Quality Improvement Commons^™

Barriers To Preoperative Warming: Best Practice Guideline, Tyler Comans, Zachary Hays, Caleb Leach

Doctoral Projects

The lack of preoperative warming has a direct relationship to perioperative hypothermia complications which include, but are not limited to: increased infection rate, coagulopathies, and increased myocardial oxygen consumption; all contributing to poor patient and facility outcomes. Implementation of an evidence-based educational module with visual aid can potentially increase the utilization of active warming techniques in the preoperative setting by perioperative staff. The DNP Project investigated barriers to preoperative warming by perioperative staff at a large teaching hospital in the southeastern United States. Barriers were assessed by a voluntary survey sent to 87 perioperative staff members. Twenty-two surveys were completed …

A Survey Of Delirium Self-Reported Knowledge And Practices Among Emergency Physicians In The United States, Anita N. Chary, Adriane Lesser, Sharon K. Inouye, Christopher R. Carpenter Md, Msc, Amy R. Stuck, Maura Kennedy

Journal of Geriatric Emergency Medicine

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate United States emergency physicians’ self-reported knowledge and practices regarding the detection, prevention, and management of delirium, a common and deadly syndrome that disproportionately affects older emergency department (ED) patients. Knowledge and practices of the broader emergency physician community about these priority topics in geriatric emergency medicine are understudied.

Design: Electronic self-administered online survey

Setting: United States

Participants: One-hundred ninety-seven emergency physicians of the American College of Emergency Physicians Emergency Medicine Practice Research Network

Measures: Descriptive statistics were generated from survey responses.

Results: Of 734 physicians in the research network who were sent the …

It Takes Courage To Pause: Rapid Goals-Of-Care Conversations In The Emergency Department, Anita N. Chary, Aanand D. Naik, Kei Ouchi

Journal of Geriatric Emergency Medicine

n/a

Are Current Pain Assessments Adequate?, Allison Caspersen

MSN Capstone Projects

“Pain is what the patient says it is” has been a big proponent to improve interventions for pain management. But how are we assessing patients’ pain? They have been asked to provide us with a number to rate their pain but what do these numbers mean to the patient? Do they rate according to pain they have experienced in the past or is it based off what they imagine the pain could be? Have we ever distinguished patient preference between unidimensional and multidimensional pain assessment? The use of unidimensional pain assessment the Numerical rating scale (NRS) has been used primarily …

Change Project Using A Fall Prevention Action Program To Decrease Falls On A Behavioral Health Unit, Amy Shuptrine

Student Scholarly Projects

Practice Problem: Fall rates are increasing in the behavioral health units of the East Texas hospital. Due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, the units are short-staffed, which further supports the urgent need for a targeted intervention to reduce fall risk.

PICOT: The PICOT question that guided this project was: “In adult behavioral health patients (P), what is the effect of the Edmonson Psychiatric Fall Risk Assessment Tool (I), compared with previous use of the Morse Fall Risk tool (C), on the fall rate (O), in 8 weeks (T)?”

Evidence: Falls are the most reported incidents in acute care hospitals and …

Transforming Prescription Opioid Practices In Primary Care With Change Theory, Rob E. Carpenter, Dave Silberman, Jody Takemoto

Human Resource Development Faculty Publications and Presentations

The opioid epidemic continues to be an ongoing public health crisis. Many primary health care providers aptly serve as the gate keeper to opioid prescriptions. The opioid epidemic has challenged the primary care profession whilst many of these providers have opted out of opioid prescribing altogether. This unintended consequence affirms erosion to primary care that is vital to the ecosystem of opioid management. The purpose of this study was to understand strategies to deliver opioids safely and effectively. Results indicate primary care providers are uniquely positioned to make a positive opioid impact through focused change initiatives. Five common themes arose …

Improving The Early Detection And Management Of Peripheral Artery Disease In Patients With Diabetes Within The Primary Care Setting, Julyssa Amanda Rodriguez

