M. Narine, Mary D. Ramos, Sarah Chu

Symposium of Student Scholars

Background: There is a lack of research on racial challenges among underrepresented adolescents regarding prescription drug use for mental illnesses. Purpose: This study addressed the following question: In adolescent minorities, how does education about racial disparity and culture affect the stigma and number of prescriptions written for psychiatric medications? This evidence-based practice project aimed to identify if racial awareness directly impacts the amount of psychiatric medication prescribed for adolescent minorities. Methods: Literature reviews analyzed qualitative and quantitative data to provide correlating information on racial disparities and psychotropic medications. This study examined the following possible factors for decreased prescribed drugs within …

Increasing Translation Services In Labor And Delivery, Victoria Morales

Symposium of Student Scholars

Abstract

Communication is one of the most basic and fundamental concepts in healthcare. Whether between nurse, doctor, patient, or environmental services, effective communication is vital to ensuring patient safety, achieving positive patient outcomes, promoting healthcare, and ensuring that patients make informed decisions. Data was gathered from non-English speaking patient surveys from a Labor and Delivery unit at a metro Atlanta hospital, to determine that not enough translation services were readily available for non-English speaking patients, and as a result, patient outcomes and satisfaction were negatively impacted. According to The International Journal of Translation and Interpreting Research, systemic reviews from multiple …

Uncovering The Benefits Of Naturalistic Blue-Depleted Lighting In Hospitals: A Qualitative Study, Sam P. Cotton

Symposium of Student Scholars

With exponential technological advances, hospitals are tasked with prioritizing which expensive innovations truly impact as many patients as possible to give them the greatest chance of recovering and discharge them earlier. It is no surprise that most of the attention is focussed on pharmaceutical drugs and a variety of different equipment and machinery, but hospital facilities should look into simpler additions that can aid every patient admitted. The use of naturalistic blue-wavelength lighting is something that can benefit each patient’s recovery immensely. Multiple studies have proven positive effects that blue-depleted lighting compared to standard indoor fluorescent lighting has lowered stress …

Shortening Wait-Times In The Emergency Department, Laura Clark

Symposium of Student Scholars

Many Americans visit the Emergency Department (ED) every day for a variety of reasons. Some are extreme emergencies while others could be handled by a primary care provider (PCP). However, the EDs throughout the United States and other countries throughout the world are consistently known for their extended wait-times. Evidence has shown the average ED wait-time is about 145 minutes, being significantly longer in other states. In a state of emergency, 145 minutes could mean life or death. Shortening wait-times in the ED is crucial to saving lives, efficiently utilizing staff members, and satisfying patient needs. In this project, various …

Pressure Injury Bundles Vs Routine Pressure Injury Care, Which Will Reduce More Pressure?, Kristina Bennett

Symposium of Student Scholars

Pressure injuries are one of the most major challenges confronted in hospitals today – which can compromise a patient’s well-being, extend a patient's hospital admission, and can potentially contribute to disability or mortality. The prevention of pressure injuries is significant in delivering high-quality healthcare to patients; however, the prevention plan for pressure injury applications has been suboptimal as it causes a delay in medication delivery for nurses. The forms of care that are often used by healthcare professionals to improve HAPIs (hospital-acquired pressure injuries) are pressure preventative bundles – which are a set of evidence-based practices that are implemented reliably …

Improving Medicine-Telemetry Discharge Process, Claire Cafirma

Student Scholarly Projects

Practice Problem: In Maryland, the most recent coronavirus disease (COVID-19) surge caused a significant increase in hospitalization and urgent demand for critical care beds. The identified delays in discharging patients from the emergency department to inpatient units resulted in more extended hospital stays, higher complication rates, and morbidity, which also impacted the health care organization's finances.

PICOT: The PICOT question that guided this project was in a medicine-telemetry unit (P), does the implementation of an enhanced electronic discharge planning tool (I) compared to the current discharge planning tool (C) affect timely discharge (O) during an eight-week time period …

Lessons Learned: Covid-19 In Post-Corrections Secured Behavioral Rehabilitation, Jennifer G. Jones, Maria Devalpine, Erica J. Lewis

Virginia Journal of Public Health

Background: The COVID-19 case rate on June 5, 2020, for prisoners in the United States (US) was 5.5 times higher than the US population case rate (Saloner et al., 2020). Secure facilities were challenged to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. One secure behavioral rehabilitation facility made many changes to facility and program protocols to meet this challenge.

