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: Brown, Jennifer
- Creators: Clark-Deuel, Janna
While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, America’s nursing work force continue to work in the most challenging of circumstances. While expected to hold the fort and continue on, deep inside, they bury an unprecedented level of acute stress, anxiety and depression. Peer support groups have been posed as a possible coping behavior. This cross-sectional designed project was developed to assess the worth and feasibility of a virtual peer support group with a focus on healthcare provider wellness during a period of surge of the COVID-19 pandemic. Overwhelmed staff, technology/documentation changes and challenges, competing clinical demands, short-staffing and Zoom fatigue were identified as the limiting factors for this project’s completion within its given timeframe. These findings informed of current barriers, providing a basis for future program development to mitigate the impact of psychological distress among healthcare providers. Evolving literature on this topic supports recommendations for further study and action by individual health care providers, organizations and at the state and national levels.
Background: Asthma is a chronic illness that impacts 10.9% of the pediatric population in Arizona. Poor asthma understanding and management leads to high-utilization of emergency rooms and urgent care clinics, negatively impacting the healthcare economy. Poor asthma management also leads to decreased health outcomes and impacts on the child’s academic functioning, mental health, and overall quality of life. Current evidence supports use of written asthma action plans (WAAP) and inhaler/spacer instruction to improve asthma management.
Methods: The intervention was an evidence-based educational session provided to the staff of a military, pediatric primary care clinic in southwest Arizona regarding the use of WAAP, the Asthma Control Test (ACT) and integrated inhaler/spacer instruction. Chart reviews were conducted to evaluate the documentation of use of WAAP, ACT, and inhaler/spacer education.
Results: Charts were collected from pre-intervention (n = 33) and post-intervention (n = 18). Data analysis demonstrated a statistically significant higher use of WAAP (U = 0.008, p < 0.05, d = 0.83). Although there was not a statistically significant change in use of ACT tool, Cohen’s value (d = 0.48) suggested a moderate positive effect. A Pearson correlation coefficient was also calculated for the relationship between use of ACT tool and use of WAAP, demonstrating a moderate positive correlation (r (49) = .372, p < .01).
Conclusions: An evidence-based education session for pediatric staff members is a cost-effective and simple method of improving pediatric asthma management practices.