Changing Health Care Policy By Utilizing Kingdon's Policy Stream Theory, Brittney Welch

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

The purpose of this paper is to describe the policy process of changing current regulations regarding rural health clinics (RHCs). Using Kingdon’s Policy Stream Theory for guidance, the change project was designed to amend current regulations regarding the directorship of the RHCs, consequently allowing Nurse Practitioners (NP) to act as medical directors for rural health clinics (RHCs). This change fulfills the Institute of Medicine’s charge to have nurses work to the highest level of their education, as well as a defined need to fill a gap in the health care system by decreasing rural health disparities. The Rural Health Care …

Traumatic Brain Injuries: A Telehealth Alternative For Veterans, Jessica Dickman

Dissertations

Problem: Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) are known as the signature wound of veterans serving in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and the Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). After the initial TBI diagnosis, outpatient TBI follow-up rates are reported to be approximately 9% less in the Veteran Healthcare Administration (VA) system when compared to the private sector. The purpose of this quality initiative was to decrease the rate of missed appointments among OEF/OIF veterans using a telehealth alternative.

Methods: The Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) method was used to implement a consistent process for the telehealth visit option. A retrospective medical record review over the same …

Aligning With Patient-Centered Medical Home Standards: Depression Screening In Primary Care, Elizabeth Segura

Dissertations

Abstract

Problem: The Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) is a model of care that improves the quality and experience of care and decreases cost. Use of a validated depression screening tool for adult patients is a PCMH certification requirement. The purpose of this quality initiative was to obtain baseline data when a depression screening tool was utilized among adult patients in an internal medicine clinic within a Midwestern public health department.

Methods: This was a quality improvement project utilizing a descriptive and observational design. A retrospective medical record review was used to assess the rate of depression screening utilizing the …

Using A Kindle To Improve Parental Perceptions Of Pain In Their Children: A Dnp Scholarly Project, Andrew Gearhart

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

Patient satisfaction is an important goal for health care providers, as it is associated with treatment success, and patients are more likely to adhere to medical treatments when they are satisfied. Emergency departments are among the lowest ranked healthcare settings nationwide in terms of patient satisfaction. Pediatric patients often experience pain and/or anxiety while in the hospital setting and are at an increased risk of having unpleasant experiences while receiving care. The purpose of this DNP scholarly project is to determine whether the introduction of a Kindle Fire tablet was effective in decreasing parental perceptions of pain while their child …

Congential Heart Disease (Chd) Adult Survivors And Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Olivia Sutter

Nursing Student Class Projects (Formerly MSN)

Congenital heart disease (CHD) includes a wide array of disorders and varying degrees of severity and is the most common birth defect, comprising of 1% of all birth defects (CDC, 2018). Heart defects can be acyanotic (non-critical) or cyanotic (critical) (Deen & Krieger, 2016). Birth defects are determined to be cyanotic or acyanotic based on pulse oximetry and anatomy through echocardiogram technology (Mayo clinic, 2018). Due to the advances of interventions in this field, children with heart defects are living to adulthood and therefore are acquiring diseases of aging, such as atherosclerosis and type 2 diabetes, in addition to the …

What’S Keeping America’S Heroes Awake? Screening For Obstructive Sleep Apnea In Male Veterans With Hypertension And Diabetes, Aaron James Stirling

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Purpose: To reduce cardiovascular risk through optimal obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) management with proactive screening utilizing the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) in male Veterans with hypertension (HTN) and diabetes mellitus (DM).

Background: OSA is a common finding in primary care, with 1 in 5 adults feeling its effects: excessive sleepiness, impaired cognition, reduced quality of life and increased mortality. Unmanaged OSA has been highly correlated with increased cardiac risk in populations with chronic diseases such as HTN and DM. Fortunately, identification and treatment of OSA has been shown to improve cardiovascular outcomes and reduce mortality. Evidence supports outpatient screening to …

Family Nurse Practitioner Student Competencies In Integrated Psychiatric Healthcare, Mark Manning

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Title: Practicum to Practice: Family Nurse Practitioner Student Competencies in Integrated Psychiatric Mental Healthcare.

