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Incorporating Quality Improvement and Problem-solving Into a Unit Safety Huddle
Get PDFThe complex nature of healthcare creates significant risks of harm to patients. Safety huddles are a mechanism some hospitals utilize to raise awareness of safety concerns and minimize risks. Typically occurring at the start of each shift, safety huddles generally take the form of a brief, structured discussion with visual management for information sharing. In addition, safety huddles create a safe space for nursing staff to escalate concerns, supporting a culture of safety. This quality improvement project describes the expansion of a safety huddle process that has become a mere ritual at the start of each shift on a 25-bed medicine unit at a large urban hospital in the Midwest to improve nursing staff engagement. Through a formal quality improvement and problem-solving approach, there is a clear plan of action to elevate issues and a process to engage and empower nursing staff in identifying, achieving, and hardwiring improvements. Margaret Newman\u27s Theory of Health as Expanding Consciousness concepts of pattern recognition, increased awareness, and higher consciousness serves as this project\u27s theoretical foundation. The success of this project will be measured using pre and post- employee engagement scores for questions related to safety, patient experience, and empowerment. In addition, the number of completed projects that meet target conditions and scorecard metrics for falls with harm and patient satisfaction will serve as secondary measures of success of the expanded safety huddle process. Engaging and empowering nursing staff in quality improvement and problem-solving supports a culture of safety, leading to improved patient safety and positive health outcomes
Energy Healing: Reiki as a Coping Mechanism in Intimate Partner Violence Trauma
No full textInterpersonal violence affects many people. The current coping techniques provided by the domestic violence shelter and outpatient programs are explored. Energy and energy systems are explained as related to Martha Rogers Science of Unitary Human Beings Theory (SUHB), the chakras and IPV. Reiki is ancient energy healing technique that is implemented within the IPV population to manage the side effects of the trauma. The project implemented showed positive outcomes amongst the population, proving the need for more studies implementing Reiki to improve patient outcomes long-term
Exercise to Reduce Inpatient Nursing Stress
No full textNurses working in the inpatient setting experience stress. Stress has become a common theme for inpatient nurses due to nursing shortages, the COVID-19 pandemic, more complex patient needs, and concerns for patient safety. Literature support shows that exercise within the workplace can help reduce stress. This project outlines a plan to integrate short exercise routines for nurses working on a pediatric unit at a large Midwestern hospital. This project will be guided by Watson’s Caritas Processes three, five, and eight, and focuses on the creation of transpersonal caring relationships. The exercise project will be evaluated at the end of a six-week period using pre and post assessment surveys to determine if exercise helped reduce stress for the inpatient pediatric nurse. Major nursing implications are aimed at decreasing the nurses’ stress to ultimately improve patient safety concerns and to strengthen the nurse-patient relationship. If this exercise program is successful on this inpatient pediatric unit, there could be an opportunity to expand the project to include all nurses, physician staff, allied health staff, and office staff at the Midwestern hospital
Art Therapy for Pediatric Oncology Patients
No full textChildren undergoing cancer treatment may experience detrimental adverse side effects that can be remedied with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), such as art therapy. Pediatric hematology-oncology patients often have trouble processing and expressing emotions, coping with and healing from the effects of long-term hospitalizations for cancer treatment. A pilot project to use art therapy with pediatric hospitalized patients undergoing cancer treatment at a Midwest teaching hospital will be introduced. The pediatric patient will be able to choose between drawing, painting, modeling clay, playdoh, or collaging for their art therapy session. Educational sessions for the nurses working at the bedside in the pediatric unit will teach them about the positive effects of art therapy sessions, including increased quality of life and overall well-being of their patients. Nurses will learn how to create a healing environment through their presence, guided by Jean Watson’s Theory of Human Caring. The results of this proposed art therapy project will be evaluated using a post-survey completed by the nurse, parent, or guardian. A model of The Coping Bucket is used to represent a visualization of pediatric patients using art therapy as an expressive outlet for stress regulation. The goal of the art therapy sessions is to encourage healthy coping, improvement in quality of life, and help to provide a healing environment for the pediatric patient
Improving the Discharge Planning Process in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
No full textAn essential step to support NICU families in their transition to home after hospital discharge is discharge planning. As a part of discharge planning, it is important to ensure that the outpatient specialty provider follow up appointments are made and all NICU education is completed before the day of a patient’s discharge. At a Midwest suburban hospital, it was noted that 36% of NICU education was incomplete on a patient’s day of discharge. A quality improvement project to enhance the nursing discharge planning process was developed and implemented in the neonatal intensive care unit at a Midwest suburban hospital. The project intervention is the nurse’s use of a discharge checklist. The discharge checklist includes a list of education topics and potential specialty provider needs for NICU patients following discharge. Rogers’ Science of Unitary Human (SUHB) Theory served as the theoretical framework for guiding the project coordinator to understand the complex NICU environment. Chart reviews and surveys were conducted before and after the project intervention to determine the degree of success of the quality improvement project. After 1 month, there was an increase of 2.3% in nurses completing education noted before a patient’s day of discharge. Reflection following implementation illustrated a need to improve nurse communication as to the reason for the need to implement the discharge checklist. Transformational leadership skills allowed the author to identify a gap in the nursing discharge practices and implement a process to improve care
Investigating the Relationship Between Mental Health and co- Morbidity Management During the Covid-19 Pandemic: a Literature Review
Get PDFBackground: The COVID-19 pandemic caused many disruptions to millions of lives, especially with the enforcement of government shutdowns, isolations, and social distancing. These measures lead to increased anxiety and depression in the general population. With many high- risk patient populations having chronic comorbidities, accessing routine medical care and supplies became difficult during the pandemic.
