Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Final Projects
The Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Projects collection contains the completed works of students from the DNP Program at Arizona State University's College of Nursing and Health Innovation. These projects are the culminating product of the curricula and demonstrate clinical scholarship.
Filtering by
- All Subjects: Heart failure
- All Subjects: Telemedicine
There is an estimated 6.2 million people Americans over the age of 20 suffering from Heart Failure (HF) (Bejamin et. al., 2019). It is essential that HF patients have sufficient knowledge about the disease and self-management (Abbasi, Ghezeljeh, & Farahani, 2018; Dinh, Bonner, Ramsbotham & Clark, 2018). Lack of self-management is largely to blame for many HF exacerbations. Current evidence supports utilizing both verbal and written education with an emphasis on self-care and education delivered in a group setting or individual setting showed equal impact on self-care and HF knowledge ( Hoover, et. al., 2017; Ross et. al., 2015; Tawalbeh, 2018).
An outpatient VA clinic located in a suburb of the large metropolitan identified there was no consistency on how a HF patient was educated, managed, or tracked and the registered nurses (RNs) lacked knowledge of HF. As a results of these findings this Evidence Based Project (EBP) was implemented. RNs were educated on HF and completed a self-assessment questionnaire evaluating their knowledge pre and post education. The RNs, as part of a multidisciplinary team, educated HF patients on signs and symptoms of HF as well as on how to manage the disease. Patients completed, the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) to assess quality of life and the Self Care Heart Failure Index (SCHFI) to assess knowledge of HF and self-management skills.
These questionnaires were completed initially and at 30 and 60 day intervals. The RNs self-assessment of their knowledge and ability to educate patients increased in all areas. The patient’s KCCQ and SCHFI score improved at 30 days and 60 days when compared to their initial score. Larger EBPs are needed over a longer period of time to assess the impact on hospital readmissions and same day clinic visits for HF exhibitions.
Heart failure affects millions of Americans each year. Treatment of advanced heart failure with reduced ejection fraction and left ventricular failure is sometimes treated with implantation of a left-ventricular assist device. While living with this life-sustaining machine, anticoagulation with Coumadin is necessary. Many of these patients are readmitted within 30-days of being discharged for pump clots, gastro-intestinal bleeds and even strokes. Patients are often discharged without adequate education on Coumadin management, which promotes inadequate self-care and medication non-adherence.
In current practice, healthcare providers lecture information in a quick manner without the evaluation of patients’ comprehension. Research suggests implementing the teach-back method during education sessions to assess for comprehension of material to improve medication adherence. Healthcare providers should implement Coumadin teach-back education to heart failure patients with left-ventricular assist devices to improve quality of life, increase medication adherence and decrease 30-day hospital readmission rates.
Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Led Transitional Care Program in an Accountable Care Organization
Background: Hospital readmissions place a heavy financial burden on patients, families, and health care systems. Readmissions can be reduced or prevented by providing a safe transition through care coordination and enhanced communication. Research demonstrates implementation of APRN led home visits (HV) along with telephonic follow-up are cost effective and can be utilized for reducing readmissions among HF patients.
Methods: A program was designed with an ACO and carried out in a family practice clinic with a group of seven HF patients older than 50 years who were at risk of readmission. Interventions included weekly HV with supplemental telephonic calls by the APRN student along with a physician assistant for 12 weeks. Readmission data was collected. QOL and SCB were measured using “Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire” (MLHFQ) and “European Heart Failure Self-Care Behavior Scale” respectively. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and the Friedman Test.
Outcomes: There were no hospital readmissions at 30 days and the interventions demonstrated a positive effect on QOL, self-care management and satisfaction (χ2 = 30.35, p=.000). The intervention had a large effect on the outcome variables resulting in an increase in QOL and SCB scores post-intervention (ES= -1.4 and -2 respectively).
