Nursing Commons^™

Service Learning Enhances Conceptual Learning In A Rn To Bsn Program, Henny Breen, Melissa Robinson

Faculty Publications

A qualitative study using transcript analysis was conducted to examine the effectiveness of service learning in enhancing conceptual learning in RN to BSN students. As part of their capstone course in an online program, students engaged in 64 hours of service learning in their local community. The transcripts of asynchronous discussions and journal entries formed the data for analysis. The findings illustrated that the student’s conceptual understanding was enhanced from the service learning experience. Further, the students demonstrated higher-level thinking by linking concepts that could be applied to nursing practice. Service learning reinforced the community-based philosophy of the School of …

Systematic Review Of Symptom Clusters In Cardiovascular Disease, Holli A. Devon, Karen Vuckovic, Catherine J. Ryan, Susan Barnason, Julie J. Zerwic, Bunny J. Pozehl, Paula Schulz, Yaewon Seo, Lani Zimmerman

College of Nursing--Lincoln Campus: Faculty Publications

Background: Although individual symptoms and symptom trajectories for various cardiovascular conditions have been reported, there is limited research identifying the symptom clusters that may provide a better understanding of patients’ experiences with heart disease.

Aims: To summarize the state of the science in symptom cluster research for patients with acute coronary syndrome, myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass surgery, and heart failure through systematic review and to provide direction for the translation of symptom cluster research into the clinical setting.

Methods: Databases were searched for articles from January 2000 through to May 2015 using MESH terms “symptoms, symptom clusters, acute coronary …

Investigating Disparities In Behavior And Care Between Alaska Native And Non-Hispanic White Victims Of Sexual Violence: The Importance Of Culturally Competent Nursing Care, Danielle Koster

Inquiry: The University of Arkansas Undergraduate Research Journal

The purpose of this research was to determine the existence of health care disparities experienced by Alaska Native women victims of sexual violence and to address the need for sexual assault nurse examiners (SANEs) to provide culturally competent care. This was a secondary data analysis of research collected from over 1,600 Alaska SANE surveys between 1996-2006. Variables investigated included: behaviors during examination, condition during assault, time from assault to report, hospital admittance, injuries sustained, and victim-suspect relationships. Alaska Native women were described as having less controlled behavior, being less cooperative, and less likely to be sober; they also often suffered …

Uncertainty In Nursing: The Impact On Practice And Leadership, Sarah R. Orde

Theses and Graduate Projects

Nurses experience uncertainty in practice due to the fast paced, complex nature of the healthcare system. Uncertainty in nursing practice has a direct influence on patient care, as well as personal well-being of the nurse, and his or her engagement and retention in the workplace. This paper describes a project intended to help nurses identify and cope with uncertainty in practice on an adult medical inpatient unit at a major Midwestern healthcare facility. The project is illustrated through a conceptual model of coping with uncertainty as guided by Margaret Newman's Theory of Health as Expanding Consciousness (HEC). The model identifies …

Reclaiming Our Sacredness As Nurse Healers, Lani L. Hollenbeck

Theses and Graduate Projects

The nurse-patient relationship encompasses the richness of being in a relationship with another human being. When viewed through a healthcare lens a patient's health, illness, and healing are often defined by procedural testing, diagnosis, and a plan for treatment. Within the community of professional nurses, it is known that healing involves more than an attempt to physically repair the human body. The use of nursing theory, caring science, and recognition of the patient in their wholeness guides nursing practice. Nurses incorporate the use of experiential wisdom (metis) in caring for the life force of another human being in the effort …

Overcoming Knowledge Gaps In Use Of Capnography In A Post Anesthesia Care Unit: A Project Proposal, Glen Meyer

Theses and Graduate Projects

The use of capnography plays a significant role in patient safety while recovering from anesthesia and sedation. Capnography has been used for many years in emergency departments, operation suites, and procedural areas. However, in the post anesthesia care unit (PACU) capnography is rarely utilized. This proposed project explores the use of capnography in developing a project proposal and implementing an educational module to change this practice in a PACU. Dr. Watson's Transpersonal Caring Theory is used as the theoretical foundation for developing the project proposal. Within this project proposal an educational module will be developed using Dr. Watson's Theoretical concepts …

The Relation Between Patient Education And Picc Line Occlusion, Patricia Louise Petroulias

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to test the feasibility of using an electronic tablet to supplement patient and caregiver education about PICC line maintenance and to compare the percentage of PICC line complications in the intervention group with national percentage rates for patients and caregivers. Newly diagnosed cancer patients who had PICC lines inserted participated in this study. They used an electronic tablet to learn the 10 steps for flushing their PICC lines correctly. They also met with the researcher via FaceTime to review the steps.