Methods: The purpose of this program evaluation was to assess newly implemented infection control measures at a secure behavioral rehabilitation facility and to inform policy and procedure recommendations for the mitigation of COVID-19 transmission in congregate living facilities in the future. Case rates, …

Tip-Over Injuries Among Children: Data From An Urban Emergency Department Of Karachi, Pakistan, Rubaba Naeem, Asrar Ali, Ahmed Raheem Buksh, Ayesha Quddusi, Uzma Rahim Khan

Department of Emergency Medicine

Introduction: Most unintentional injuries among children occur in the home environment. Tip-overs, defined as incidents where heavy objects fall on children due to some type of interaction, are one of the reasons for injuries inside the home. This study aims to determine injury patterns and outcomes for child injuries resulting from tip-overs in the home environment as reported in the emergency department.
Methods: We performed a retrospective chart review of pediatric (under 18 years) tip-overs injuries occurred in years 2010 to 2015 at the Aga Khan University Hospital. Furthermore, parents of injured children participated in phone interviews to provide information …

Iris Nursing Strong Program: Benchmark Study, Sonia Bunyard, Keviesha Lacy

MSN Capstone Projects

The change project we are presenting is the IRIS-Nursing Strong program. IRIS stands for: Increasing, Reason & Relaxation, Implementation, Strategies all aimed to prevent nursing burnout. The Iris flower symbolizes hope and strength as nurses are healthcare providers who constantly provide that hope and strength to their patients. We plan to develop this program in the workplace to infuse that hope and strength back into the nurses who spend so much time taking care of others. The goal is to offer a non-judgmental environment, recognize early signs of distress in ourselves and our peers, provide …

Nurse Satisfaction And Interprofessional Interactions: The Impact Of Nurses’ Professional Relationships On Job Satisfaction, Katrina Robinson

Master of Science in Nursing Final Projects

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between nurses’ interprofessional interactions and nurses’ job satisfaction.

Methods: The study design utilized was a cross sectional retrospective analysis of survey results within a healthcare system. The Job Enjoyment Scale (JES) was used to measure job satisfaction and the Interprofessional Scale was used to measure interactions between nurses and specific disciplines (nursing, physicians, Advanced Practice Registered Nurses [APRN’s], pharmacists, therapists, and social workers). Pearson correlation coefficient analysis was computed to assess the relationship between JES and interprofessional variables at the unit level.

Results: Results suggested a significant positive correlation …

Beliefs Associated With Cancer Screening Behaviors Among African Americans And Sub-Saharan African Immigrant Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study, Adebola Adegboyega, Amanda T. Wiggins, Omoadoni Roseline Obielodan, Mark Dignan, Nancy E. Schoenberg

Nursing Faculty Publications

Background: Beliefs infuence cancer screening. However, there are conficting fndings about how belief infuence cancer screening among Black adults. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationships between beliefs (religiosity, fatalism, temporal orientation, and acculturation) and cervical, breast, and colorectal cancer screening behaviors among African Americans and sub-Saharan African immigrants.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 73 African American and 59 English speaking Sub-Saharan immigrant adults recruited from Lexington and surrounding cities in Kentucky. Data collected included sociodemographic variables, cancer screening behaviors, and several instruments that characterize beliefs, including religiosity, fatalism, temporal orientation, and acculturation. …

Routine Immunization Coverage And Immunization Card Retention In Pakistan: Results From A Cross-Sectional National Survey, Imtiaz Hussain, Ahmad Khan, Dale A. Rhoda, Imran Ahmed, Muhammad Umer, Uzair Ansari, Muhammad Akram Shah, Soofia Yunus, Sajid Bashir Soofi, Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Background: Immunization is one of the most successful public health interventions available, saving millions of lives from death and disability each year. Therefore, improving immunization coverage is a high priority for the Government of Pakistan and essential to progress toward universal health coverage. This survey reports the national and provincial/regional coverage and determinants of fully, partially, and not-vaccinated children aged 12–23 months, antigen-wise coverage, percentage of home-based vaccination records (HBR) retention, and reasons for nonretention; dropout, timeliness, and prevalence of missed opportunities for simultaneous vaccination (MOSV).
Methods: The survey was a descriptive cross-sectional national household survey carried out across Pakistan. …

