Quality Improvement Commons^™

Hca Florida Trinity Hospital Heart Failure Quality Improvement Project, Guillermo Gomez, Yuvedha Senthil, Ubaldo Gonzalez, Kero Hakim, Karo Hakim, Paras Shah, Dale Calixte, Chris Lane, Zach Sukin, Jordan Young

West Florida Division GME Research Day 2026

No abstract provided.

Maintaining Trust In Uncertain Times: Funding Pauses And The Ethical Cost To Community-Engaged Research, Brynn E. Sheehan

Department Psychiatry & Behavioral Science Faculty Publications

Federal funding pauses, once considered rare, are increasingly disrupting the stability and continuity of community‐engaged research. Even projects with active, awarded grants are experiencing the strain of funding uncertainty, raising substantive concerns among research teams and community partners. These disruptions extend beyond operational delays; they jeopardize the continuity of relationships developed through sustained, collaborative engagement. In the absence of clear information about a project's future, uncertainty undermines trust and challenges the ethical principles that guide human subjects research, particularly beneficence and justice. This paper draws on direct experience and insights from the broader field to examine the practical and ethical …

Improving Pediatric Emergency Department Lethal Means Safety Documentation Rates For Adolescents With Mental Health Concerns, Cassandra L. Stegall, Ana-Maria Mcgill, John Fanton, Paul C. Mullan

Department Psychiatry & Behavioral Science Faculty Publications

Introduction:

Lethal means safety counseling (LMSC) is recommended for children presenting to the emergency department (ED) for a mental health (MH) evaluation. Currently, no gold-standard guidelines exist for documenting LMSC in the ED.

Methods:

This quality improvement project was conducted in the ED of a tertiary children's hospital. Baseline data were analyzed for access to any LMSC documentation (ALD) for "firearms/guns," "sharps," or "medication," and for complete LMSC documentation (CLD) if access to all 3 types was documented. The first intervention period added open-ended screening questions about access to lethal means to the MH-licensed clinical social worker note template. Intervention …

A Chronic Pain Self-Management Quality Improvement Bundle For Veterans, Srijana D. Baniya

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Scholarly Projects

Introduction: Veterans often face challenges accessing care services due to limited awareness of available resources for support, Self-care, and mental health (Harding et al., 2019; Patel et al., 2024). Given the high prevalence of Chronic pain and opioid use in this population, Self-management (SM) education and non-pharmacologic interventions are required to address the biological, psychological, and social effects of pain (Bair et al., 2015; Mumba et al., 2024; Nahin, 2017; Higgins et al., 2020). This Quality improvement project aims to determine whether implementing an evidence-based SM bundle for chronic pain improved Pain severity scores and increased understanding of SM strategies. …

The Financial Effects Of Clinically Significant Readmissions In Florida Hospitals, Brian Patrick Cotton

Doctor of Business Administration Dissertations

This study examines how the financial performance of hospitals in the state of Florida impacts the quality of care. This study used data from 2017-2019 to evaluate how the number of hospital readmissions – a proxy for care quality – are associated with and vary in relation to the stability of the financial resources held by the hospital. The Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP), a Medicare value-based purchasing program, uses a mandatory pay-for-performance process that was initiated to decrease the 30-day hospital readmission rate. Hospitals with high readmissions are held accountable and financially encouraged to increase their quality of care …

Education For Residents And Patients On Pain Management For Gyn Procedures, Claire Moen, Jeffrey Edwards, Dominique Rehl, Kenyon Weidle

Continental and Mountain Divisions GME Resarch Day 2026

No abstract provided.

Early Detection And Interventions For Delirium, Angel Ryals, Aneesha Shaju, Veronica Phung, Ijeoma Arubaleze

Gulf Coast Division GME Research Day 2026

No abstract provided.

Multifactorial Fall Reduction Initiative, Anush Agarwal, Emaan Ul Haque, Daniel Visaya

Gulf Coast Division GME Research Day 2026

No abstract provided.

Increasing Patient Safety By Improving Healthcare Team Communication Through Imobile At Hca Healthcare Trident Hospital, Jordan Read, Laura Brant, Matthew Madden

South Atlantic Division GME Research Days 2026

No abstract provided.

Closing The Post-Discharge Gap: Implementing A Structured Transitional Care Management Workflow To Improve Follow-Up Rates, Anikita Ojha, Sakina Haider, Uzma Ali, Daniel Odutola

Gulf Coast Division GME Research Day 2026

No abstract provided.

The Scope Effect: A Quality Improvement Initiative To Enhance Communication, Awareness, And Connection In Family Medicine Residency, Shana-Kay Lambert-Johnson, Amy Nguyen-Pham, Tasaduq Mir

North Texas GME Research Forum 2026

No abstract provided.

Improving Trauma Resuscitation Through Video Review: A Quality Improvement-Oriented Literature Review, Joshua Smith, Leena Iqbal

North Texas GME Research Forum 2026

Background Trauma resuscitation is a high-acuity, time-critical environment characterized by diagnostic uncertainty, simultaneous interventions, and complex team dynamics. Despite the widespread adoption of standardized trauma frameworks such as Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS), deviations from best practice and process variability remain common. Trauma video review (TVR) has emerged as a method to objectively evaluate resuscitation performance beyond traditional documentation.

