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.
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- Creators: Burger, Ana Maria
- Creators: Colao, Deirdre
Type II Diabetes Mellitus has detrimental effects on the human body. A1C levels reflect the attachment of glucose to hemoglobin-the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. Elevated A1C levels are an indicator of how controlled diabetes is. Uncontrolled diabetes not only affects glucose levels, but has detrimental repercussions in other organs of the body, causing peripheral vascular disease, risk of developing dementia, periodontal or gum disease, skin infections, neuropathy in lower and upper extremities, renal damage, erectile dysfunction, decreased blood flow, and cardiac conditions among others.
A diet low in calories positively affects glucose levels in the body. Type II Diabetes can be easily controlled when lifestyle modifications are included in the plan of care. Among those modifications, diet is an effective intervention for the management of this condition.
Establishing a diet among the patients that have an elevated A1C is the plan of care and ultimate goal for this project. The Mediterranean diet has demonstrated decreased blood glucose levels, improved weight control and enhanced quality of life.
Background and Significance: Anxiety is a prevalent health problem affecting up to 30% of the general population. Over 95% of radiation oncology patients report anxiety often related to not knowing what to expect during treatments. The current guideline for management of anxiety is the use of benzodiazepines; which can impose a risk to patients. Evidence demonstrates virtual reality videos can be an effective non-pharmacologic approach to reduce anxiety..
Design: Observational cohort evidence based project.
Setting: Outpatient radiation oncology facility in the Southwest United States.
Sample: 40 patients who have not previously undergone radiation therapy, but have been prescribed radiation treatments for malignant or non malignant conditions.
Methods: Patients who had not previously undergone radiation treatments were identified based on chart review and consented for participation in the project. The patient's were assessed for both their general (trait) anxiety and situational (state) anxiety using The State Trait Anxiety inventory (STAI). They were then shown a virtual reality video that walked them through what they would experience during their radiation treatment. The patient's were re-administered the STAI questionnaire following the video to assess any change in anxiety levels.
Variables: Trait and State anxiety scores before and after the virtual reality video intervention.
Findings/Outcomes: A paired t-test was conducted to assess the data. There was a significant difference in the state anxiety scores pre intervention (m = 32.65, SD = 11.47) and post intervention (M = 25.50, SD 8.95), p =< 0.001.
Conclusions: The use of virtual reality videos was an effective non-pharmacological approach to reduce anxiety in patients receiving radiation treatment.
Implications for nursing: The results provide support for the use of a virtual reality intervention as a non-pharmacologic option to reduce anxiety for patients.