Community Health Worker Certification Program - Motivational Interview, Advocacy, Communication And Conflict Resolution, Stella Antony

DNP Qualifying Manuscripts

Background: Rural population accounts for 15% of the population in the United States of America. Rural residents have a higher risk of health disparities than urban populations. The significant health inequities in the underprivileged population include a higher incidence of chronic diseases, lack of access to healthy foods, health care, health insurance, unhealthy eating habits, poor socioeconomic status, cultural and language barriers, and lack of health literacy.

Problem: The population in Fresno and Tulare County in Central Valley, California, is underprivileged, lacks access to proper health care and has higher rates of health disparities. The Save the Children organization’s Community …

Long-Term Care In The United States: History, Financing, And Directions For Reform, George A. (Sandy) Mackenzie

Upjohn Press

This book is a concise survey of the development of U.S. long-term care and its financing, with comparisons with other rich countries. It also includes a brief comparative account of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and several other countries. The study finds much that is amiss with American long-term care and proposes three sets of progressively more ambitious reforms.

Palliative Care In The Icu, Grace Cunningham

MSN Capstone Projects

Death and dying is an evident part of being admitted to the intensive care unit. However, too many times, the end-of-life conversations and palliative care team introduction are done when it is too late. The PICOT question is “In ICU patients (P), how does early palliative care involvement in the death and dying process (I) compared to later palliative care involvement in the death and dying process (C) affect positive patient outcomes (O) within the ICU hospital stay (T)?” The objective of this change project is to instill a sense of urgency in providing palliative consults upon admission as this …

Understanding Alcohol Use Discourse And Stigma Patterns In Perinatal Care On Twitter, Fritz Culp, Yuqi Wu, Dezhi Wu, Yang Ren, Phyllis Raynor, Peiyin Hung, Shan Qiao Ph.D., Xiaoming Li Ph.D., Kacey Eichelberger

Faculty Publications

(1) Background: perinatal alcohol use generates a variety of health risks. Social media platforms discuss fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) and other widespread outcomes, providing personalized user-generated content about the perceptions and behaviors related to alcohol use during pregnancy. Data collected from Twitter underscores various narrative structures and sentiments in tweets that reflect large-scale discourses and foster societal stigmas; (2) Methods: We extracted alcohol-related tweets from May 2019 to October 2021 using an official Twitter search API based on a set of keywords provided by our clinical team. Our exploratory study utilized thematic content analysis and inductive qualitative coding methods …

Multi-Disciplinary Biopsychosocial Approach In Low Back Pain Benchmark Study, Liza Beth Cocanougher Short Rn, Ms

MSN Capstone Projects

Low back pain (LBP) is the third most common reason people seek care in America and is the primary reason for missed work days. Working in a pain clinic for eight years and managing research studies directed toward improving low back pain in patients was the motivation for choosing the evidence based intervention in this population. The health care professionals (HCP) in the pain clinic usually have a conversation with the patients who have acute or subacute onset of LBP about their disease and give them a written handout with exercises and ask them to perform these exercises at home. …

Urban Health: A Practical Application For Clinical Based Learning, Cynthera Mcneill, Umeika Stephens, Tara Walker

Open Textbooks

Urban Health: A Practical Application for Clinical Based Learning is an openly licensed, peer-reviewed textbook for clinical-based nursing educators covering barriers in urban health and their impact on patient health outcomes. The authors explore perspectives of urban communities, urban patients, and urban healthcare providers to offer insight into how healthcare providers can address disparities in urban healthcare, provide meaningful care with the lived experiences of urban patients in mind, and improve patient-provider communication by moving towards a more solution-driven, team-based care approach. Features include learning activities, exemplars, and case studies.