Methods A narrative literature review was conducted of English-language publications examining the use of video recording and structured video review in trauma resuscitation. Peer-reviewed articles and relevant gray literature were identified through database and citation searches. Included works evaluated TVR for …

Teamwork Enhanced With Digital Technology To Augment Bedside Shift Report: An Integrative Research Review (Irr), Daniel Everard Hronek

Covenant Nurses Week 2026

No abstract provided.

Collaboration In Acute Care: Enhancing Occupational Therapy Outcomes Through Canine Therapy Integration​, Deanna Hamke

Entry-Level Occupational Therapy Doctorate - Doctoral Capstone Symposium

The utilization of animal-assisted therapy has the potential to increase patient participation, motivation, and help simulate real-life experiences to promote a successful discharge from therapy services. The purpose of this doctoral capstone project was to: 1) expand collaboration between occupational therapists & canine therapy handlers through use of a communication platform and 2) to create a resource outlining in-session responsibilities to facilitate partnership between occupational therapists and canine therapy handlers. Occupational therapy treatment sessions were completed using canine therapy interventions targeting mobility, engagement, and emotional regulation. The final deliverables included multiple educational resources and a platform for communication. These deliverables …

Don't Let Them Fall, Let Ai Call, Ella Mills, Sara Barker, Andreea Ifrim, Yvette Uwase

SPARK Symposium Presentations

This project proposes a nurse-led pilot of AI-supported predictive mobility monitoring on a cardiac medical-surgical unit, to improve early identification of high-risk mobility behaviors and enhance patient safety. Current fall-prevention strategies, such as bed alarms and virtual sitters, often alert staff after unsafe movement has begun, creating a reactive cycle that contributes to alarm fatigue and delayed intervention (Abbe & O’Keeffe, 2020). This initiative uses monitors with contactless infrared sensors to identify movement before patients exit the bed, an alert system that goes straight to the nurse and PCT phones, and a central console for floor management and care coordination. …

Not Biological, But Built: Structural And Metabolic Pathways Driving Black Maternal Health Disparities In The United States, Alexandra I. Umegboh

CMC Senior Theses

Black infants in the United States are more than twice as likely to die before their first birthday than white infants, a disparity often attributed to genetics, behavior, or individual health choices. However, this idea is challenged by a key contradiction: African immigrant women consistently experience better birth outcomes than U.S.-born Black women despite being similarly racialized. This thesis investigates the origins of this reproductive advantage and the factors contributing to its decline over time. By drawing on epidemiological data, metabolic health research, and literature on African diasporic healing traditions, it argues that the “healthy immigrant effect” is not biological, …

Improving Low Fresh Gas Flow Adherence To Lower Co2e Emissions, Luke Charles Ricci

Honors Theses and Capstones

Volatile anesthetic gases contribute significantly to healthcare-related greenhouse gas emissions. These greenhouse gas emissions can be increased due to higher fresh gas flows. At Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC), open and semi-open systems with fresh gas flow (FGF) rates above two liters per minute result in anesthetic gas waste. Literature suggests multifaceted quality improvement interventions are effective in improving low fresh gas flow adherence in anesthesia provider practices. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential reduction in anesthetic gas waste and carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) emissions at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center through improved adherence to low fresh gas flow …

Ambient Listening: Using Artificial Intelligence To Transcribe Provider Office Visits, Odia Russette

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Scholarly Projects - Archive

Background: Electronic health record (EHR) documentation burdens contribute to increased “pajama time” or after–hours charting, reduced job satisfaction, and provider burnout. Provider burnout leads to provider and critical access point losses. Ambient–listening artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have emerged as a possible tool to reduce charting burdens; however, evidence from outpatient wellness settings remains limited.

Local Problem: At an urban adult wellness clinic in Texas with limited resources for completing tasks, in-clinic and after-hours “pajama time” charting burdens contributed to provider fatigue, job dissatisfaction, and burnout.

Methods: A quality improvement (QI) project using the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) framework implemented an AI ambient …

The Connection Between Medicaid And Obesity In Northeast Ohio, Emmie Kelley, Sophie Kheder

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Obesity is a major public health concern in the United States that is projected to increase exponentially over the next few years. Obesity is commonly associated with a lower socioeconomic status. Lower-income individuals tend to be supported by Medicaid, a federal insurance program for low-income Americans. Prior studies have shown a positive correlation between income status and obesity prevalence. Our goal was to find if there was a correlation between Medicaid patients and obesity in Northeast Ohio, to provide physicians with a set of characteristics to better combat obesity, since preventative and treatment guidelines are tailored to national trends. We …

The Impact Of Hot V. Cold Water Immersion On Post-Exercise Recovery, Cameron Moss, Aaron Krukemeyer

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Muscle recovery following exercise-induced soreness has been the focus of extensive research and debate, with Cold Water Immersion (CWI) and Hot Water Immersion (HWI) emerging as two of the most widely used modalities. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of CWI and HWI on muscle recovery by determining changes in maximal force production of knee extension, range of motion (ROM) of the hip joint in flexion, extension, and abduction, and subjective muscle soreness using a validated Likert scale. Seven male recreational athletes participated in hot and cold-water immersion, and passive recovery. Despite thorough data collection, the …