Doctor of Nursing Practice

Background. Diabetes is a significant risk factor for peripheral artery disease. Individuals with diabetes, greater than 50 years of age, having at least one other risk factor should be screened for peripheral artery disease with an ankle brachial index. Purpose. Improve detection and management of peripheral artery disease in persons with diabetes within primary care. Evidence. Individuals with diabetes and peripheral artery disease have an increased risk of adverse cardiac and limb events, impairing the patient’s quality of life and causing long-term disability (Berger & Newman, 2020). Methods. During a 10-week period, these processes were implemented: (a) screening all patients …

The Relationship Of Hospital Ceo Gender And The Patient Experience: The Role Of The Mediating Effects Of Hospital Characteristics, Lanean M. Lang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this quantitative study, I investigated CEO gender and the patient experience in acute care hospitals in Texas for 2019. As the patient-experience has been the metric for quality patient care and hospital reimbursements, hospital CEOs play an important role in promoting positive patient experience as they lead the organization in strategic goals. The study is relevant as a shortage of experienced and qualified healthcare leaders is expected as baby-boomers retire. The lack of women leaders remains a challenging issue. The purpose of the study was to assess the gender differences of the CEO on the impact of patient experience …

Leadership Rounding To Improve Patient Satisfaction In Pediatric Ambulatory Care, Tara J. Haskell

Student Scholarly Projects

Practice Problem: Low patient satisfaction has been linked to poor treatment compliance, patients leaving the practice, staff decreased job satisfaction, and high staff turnover (Haskard Zolnierek & DiMatteo, 2009; Prakash, 2010). Magnet reporting has identified wide discrepancies in ambulatory clinics, with some clinics reporting below benchmark patient satisfaction ratings.

PICOT: In pediatric ambulatory and primary care services, how will the implementation of leader-led customer service rounding, compared to current practice, increase family and/or patient satisfaction over 4 weeks?

Evidence: Key findings are that the rounding needs to be population-specific, intentional, and swiftly followed up when problems are identified. The body …

Medicated-Assisted Treatment And 12-Step Programs: Evaluating The Referral Process, Candace S. Brown, Chudney Williams, Ryan E. Stephens, Jacqueline Sharp, Bobby Bellflower, Martinus T. Zeeman

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Purpose/Background Overdose deaths in the U.S. from opioids have dramatically increased since the COVID-19 pandemic. Although medicated-assisted treatment (MAT) programs are widely available for sufferers of opiate addiction, many drop out of treatment prematurely. Twelve-step programs are considered a valuable part of treatment, but few studies have examined the effect of combining these approaches. We aimed to compare abstinence rates among patients receiving MAT who were referred to 12-step programs to those only receiving MAT.

Methods In this prospective study, a cohort of participants from a MAT clinic agreeing to attend a 12-step program was compared to 15 controls selected …

Polypharmacy And High-Risk Medications In Older Veterans Presenting For Emergency Care, Paige Morizio, Vinita Mistry, Ashley Mcknight, Marc Pepin, William Bryan, Ryan Owenby, Laura Previll, Luna Ragsdale

Journal of Geriatric Emergency Medicine

Background: Guidelines suggest screening for polypharmacy and documentation of high-risk medications in the geriatric Emergency Department (ED) setting. The purpose of this quality improvement initiative was to describe high-risk medications and polypharmacy in older Veterans presenting to the ED in order to inform the workflow of a Geriatric ED pharmacist.

Methods: This was a retrospective, quality improvement project that included patients age 65 years or older who presented to the ED between 10/1/2017 and 9/30/2019. The endpoints included the number of patients with at least one high-risk medication and the mean number of medications on the outpatient medication list. The …

Intermediate Care Technicians-A Novel Workforce For Veterans Affairs Geriatric Emergency Departments, Kristina T. Snell, Thomas Edes, Colleen M. Mcquown

Journal of Geriatric Emergency Medicine

No abstract provided.

Improving Patient Flow In The Urgent Care Setting, Stephanie Carpenter

Student Scholarly Projects

Practice Problem: Urgent care clinics provide care to patients with non-life-threatening illnesses or injuries and are found to be less expensive and more convenient than emergency departments. As urgent care clinics are growing in popularity so are the patient wait times and overall length of stay times.