Nurses’ Perceptions Of The Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Program, Aaron Michael Roman, Michelle O'Connor Kensey

Journal of Early Hearing Detection and Intervention

This study explores the knowledge and perceptions of the newborn hearing screening (NBHS) program from the perspective of nurses and nursing support staff. Registered nurses and nursing support staff (n = 84) completed a digitally administered survey that queried their understanding of JCIH guidelines, perceptions around NBHS administration, and parental anxiety. The results demonstrated that while most respondents felt comfortable and confident about NBHS administration, there was a significant difference in their understanding of appropriate screening milestones compared to JCIH recommendations. Participants further demonstrated an interest in additional learning opportunities related to the NBHS.

End-Of-Life Simulation Education, Lucas Farris

MSN Capstone Projects

In the current healthcare workforce, there exists a lack of comfort and knowledge about providing end-of-life (EOL) care that will only continue to worsen without prompt changes to the delivery of education (Jablonski et al., 2020). The lack of knowledge and comfort expressed in providing EOL care leads to a nurse’s moral and physical difficulty when a patient chooses palliative care or hospice. This is a detriment to patients and should be a consideration for schools of nursing when developing curriculum and clinical activities. By promoting changes in curriculum and the addition of an EOL simulation at the undergraduate level, …

Impact Of The Maternity Care Changes Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Pregnant Women And Their Birth Partners: An Integrative Literature Review, Rebekah Kemp

Master of Science in Nursing Final Projects

Introduction: In March 2020, the novel coronavirus originating out of Wuhan in China and spreading rapidly worldwide, became known as the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients with pre-existing conditions, such as the elderly and pregnant women, are among those most vulnerable to severe infection due to COVID-19. Increased pulmonary expansion in the respiratory tract make pregnant women more susceptible to viral respiratory infections and exacerbation of illnesses like COVID-19. Another major concern correlated with the pandemic and pregnancy is its effect on pregnant women’s mental health. Unique physiological and psychological changes place pregnant women at an increased risk for experiencing mental health …

The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Mental Health Of College Aged Students, Melissa Vieth, Mindy Binder, Faythe Bauer

Nursing Masters Papers

Abstract

Problem: The overall personal wellbeing of college students was greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Knowing factors to enhance wellbeing in this group is needed.

Purpose: The purpose of this secondary analysis was to explore the personal well-being of college aged students during the COVID-19 pandemic and several relationships of interest. The three research questions were: is there a relationship between personal well-being and whether they participated in social activities? Is there a relationship between personal well-being and their year in college? Is there a relationship between personal well-being and their perception of coping with the pandemic?

Theoretical/Conceptual Framework: …

The Effectiveness Of Virtual Reality For Pain Management Among Palliative Care Patients, Jenna Canfield, Niang Man, Aisha Suleiman, Ivy Oginga, Rachael Valentz Dr.

Anna Vaughn School of Nursing Undergraduate Work

Management of pain in palliative care patients remains to be a highly complex and individualized process that involves a combination of both pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions (Garrett et al., 2020). However, despite current standards for care, pain remains to be poorly controlled compared to all other symptoms (Guenther et al., 2022; Natoli et al., 2015). Due to the prevalence and severity of pain among palliative care patients, many non-pharmacological interventions have been explored to improve quality of life. Recent studies have shown virtual reality (VR) to be successful in the management of acute pain (Chan et al., 2018). However, the …

Harnessing The Nursing And Midwifery Workforce To Boost Australia's Clinical Research Impact, Marion Eckert, Claire M. Rickard, Deborah Forsythe, Kathleen Baird, Judith Finn, Andrea Gilkison, Richard Gray, Caroline S.E. Homer, Sandy Middleton, Stephen Neville, Lisa Whitehead, Greg R. Sharplin, Samantha Keogh

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

For the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) to achieve its full impact, it is necessary for health practitioners to be trained and reliably funded to deliver research and translation alongside their clinical work. We offer insight into current systems, concerns and suggestions as this applies to clinical research in nursing and midwifery. Nurses and midwives globally have a long record of delivering high quality clinical research that improves care and outcomes. An analysis of four landmark nursing-led studies in the United States illustrates the value-adding potential of such research: for every grant dollar, the return on investment ranged from $202 …