Purpose: How has mental health affected the management of pre-existing comorbidities during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Methods: A comprehensive literature review was conducted using the research engine PubMed using the search terms: “pandemic”, “COVID-19”, “comorbidities”, “mental health”, “morbidity”, and “mortality”. Inclusion criteria were studies published after 2017. Exclusion criteria were studies that were systemic review cases or studies.
Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in higher rates of anxiety and depression among the general population. The differences in anxiety and depression among those with pre- existing comorbidities versus without may vary by race. The COVID-19 pandemic did affect the management of pre-existing comorbidities, but this was primarily independent to mental health status. Care was mostly affected by other factors such as difficulty accessing care and medical supplies
Intermittent fasting and reduction of cardiovascular disease risk
Get PDFBackground: Cardiovascular disease remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Intermittent fasting is a unique intervention that is beginning to be studied more extensively for weight loss, positive alterations in serum lipid profile, and improvement of insulin resistance which are all modifiable risk factors for the development of cardiovascular disease.
Purpose: The research question at the center of this literature review is: does the addition of intermittent fasting reduce the risk of developing cardiovascular disease? The reduction of cardiovascular disease was studied through alterations in weight, cholesterol, and diabetic labs.
Methods: A comprehensive literature review was conducted using academic search premier ultimate and pubmed using the search terms intermittent fasting, time restricted feeding, weight loss, lipid profile, diabetes, and insulin resistance. Inclusion criteria were primary studies that were published within the last 5 years. Exclusion criteria were review articles and primary studies published prior to 2017.
Conclusions: Intermittent fasting may aid in reductions of modifiable risk factors for developing cardiovascular disease including body weight, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance. More research consisting of large, randomized controlled trials is necessary to reproduce the results to incorporate intermittent fasting into medical guidelines
A Review and Critique of the Harrod-Domar Aggregate Growth Model
Get PDFThe purpose of this paper will be three-fold: first, to review the Harrod-Domar Long-Run Aggregate Growth Model, second, to examine the importance of investment in human beings, and third, to critique the Harrod-Domar model
The role of terrestrial productivity and hydrology in regulating aquatic dissolved organic carbon concentrations in boreal catchments
Get PDFThe past decades have witnessed an increase in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations in the catchments of the Northern Hemisphere. Increasing terrestrial productivity and changing hydrology may be reasons for the increases in DOC concentration. The aim of this study is to investigate the impacts of increased terrestrial productivity and changed hydrology following climate change on DOC concentrations. We tested and quantified the effects of gross primary production (GPP), ecosystem respiration (RE) and discharge on DOC concentrations in boreal catchments over 3 years. As catchment characteristics can regulate the extent of rising DOC concentrations caused by the regional or global environmental changes, we selected four catchments with different sizes (small, medium and large) and landscapes (forest, mire and forest-mire mixed). We applied multiple models: Wavelet coherence analysis detected the delay-effects of terrestrial productivity and discharge on aquatic DOC variations of boreal catchments; thereafter, the distributed-lag linear models quantified the contributions of each factor on DOC variations. Our results showed that the combined impacts of terrestrial productivity and discharge explained 62% of aquatic DOC variations on average across all sites, whereas discharge, gross primary production (GPP) and RE accounted for 26%, 22% and 3%, respectively. The impact of GPP and discharge on DOC changes was directly related to catchment size: GPP dominated DOC fluctuations in small catchments (\u3c1 km2), whereas discharge controlled DOC variations in big catchments (\u3e1 km2). The direction of the relation between GPP and discharge on DOC varied. Increasing RE always made a positive contribution to DOC concentration. This study reveals that climate change-induced terrestrial greening and shifting hydrology change the DOC export from terrestrial to aquatic ecosystems. The work improves our mechanistic understanding of surface water DOC regulation in boreal catchments and confirms the importance of DOC fluxes in regulating ecosystem C budgets
Symptom Management of Rheumatoid Arthritis
No full textBased on ancient traditional Chinese medicine, yoga is a complementary alternative therapy that is widely practiced that can assist with the adoption of bodily postures for relaxation and promotion of health. Because of the increase of individuals living with a chronic disease, such as rheumatoid arthritis, and the increasing health care costs associated with treatment, as well as the burdens on health care systems and patients, the implementation of a cost-effective way to manage symptoms has become necessary. Evidence-based research supports yoga to decrease side effects from pharmaceuticals and provide a self-care option to promote overall health. Due to lack of knowledge by health care providers, yoga is still under-utilized in mainstream medicine, therefore, the exploration of evidence-based research and other literature regarding benefits of yoga as symptom management to patients with rheumatoid arthritis was explored