PICOT: The PICOT question that guided this project was in urgent care clinic patients (P), how does utilizing the Emergency Severity Index (ESI) as a patient triage tool (I) compared to using no patient triage tool (C) affect the patient flow and patient wait times (O) within 13 weeks.

Evidence: Evidence search with …

Geriatric Emergency Medicine Fellowship Journal Club: Frailty, Sarah Keene, Rebecca Fisher, Lauren Cameron-Comasco

Journal of Geriatric Emergency Medicine

No abstract provided.

Ten Clinical Tips In The Assessment Of Genitourinary Emergencies Of An Older Adult, Nicole Soria, Danya Khoujah

Journal of Geriatric Emergency Medicine

Culturally Sensitive Care For Hispanic Americans, Christopher Dodson, Courtney Hall

Scholars Week

The number of individuals that speak another language that is not English as their primary language is at an all time high in the United States, and this can make healthcare harder to access for this portion of the population. This research examines what barriers are present for those who do not speak English as their primary language, such as miscommunications, reduced trust in their provider related to being unable to speak directly with them, parts of their cultural practices and alternative medicines being ignored or misunderstood by healthcare providers, and not feeling secure enough to reveal sensitive information to …

Improving Patient Satisfaction By Utilizing A Chief Experience Officer, Kathleen G. Spangler

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

With the rapid changes in healthcare and rising costs, improving the patient experience has emerged as a vital healthcare priority among all nations. Many healthcare organizations have responded by creating positions such as the Chief Experience Officer (CXO). This person can play a crucial role as the system champion to lead initiatives to help hospital staff, administrators, and executive leaders focus on patient satisfaction, thus leading to improved patient outcomes/experiences. A descriptive nonexperimental survey design was used to evaluate this project, with the aim of validating the positive influence of the CXO in improving patient satisfaction and experience within the …

Comparing Patient Experience Survey Scores Between Telehealth And In-Person Ambulatory Pediatric Subspecialty Visits, Sean T. Bomher, Matthew Wood, Elizabeth Uhlhorn, Sandro Marques, Lee Kwiatkowski, Natasa Tekic, Cameron D'Alpe, Natalie M. Pageler, Lane F. Donnelly

Patient Experience Journal

To determine the effect of encounter methods on patient experience, we evaluated patient experience survey data comparing scores between telehealth and in-person visits and pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 time periods. Pediatric subspecialty visits were either in-person or via telehealth and received the same 16-question patient experience survey. Top box (5/5) scores were compared between in-person and telehealth visits for pre-COVID-19 and COVID-19 periods as well as between periods for in-person and telehealth visits. In addition, for both time periods and encounter methods, correlation analysis was performed to evaluate best correlation between likelihood to recommend practice and the 15 other survey questions. …

How To Address Fear: A Patient’S Perspective Of Seeking Care During Covid-19, Rosie Bartel, Sydney Hoel, Nasia Safdar, Mary Jo Knobloch

Patient Experience Journal

This article is a narrative of one patient’s experience during COVID-19. As a non-COVID patient, she shares her personal fears, the fears of others in her family and the fears of the healthcare professionals. These fears have made navigating the healthcare systems stressful for patients but also caused patients to avoid them completely. In some cases, this avoidance led to delayed diagnosis, missed diagnosis and death. When healthcare providers guide patients through the process of seeking in-person healthcare, the outcomes were more positive for everyone involved but especially for the patients and their care partners. The patient’s voice is needed …

Leadership Engagement For Military Hospitals: A Case Study Of The Effects Of Executive Leader Engagement In Military Hospitals That Have Become High Reliability Organizations, Russell Phillips

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore and explain the leadership strategies that military hospital executive leaders used to engage hospital staff in implementing the six principles of High Reliability Organizations (HROs).

Methodology: A qualitative case study approach was selected for this study. Interviews were conducted with three executive leaders describing their experiences with initiating and managing the change development of HRO. The participants in this study were executive leaders of military hospitals across the Puget Sound Military Health System. All participants had direct experience with the implementation of HRO. Interview transcripts were analyzed and reviewed …