Background: Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a widespread and costly diagnosis that affects nearly 16 million people annually and costs the United States nearly $83 Billion. Primary care providers such as Family Nurse Practitioners (FNP) play a crucial role in screening for health problems, preventing, and managing illness. Opportunities exist to integrate psychiatric mental healthcare into FNP curriculum and clinical practicums to better prepare providers to identify and screen for depression.

Purpose: The purpose of this evidenced-based practice project is to evaluate FNP student competencies …

Increasing Follow-Up In College Students With Latent Tuberculosis Infection, Emily Middleton, Dnp, Aprn, Ccrn, Kathy James, Dnsc, Aprn, Faan, Kimberly Woodruff, Md, Mph

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Around 13 million people in the United States have latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) with a 5-10% chance of developing active tuberculosis (TB) in their lifetime if not treated (Center for Disease Control, 2015). At a University Student Health Center (SHC), there is a matriculation requirement for TB testing for students that screen as high risk. Many students have these testing requirements performed at outside clinics, including foreign clinics, and follow-up regarding education about LTBI and treatment recommendations was often missing. The purpose of this evidence-based practice (EBP) project was to increase follow-up, education, and treatment options after diagnosis of LTBI. …

An Evaluation Of The Treatment Modality And Management Of Acute And Chronic Low Back Pain Individuals In Rural Southeast Kansas, Michele R. Carey

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Project

Roughly 25 million American adults experience pain, and 23 million others withstand severe assiduous pain that is disabling and results in decrease work productivity, loss of quality of life and diminished health (Meldrum, 2016). Treatment of pain, including chronic and acute low back pain includes a multidisciplinary approach merging cognitive-behavioral, psychological and physical therapies, respite, pain coping management and self-hypnosis (Meldrum, 2016). In 1999, pharmaceutical companies reassured physicians that opioid pain relievers were not addictive, and the prescribing rate began to increase (NIH, 2017). The quantity of opioids being prescribed has quadrupled since 1999 which has led to an increase …

The Effect Of Algorithm Implementation In The Family Practice Setting On The Pain And Recovery Of Acute Low Back Pain Patients, Joan Caito

Evidence-Based Practice Project Reports

Nearly $86 billion is spent annually in healthcare costs for Americans with low back pain (Lee, McAuley, Hübscher, Allen, Kamper, Moseley, 2016). Additionally, the burden on the economy due to loss in productivity incurs approximately $114 billion dollars of lost revenue annually (Lee et. al., 2016). Patients with an acute low back injury inadequately treated may become a chronic issue. Only 50% of patients who experience back pain symptoms for 12 months will return to work (Petit, Fouquet, & Roquelaure, 2015). The purpose of this project will be to implement an evidence-based algorithm to standardize acute low back pain care …

Primary Care Provider Attitudes Towards Adoption Of Evidence Based Practice: Indicators Of Acceptance Towards Bibliotherapy, Shannon Scott

Doctor of Nursing Practice Scholarly Projects

The rising prevalence of depression is straining the skeletal mental health systems in rural communities, resulting in a majority of patients receiving management for their depression solely by their primary care providers. However, providers need to be empowered with evidence-based resources to provide adequate care beyond pharmacotherapy exclusively. Bibliotherapy, or the prescription of books for the treatment of disease, is readily used by psychologists but less incorporated into the traditional medical model of patient care. This small pilot study provided primary care providers in a rural area complimentary copies of the self-help text Feeling Good (Burns, 2009) to incorporate into …

Pornography As A Public Health Issue: Promoting Violence And Exploitation Of Children, Youth, And Adults, Elisabeth Taylor

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

The pornography industry is expanding exponentially as a result of ongoing technological advances. The ability to stream videos over the internet and the ubiquity of the smart phone have meant that pornography producers are able to use algorithms to target potential consumers, to cultivate new sexual tastes and to deliver content to a more diverse audience over mobile devices. The advent of virtual reality pornography with interactive sex toys and sex robots imbued with artificial intelligence promises to unleash a further step-change in the extent to which pornography influences ‘real-world’ sexual culture. The critical analysis of pornography undertaken over decades …

Perceived Health: A Grounded Theory Study On How Young Black Men Process Their Health, Layla L. Qaabidh

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation explored the perceptions young, Black men have regarding their health. It also sought to understand behaviors young, Black men engage in to maintain their health.