Conclusions: TCP designed with an ACO, carried out in a primary care setting has a positive effect on reducing hospital readmissions and improving QOL, SCBs, and patient satisfaction among HF patients. TCPs are not revenue generating at outset due to reimbursement issues, however future considerations of a multidisciplinary team approach with convenient workflow may be explored for long-term feasibility and sustainability.
Funding Source: American Association of Colleges of Nursing and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with support of the Academic Partners to Improve Health.
Background and Significance: HF affects over 5.1 million people in the United States, costing $31 billion a year; $1.7 billion spent on Medicare readmissions within 30 days of discharge. Guidelines and care coordination prevent expenses related to hospital readmissions and improve quality of life for adults with HF.
Methods: Healthcare providers (HCPs) at a metropolitan hospital participated in an education session reviewing HF treatment and CMD. Thirty participants completed the single five-point Likert scale pre/post surveys evaluating their opinions of knowledge and behaviors toward implementation of guidelines and CMD. Patient outcome data was abstracted measuring pre/post education compliance for ejection fraction, ACE/ARB, beta-blocker, HF education, follow-up appointments, aldosterone antagonist, anticoagulation, hydralazine nitrate, and CMD 30-45 day’s pre/post education. Analyses included descriptive statistics of participants and pre/post surveys using a paired t-test. Percentage of compliance for quality measures was completed on patients from September through December.
Results: Providers post intervention showed improved knowledge and behaviors toward implementation of guidelines and CMD, including reconciliation of medications to statistical significance. However, the demographics showed the majority of participants were non-cardiac specialties. Improved compliance for outcome data of quality measures was insignificant over time. The non-cardiac demographic may have contributed to this result.
Conclusion: The surveys did not correlate with the patient outcome data. Recommendations would include targeting cardiac focused HCPs for future education sessions.
Heart failure (HF) is one of the most common and costly conditions for hospital readmissions in the United States (Conway, 2015). Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programs are effective in decreasing hospital readmission rates (Koukoui, Desmoulin, Lairy, Bleinc, Boursiquot, Galinier, & Koukoui, 2015). Medicare has established new requirements for qualification into a CR program; thus, patients are at risk for readmission in the six-weeks post discharge. To reduce HF hospital readmissions and to increase enrollment into the HF program, an infrastructure was implemented beginning in January 2016. This quality improvement project employed a patient chart audit reviewing overall hospital readmission rates for HF at a large hospital in Arizona.
A comparison of readmission rates was made between the 6 months prior to, and the 6-months after the expanded utilization of the HF program. An independent-samples t test was calculated comparing the mean score of the readmission rates before and after a HF CR intervention. No significant difference was found (t(358) = .721, p > .05). The mean of the group before the intervention (m =.15, sd = .36) was not significantly different from mean in the intervention group (m = .13, sd = .33). Implications for practice cannot completely be concluded from this project findings. Continued studies focusing on the enrollment, attendance, and completion of the HF CR program could assist in determining the benefits of referring all patients with the diagnosis of HF to the HF CR program.
Hospital readmissions for palliative care patients are costly for patients, families, insurance providers, and palliative care organizations. The evidence shows that integrating virtual visits into palliative care is an innovative way to reduce hospital readmissions, preserve costs, and reduce geographical barriers. The purpose of this article is to evaluate how well transitional care virtual visits reduce future hospital readmissions for palliative care patients when compared to usual care of in-home nurse visits. Palliative care patients from a large palliative company in Arizona, who received a transitional care, post hospital discharge, virtual visit with traditional model care (intervention) were compared to randomly selected traditional model care patients (control).
Data was collected through a retrospective chart review at 30 and 60 days post hospital discharge to evaluate for hospital readmissions and avoided readmissions. The Fishers Exact test was used to compare the results of the two groups to each other. There was no significant difference between the two groups. Virtual visits have an added cost to the agency without decreasing the risk of readmission. Implications for practice are to continue offering transitional care in-home nurse visits. Future research should evaluate if using virtual visits justify the increased costs of use.