A total of 11 patients participated in this quasi-experimental pilot study. They completed …

An Ethnographic Investigation Of The Maternity Healthcare Experience Of Immigrants In Rural And Urban Alberta, Canada., Gina M. Higginbottom, Jalal Safipour, Sophie Yohani, Beverly O’Brien, Zubia Mumtaz, Patricia Paton, Yvonne Chiu, Rubina Barolia

School of Nursing & Midwifery

BACKGROUND:

Canada is among the top immigrant-receiving nations in the world. Immigrant populations may face structural and individual barriers in the access to and navigation of healthcare services in a new country. The aims of the study were to (1) generate new understanding of the processes that perpetuate immigrant disadvantages in maternity healthcare, and (2) devise potential interventions that might improve maternity experiences and outcomes for immigrant women in Canada.

METHODS:

The study utilized a qualitative research approach that focused on ethnographic research design and data analysis contextualized within theories of organizational behaviour and critical realism. Data were collected over …

Integration Of Health Promotion Into Nursing Practice: A Case Study In Pakistan., Muneerah Vastani, Rozina Karmaliani Professor, Pammla M. Petrucka

School of Nursing & Midwifery

The purpose of this study was to understand the concept of health promotion and perceptions related to the integration of health promotion in nursing practice in Pakistan. The study utilized the qualitative single case study approach to explore and describe the concept of health promotion, its significance and ways to integrate health promotion strategies in nursing practice. The data were collected from three different sources; focus group discussion among final year Post-RN BScN students, key informant interviews of practicing nurses, faculty, and MScN students, as well as a document review of the Post-RN BScN curriculum. Data analysis included a content …

Preventing Reincarceration Of Women With Mental Illness, Anne M. Dolmovich

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Since deinstitutionalization of state hospitals began almost 50 years ago, there has been an increase in the population with mental illness seen in the prison system. A combination of factors were looked at when studying causes behind incarceration, including active symptoms of mental illness, socioeconomic status, social support systems, history of trauma, history of drug abuse, police education on mental illness, and public perspective on mental illness. This study is a literature review focusing on people with mental illness in the prison system, with particular attention to women.

It is costly to house inmates for any extended period of time. …

The Effects Of Kangaroo Care On The Neurodevelopment Of Preterm Infants In The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (Nicu), Tiffany Sarg

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Preterm birth disrupts the development of the brain and other critical organs of the infant body. Since the brain is one of the last organs to finish developing during pregnancy, the risk for substantial neurological deficits increases as the gestational age decreases. One way to combat these deficits is to reconnect the preterm infant with the mother via skin-to-skin contact, also known as kangaroo care (KC). This intimate touch helps to replicate aspects of the environment that the preterm infant experienced in utero. The purpose of this literature review was to analyze the current literature to better understand the effects …

Black Caregiver Responses To And Perceptions Of Signs, Symptoms, And Treatments At The End Of Life, Samantha M. Sermarini

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Individuals in the final stages of life are often cared for by informal caregivers whose interpretation of the patient’s signs, symptoms and treatment needs and options may be incongruent with that of healthcare providers (Docherty et al., 2008). Nurses need to fully understand the scope of this disparity. The purpose of this study was to determine how Black caregivers interpreted signs, symptoms, and treatments for symptom relief during the last months of their loved one’s life. The effect on caregiver decision making was explored. This project is a secondary analysis of preexisting qualitative data. Transcripts from 5 focus groups encompassed …

An Exploratory Inquiry And Creation Of Emergency Room Discharge Education Materials, Ivory Catalano

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Background

Each Emergency Room (ER) across the USA provides every patient with paperwork upon discharge, which commonly includes information about the patient’s diagnosis. This information will briefly describe the condition, provide information on treatment outside the ER, and possibly more, depending on the document and source. These documents are not made by hospital staff, but are generally purchased from outside providers who mass market such documents as resources for hospitals to use to educate patients. One issue with these documents lies in their mass usage, which is not necessarily designed to target the general population’s reading and educational levels.