An Exploration Of Barriers To Health Care Access Among Uninsured Patients: Using The Moderating Effect Of Patients’ Enablement, Enedelia L. Jessup

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT On March 23, 2010, Congress passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) to increase value of care, improve clinical outcomes, decrease health care costs, and increase affordability in health care access. The purpose of the study attempts to examine the moderating effects of patient enablement impacting barriers, low socio economic status, and unmet basic needs, toward health care access in uninsured populations post ACA. Only certain aspects of patient enablement in self-management of an individual’s health care goals have been conducted with uninsured populations with barriers toward health care access. The research design was a quantitative, exploratory, …

Development And Validation Of A Silhouette Scale To Measure African-American Mothers’ Perception Of The Body Size Of Their Two To Four Year Old Children, Joan Buckley

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Background: In the United States (U.S.), the Center for Disease Control (2011 – 2014) reported that one-third of adults and 17% of children between the ages of two and nineteen are obese. Obesity in the U.S. is higher in the African-American groups comprising 13.2 % of the U.S. population. With the link between obesity and chronic diseases, such as, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and some cancers there is a necessity to understand and reverse the consequences of obesity. There is a need to change the development of obesity/adiposity from childhood to adulthood in African-Americans. Exploring the parent’s awareness of …

Impact Of Motivational Interviewing On Body Mass Index, Tajsier L. Thompson

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Introduction

Being overweight and obese has become a common lifestyle. More than half of American adults are overweight and more than a quarter of overweight adults are obese. Despite this overwhelming statistic, weight-loss coaching by primary care providers is usually disregarded due to time constraints and lack of skills to motivate patients to reach weight-loss goals. Motivational interviewing (MI) focuses on helping people investigate and overcome ambivalence toward healthy lifestyle modifications by helping them to explore their weaknesses, strengths, and preferences in an effort to facilitate behavioral changes.

Objective

The primary objective of this project is to assess the effectiveness …

Sexually Transmitted Infection Risk Reduction For College Students, Mary Kathryn Dowling

Doctoral Projects

University students have been assessed through many sexual health lenses, but there is a paucity of research on the sexual health of community college students. This population may provide good access to at-risk youth, and opportunity to reverse steep climbs in sexually transmitted infection (STI) rates. This research project pilot tests a theory-based intervention employing social facilitation to reduce STI risk among college students. Fifty students were recruited from Human Sexuality courses to participate in a 60-minute workshop. Pre- and post-testing measured for change in STI knowledge, attitude towards safer sex, and self-efficacy for engaging in safer sex practices.

A …

The Effectiveness Of Insulin Pump Therapy After Transition From Multiple Daily Insulin Injections In Type 1 Diabetes, Sima Sapkota

Doctoral Projects

The population of patients who have been diagnosed with diabetes mellitus (Type 1 or Type 2) has been increasing in the United States. Patients with type 1 diabetes may receive insulin through delivery via insulin pump therapy (IPT) or multiple daily insulin injections (MDII). In addition to requiring insulin, other management regimens have included frequent blood glucose monitoring, checking laboratory values hemoglobin A1c (A1C), maintaining normal body mass index (BMI), keeping a balanced diet, carbohydrate counting, and exercise. The purpose of the study was to compare the retrospective data of A1C and BMI of patients with type 1 diabetes after …

Anesthesia "Hand Off" Process For Patients At High Risk For Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Terry Yeager

Student Scholar Showcase

No abstract provided.

Culturally Sensitive Diabetic Group Education, Kelly Marie Flores

Doctoral Projects

This study assessed the effectiveness of a culturally sensitive type 2 diabetes group education program delivered to Hispanic women in Merced County. Design: A pre-test post-test design. Purposeful sampling was used. Fifteen Hispanic women from a Merced County outpatient clinic were invited to participate in a culturally relevant group education workshop over a 6-week period. Four (N=4) women accepted the invitation, completed the educational workshop, and participated in the assessments. Topics discussed in the education sessions included: (1) diabetic diet, (2) exercise, (3) blood sugar monitoring, (4) medication, and (5) preventative health. A knowledge check was completed by …