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- All Subjects: Motivational interviewing
Women in recovery from substance use disorders (SUD) face significant barriers to achieving reproductive well-being (RWB) and disproportionately experience unintended pregnancy. Unintended pregnancy can have serious consequences in this population. Equity-informed approaches promote the integration of reproductive health care (RHC) with recovery programs to improve both access to and quality of RHC. Arizona’s largest SUD recovery program, Crossroads, Inc. recently opened an on-site, integrated primary clinic offering RHC. A one-month pilot demonstration of One Key Question (OKQ), a pregnancy desire screening tool, was implemented with fidelity at Crossroads to identify clients with RHC needs and offer care.
IRB exempt status was obtained through Arizona State University. All female-bodied clients aged 18-49 were screened following routine admission assessments. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement Triple Aim model based on Self-Determination Theory and Motivational Interviewing was used to prioritize client autonomy. The client experience of care was measured using an adapted Interpersonal Quality of Family Planning scale. The magnitude of needs and desires were summarized with descriptive statistics. Sixty-three clients were screened with OKQ. Needs were identified in 97% of clients. Of those clients, 98% accepted referrals. Ninety percent of items measuring the client experience of care were rated as “excellent.” OKQ provided an efficient structure for person-centered screening and referral conversations to integrate RHC in a large SUD recovery program with excellent care experiences reported by clients.
Purpose: This project examined the effectiveness of an online educational module on basic Motivational Interviewing (MI) techniques for Nurse Practitioners (NPs) providing obesity management to middle-aged women.
Background: Middle-aged women experience distinct physiological and psychosocial factors that contribute to weight gain and make obesity management especially challenging. The evidence supports the use of motivational interviewing (MI) interventions as a highly effective approach to obesity management in combination with standard medical weight loss programs. Educating NPs that provide medical weight loss on basic MI counseling techniques is necessary to facilitate the use of this intervention.
Methods: NP providers at a group of seven medical weight loss clinics in the southwestern United States completed an online MI educational module that was developed for this project. The module content covered basic MI counseling techniques. MI knowledge was assessed using a 6-item pre/post-test. Participants completed an 8-item course evaluation to provide additional feedback.
Results: Ten of the 13 NPs eligible participated in the project. The overall response to the project was positive as demonstrated by high scores on the course evaluation. The average post-test knowledge scores increased after completion of the module, however no statistical significance was noted.
Conclusions: The basic MI education module was beneficial for NPs providing obesity management and future research should focus on developing standardized MI weight loss interventions.
Purpose: This project sought to evaluate the gap that exists between best practice and current practice, for sepsis identification and EGDT implementation.
Methods: The project was completed over a four-month period with prior Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval and consisted of evaluation of sepsis knowledge and barriers to EGDT. Questionnaires included demographics, sepsis knowledge, barriers to EGDT and AHRQ quality indicators toolkit.
Results: Sample (N=16) included registered nurses (RN) and healthcare providers. Descriptive statistics were utilized for evaluation of questionnaires. Results indicate staff have sound understanding of signs and symptoms of sepsis, however application through case studies demonstrated lower performance. Overall system barriers were minimal, with greatest barriers in central line monitoring and staff shortages. High level unit teamwork exists within the ED, however collaboration is lacking between ED staff and upper management. Results demonstrate moderate disengagement between upper management and staff leading to miscommunication. Recommendations included increased, consistent sepsis education, utilization of Institution for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) triple aim framework for evaluating systems, implementing a closed loop approach to communication, and having a staff champion for sepsis be included in meetings with upper management.
One in every three deaths in the United States results from cardiovascular disease (CDC, 2013). Cardiovascular Rehabilitation (CR) is a medically supervised program designed to help improve cardiovascular health for patients who have experienced heart attack, heart failure, angioplasty, or heart surgery (AHA, 2016). A hospital in the southwestern region of the United States of America reports their 2016 CR attendance rate of 79 %, which is much lower than the national average of 94% (AACVPR, 2016). Motivational interviewing (MI) is a proven method used to promote a positive behavior change for cardiac rehab patients. MI includes quality improvement activities such as peer support and cardiac rehab educational classes that have shown to increase health related quality of life measures and decreased depression symptoms (Pietrabessa et al., 2017; Pack et al., 2013).
Despite all the knowledge about CR and its benefits for health nationally, there are low attendance rates, therefore the purpose of this evidence-based project is to improve CR attendance rates using MI. Patients enrolled into CR participated in the motivational interviewing for eight classes. At the end of the class, they were given notecards to create Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic and Timely (SMART) Goals for themselves for that week. The measurement tools, the PHQ-9 and Dartmouth COOP is a simple, reliable, and valid tool for assessing functional status of cardiac patients and the current CR program utilizes this tool and is familiar with explaining this tool (Eaton, Young, Fergussion, Garrett, & Kolbe, 2005).
A Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated for the relationship between the MI classes and the CR attendance, depression scores, and quality of life. A strong positive correlation was found (r (82)= .456, p< .001) indicating a significant linear relationship between motivational interviewing and cardiac rehab attendance. A weak correlation that was not significant for depression symptoms and quality of life. The impact of this evidence-based project is to give cardiac rehab programs further evidence that the implementation of motivational interviewing can positively influence cardiac rehab attendance rates.
Children often present to the emergency department (ED) for treatment of abuse-related injuries. ED healthcare providers (HCPs) do not consistently screen children for physical abuse, which may allow abuse to go undetected and increases the risk for re-injury and death. ED HCPs frequently cite lack of knowledge or confidence in screening for and detecting child physical abuse.
The purpose of this evidence-based quality improvement project was to implement a comprehensive screening program that included ED HCP education on child physical abuse, a systematic screening protocol, and use of the validated Escape Instrument. After a 20-minute educational session, there was a significant increase in ED HCP knowledge and confidence scores for child physical abuse screening and recognition (p < .001). There was no difference in diagnostic coding of child physical abuse by ED HCPs when evaluating a 30-day period before and after implementation of the screening protocol.
In a follow-up survey, the Escape Instrument and educational session were the most reported screening facilitators, while transition to a new electronic health system was the most reported barrier. The results of this project support comprehensive ED screening programs as a method of improving HCP knowledge and confidence in screening for and recognizing child physical abuse. Future research should focus on the impact of screening on the diagnosis and treatment of child physical abuse. Efforts should also be made to standardize child abuse screening programs throughout all EDs, with the potential for spread to other settings.
Harm reduction in cardiovascular disease is a significant problem worldwide. Providers, families, and healthcare agencies are feeling the burdens imparted by these diseases. Not to mention missed days of work and caregiver strain, the losses are insurmountable. Motivational interviewing (MI) is gaining momentum as a method of stimulating change through intrinsic motivation by resolving ambivalence toward change (Ma, Zhou, Zhou, & Huang, 2014).
If practitioners can find methods of educating the public in a culturally-appropriate and sensitive manner, and if they can work with community stakeholders to organize our resources to make them more accessible to the people, we may find that simple lifestyle changes can lead to risk reduction of cardiovascular diseases. By working with our community leaders and identifying barriers unique to each population, we can make positive impacts on a wide range of issues that markedly impact our healthcare systems.