Nursing Commons^™

Perceived Patient Satisfaction With Hospital Services And Interventions, Marietta Abernathy

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

The patient and family voice should be heard in the healthcare setting. Gaining knowledge and insight from a parent of a pediatric patient will allow hospital staff and administrators to see the hospital experience from the vantage point of a patient and family member (Uhl, Fisher, Docherty, & Brandon, 2013). It is important to continually review feedback and suggestions from families of pediatric patients to improve the care of future patients. Ultimately, this will improve patient satisfaction scores, but most importantly, it will improve the experience of pediatric patients (Creating patient and family advisory councils, 2010). The investigator interviewed ten …

Final Semester Associate Degree Nursing Student Stress And Comprehensive Nclex-Rn® Predictor Exam Results, Brittany Hudgins

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

This study assessed perceived stress among graduating nursing students and explored the relationship between perceived stress and scores on a comprehensive NCLEX-RN® predictor exam. The goal was to provide data for educators to examine the correlation between student stress levels and comprehensive NCLEX-RN® predictor exam scores. Findings indicated that nursing students had higher than average stress levels based on established averages reported for the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) three weeks prior to graduation. No relationship was found in regards to stress and ATI Comprehensive Predictor Scores administered two days after students completed the PSS questionnaire. Implications for nurse educators based …

Timeliness Of Patient Discharges: A Comparison Of The Acute Care Discharge Process For Medical And Surgical Patients, Robert Moore

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

Patient flow is becoming increasingly important to the efficient operations of an acute healthcare setting. Multiple factors peaking in their influence on the number of patients seeking healthcare services are on a collision course. When the true impact is felt in healthcare the potential for record numbers of patients to seek acute medical care are high. It is imperative to streamline patient flow processes to ensure healthcare facilities have the ability to provide the care sought by patients in a timely manner. This study’s purpose was to assist in increasing the number of patients an acute care facility can provide …

Incorporating Simulation Into Advanced Cardiac Life Support, Lorraine Calwile

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

The knowledge and practical skills of the Basic Life Support (BLS) and the Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) are among the most important determining factors of the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) success rates. Every year there are millions of healthcare workers that dread coming to ACLS class for fear of failure of the written exam or the mega code. Many of these participants haven’t participated in a code situation since they left class the previous two years. Participants sit in class for two days listening to lectures and going through practice mega codes to prepare them for the final mega code. …

Utilizing Motivational Interviewing To Promote Condom Use Self-Efficacy, Ann Maria Bell

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

Condom use is one of the most important preventive mechanisms available to combat sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancies, yet over 70% of adolescents and young adults lack education on the proper use of condoms. Lack of education and confidence in using condoms contributes to a decrease in condom usage, resulting in increased rates of sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancies. The purpose of Project Motivate was to determine if motivational interviewing significantly improves self-efficacy related to condom use among patients presenting for screening of sexually transmitted diseases. The project sought to determine if motivational interviewing is an effective intervention …

Lean And Six Sigma Impact On Operating Room Safety Attitudes And Efficiency, Nancy Marlene Geedey

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

Non-healthcare organizations have utilized Lean Six Sigma methodologies for several decades to eliminate waste, decrease expenses, and improve efficiency. This approach to problem-solving can be successfully applied to health care process improvement projects. Health care leaders and front line staff can use a prescribed set of steps to define steps in care processes and identify potential solutions. Health care leaders can use Lean Six Sigma tools such a fishbone diagram or a cause and effect matrix to identify issues. After carefully organizing the problems into groups according to priority, leaders can develop action steps toward resolution.

Improving Attitudes Toward Interdisciplinary Collaboration Between Nursing And Medical Students In Simulation, Kristy H. Williams

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

This capstone project assessed whether a curriculum change for senior nursing students could have an impact on improving attitudes toward physician-nurse collaboration. A convenience sample of 60 senior level nursing students and eight residents were enrolled in the study. The nursing students and residents participated in a high-fidelity simulation scenario, and were given a pretest and posttest using the Jefferson Scale of Attitudes Toward Physician-Nurse Collaboration. There was strong evidence (t= -1.971, p=.05) that the attitudes of physician-nurse collaboration improved for nursing students through a simulation based scenario with residents. The confidence interval for the difference was (-0.22, 0.002). Although …

Effects Of Comfort Education On Maternal Comfort And Labor Pain, Abby E. Garlock

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

A lack of understanding regarding the relationship between comfort education and maternal comfort experienced during labor exists within current literature. This project examined the effects of providing education regarding comfort and comfort options available in the hospital setting on level of maternal comfort during labor. A quasi-experimental pretest/posttest comparison group design was used for this project, in which a convenience sample of 80 participants was randomly assigned into a standard care control group or an educational intervention group. Providing comfort education during admission to the labor and delivery unit did not increase comfort scores or decrease pain scores in the …

Rural Healthcare Providers' Behavioral Intentions With Hospice Referrals: Attitudes, Knowledge, Beliefs, Benefits And Barriers, Meki Jacobs Graham

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

As hospice programs gain recognition, hospice referrals are gaining momentum. Yet for multiple reasons hospice referrals are challenging amongst rural healthcare providers (HCPs). For rural healthcare providers, lack of knowledge about hospice services and care contributes to a decrease in hospice referrals. The purpose of this capstone project was to develop an intervention to improve rural health care providers' behavioral intention to make hospice referral. The study sought to determine if an educational intervention would improve behavioral intentions to make a hospice referral resulting in increased hospice referral rates. Outcome data was based on utilizing a pretest/posttest survey design. An …