Purpose …

Nursing Management And Mirror Therapy For Phantom Limb Pain, Bridget Henry

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Phantom limb pain may occur after the accidental removal or surgical amputation of a limb. Phantom limb pain is the experience of pain in the limb that is no longer present. The clinical management of phantom limb pain is essential in the overall reduction of patient rehabilitation and poor patient outcomes. A patient’s degree of phantom limb pain is influenced by their personal response to loss and pain and can have devastating effects to a person’s social performance, occupational role, family role, relationships, and involvement in activities or hobbies. Like most chronic pain, phantom limb pain decreases the quality of …

Yoga's Effect On Quality Of Life In Breast Cancer Survivors, Nicole M. Licata

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the world with approximately 1.7 million new cases diagnosed in 2012. While women with breast cancer are treated with a multitude of different therapies, these treatments can lead to long-term effects that impact quality of life (i.e. fatigue, pain, lymphedema, anxiety, depression, osteoporosis). With more people looking into complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), research on yoga’s effect on quality of life in breast cancer survivors is vital.

Methods: This literature synthesis used PsychINFO, MEDLINE, and CINAHL explore current research on yoga’s effects on quality of life in breast cancer survivors. Search …

Music Therapy As An Intervention To Reduce Anxiety In Mechanically-Ventilated Patients, Stephanie L. Levine

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Patients receiving mechanical ventilation endure high levels of stress and anxiety due to the invasiveness of the procedure. These critically ill patients are often uncomfortable as a result of their serious conditions and the high-intensity environments in which they are placed. Health care workers heavily sedate these patients to minimize pain and induce a state of relaxation. However, sedatives are known for their wide-ranging, and often deleterious, side effects. Music therapy is an intervention that has been studied in a variety of hospital settings to determine any potential beneficial effects on patients. Many studies have demonstrated a relationship between music …

Effects Of Probiotics On The Reduction In Incidence Of Necrotizing Enterocolitis In Premature (< 37 Weeks Gestation) Neonates, Makenzie Cox

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Problem: Necrotizing Enerocolitis (NEC) is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in neonatal intensive care units (NICU), affecting 7% to 14% of premature neonates weighing less than 1500g (Lin et al., 2008). Healthcare costs for the treatment of NEC account for roughly 20% of the 5 billion dollars spent on infants in the NICU annually (Gephart, McGrath, Effken & Halpern, 2012). Nutritional supplements, such as probiotics, may be used prophylactically to prevent NEC in this high-risk population.

Objective: A literature review was performed to examine which strains of probiotics show the most potential in reducing the incidence …

Answering Student Questions During Examinations: A Descriptive Study Of Faculty Beliefs, Susan B. Stillwell, Lorretta Krautscheid

Faculty Publications - College of Nursing

Outcomes of examinations have serious implications for students. Thus, implementing evidence-based testing administration practices is critical. Conversations with faculty peers revealed a variety of beliefs and practices, including whether or not students may ask questions while taking an exam; some faculty answer questions on a case-by-case basis and others do not permit students to ask questions. A review of the literature offered little empirical evidence on testing administration practices and, specifically, no evidence on how to respond to students who ask questions during an exam. This study describes nurse educator beliefs about answering individual student questions while administering an examination. …

Employee Engagement In A Cardiac Catherization Lab, Rhonda J. Smith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Employee Engagement in a Cardiac Catheterization Lab

by

Rhonda J. Smith

Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree of

Doctor of Nursing Practice

Walden University

February 2016

This study adds to the existing body of knowledge on employee engagement and workplace climate in the catheter laboratory setting. The study goals were to discover the current state of workplace satisfaction and then to share the results with the staff to determine what to improve and how to guide them through the Lean process. This study was guided by Kanter's structural empowerment theory, which holds that structural factors …

The Relationships Among Job Satisfaction, Length Of Employment, And Mentoring Of Nursing Faculty, Zelda Suzan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The shortage of faculty in nursing education programs has been well documented by the National League for Nursing. Job satisfaction is important in retaining nurse educators, and one New York nursing program was interested in examining the potential impact of mentoring on satisfaction. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine job satisfaction, measured by the Job Descriptive Index/Job in General scale (JDI/JIG), between nurse faculty participants in formal mentoring programs compared to participants receiving an informal type of mentoring. In addition, the length of employment was examined as a possible factor in predicting job satisfaction. The theoretical framework …