Relationship Between Patient Safety Culture And Safety Outcome Measures Among Nurses, Jamie Kay Brown

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

Preventable errors in healthcare are a significant problem in today’s society, contributing to numerous adverse patient outcomes and even deaths on a daily basis. Identifying adverse outcomes is an imperative first step in creating a safer healthcare system, which can be followed by cause analyses and action plans to address systematic issues and improve process reliability. Despite the widespread use of voluntary reporting systems to identify adverse events, recent literature has found extreme limitations and severe underreporting with its use in healthcare facilities. A frequent theme in the literature implies that identifying reportable events and discouraging hesitation in reporting begins …

The Effect Of Art Therapy On Hospice And Palliative Caregivers, Carol E. Gress

Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects

A quazi-experimental, one-group, pretest/posttest study was conducted with a group of 25 hospice workers employed by a medium sized county hospice organization in the southeastern United States that was experiencing rapid personnel turn-over. Participants in the study included a doctor, a physician’s assistant, a nurse practitioner, a massage therapist, a grief counselor, a licensed practical nurse, a certified nursing assistant, two clergy, three administrative staff, three social workers, seven volunteers, eight registered nurses and one other. The purpose was to investigate whether attending four 1-hour art therapy sessions could help reduce stress and thereby Burnout. Stamm’s (2010) Professional Quality of …

Nurse Rounding: An Evidenced Based Practice Report, Todd E. Tussing

Doctor of Nursing Practice Program Projects

Today’s healthcare environment is becoming increasingly competitive for patient volume and revenue dollars. The introduction of Value Based Purchasing by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) links patient satisfaction and healthcare quality to government reimbursement. Patient satisfaction has been linked to increased market share, thereby, positively impacting revenue for healthcare organization and increasing the competitiveness between healthcare organizations. In addition, patient satisfaction has been linked to increased compliance with prescribed healthcare regimens leading to improved health outcomes.

Nursing leaders of today’s healthcare systems must develop strategies to increase patient satisfaction and improve the revenue streams for their organizations. …

Intricate Conversations: Caring For Clients With Severe Mental Illness, John D. Chovan

Nursing Faculty Scholarship

This presentation describes the characteristics of persons living with severe mental illness who intersect with hospice, and palliative care, and their communication challenges.

Integrating Social Justice For Health Professional Education: Self-Reflection, Advocacy, And Collaborative Learning, Lena Hatchett, Nanette Elster, Katherine Wasson, Lisa Anderson, Kayhan Parsi

Journal of Health Ethics

Justice as fair and equal treatment for all is one of the core visions for health professional education to reduce racial and economic health disparities in bioethics, nursing and medicine. However, the current reality of deeply entrenched structural inequities across race, class, gender, and social privilege make it a challenge for students to become aware of practical health equity solutions. This paper illustrates how faculty and students can build their understanding of health equity solutions in health professional education through self-reflection, self-direction, advocacy, and collaborative learning opportunities. We provide lessons learned and teaching resources from nursing, medicine, and law.

Behind Closed Curtains On Eighteen Wheels: The Risk Factors And Consequences Of Intimate Partner Violence In Female Long-Haul Truck Drivers, Kim Bourne

Nursing Faculty Publications

Background. Intimate partner violence affects more than 1.3 million women in the United States (US) each year and 50% of all female homicides are committed by current or former intimate partners. Intimate partners are defined as a spouse or sex partner who cohabitate together. There are nearly 122,000 female long-haul truck drivers in the US who drive as part of a team with their intimate partners. Their jobs require them to be in close proximity with their intimate partners 24-hours a day for days to weeks at a time increasing the potential for intimate partner violence. Little has been published …

Developing A Workplace Sexual Violence Framework Related To Women Truck Drivers, Kim Bourne

Nursing Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Ua1c11/57 Sigma Theta Tau Photos, Wku Nursing

WKU Administration Documents

Unidentified images of Sigma Theta Tau.

Improving A Fall Prevention And Management Program In An Acute Care Setting, Ashlee D. Gallion

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

In-patient falls are common but preventable adverse events. A patient fall has become a targeted event that hospitals across the country are trying to prevent by implementing new evidence-based strategies and techniques. The purpose of this capstone project was to implement a valid and reliable fall risk assessment tool and a post-fall huddle process. Following a 30-day pilot of the new fall prevention protocol on a medical-surgical unit at the Cabell Huntington Hospital, the documentation of fall risk and post-fall huddles was examined. Fall rates during the pilot were compared to pre-implementation rates. During this project, the new fall risk …

Simulation In Assisting Nurses To Better Recognize Early Signs Of Clinical Deterioration Of Patients, Loretta Elder

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

The need to enhance the knowledge and skills of nurses caring for patients who exhibit signs of clinical deterioration has been validated in the literature. The literature has further supported the registered nurse as the key individual expected to recognize signs of clinical deterioration in the patient. The use of simulation as an effective teaching strategy has been well documented in the literature. The purpose of the project was to use simulation as an educational intervention to increase nurse knowledge, self-confidence, and competency when caring for patients exhibiting signs of clinical deterioration. The findings of this project are supported by …

System Base Practice As A Public Health Nursing Workforce Competency Requirement, Ann M. Stalter

Nursing Faculty Publications

This is an exhilarating time to be in public health! Internationally, the digital world has created an environment for the economic security needed to protect health and promote healing of all mankind. Globalization allows scientists to treat and track diseases in ways that have never been possible. In the United States (U.S.), the federal mandate for equal access to health care has opened a plethora of imaginary and tangible boundaries of which were antecedents to just about every–ism known to public health providers. With this exciting reform comes the need for workforce awareness and new ways of thinking and …