Master's Thesis Nursing
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Item What is the Level of Knowledge about Hypertension among a Convenience Sample of Community Members and Does this Correlate with HTN Medical Regimen Compliance?(2017) Solomon, ChristopherI chose Merle H. Mishel’s Uncertainty in Illness Theory as the framework for my research paper. Mishel believes that uncertainty is the inability to determine the meaning of illness-related events, occurring when the decision maker is unable to assign definite value to objects or events, or is unable to predict outcomes accurately. Educating patients on their illness, treatment, and side effects also can lessen the amount of uncertainty they feel regarding their illness. Uncertainty is a constant occurrence from the diagnosis to living with a chronic illness. Uncertainty decreases over times and returns on illness recurrence or exacerbation. Uncertainty can be the most distressing to a person during the diagnosis phase. This is the point at which health care providers could lessen the uncertainty of a patient by educating the patient about the illness, showing confidence in treating their illness, and giving the patient clear and concise information.Item An Investigation of Job Satisfaction among Nurses in the Emergency Department(2017) Teems, Michelle; Helbing, ErinThe purpose of this descriptive study was to determine the overall job satisfaction among Emergency Department (ED) nurses. Job satisfaction is an important factor linked to nursing turnover. With the amount of ED nursing turnover on the rise, as well as ED visits increasing, it is important to understand factors that affect job satisfaction in efforts to retain knowledgeable and experienced ED nurses. A satisfaction survey containing specific job factors that affect job satisfaction was designed and utilized to survey ED nurses. These job factors were adopted from the McCloskey-Mueller Satisfaction Survey (MMSS), which is a reliable and validated survey used in many job satisfaction studies similar to this one. An online company called Survey Monkey hosted the satisfaction survey. A social media flyer that contained the survey link was posted to ED nurse’s social media groups on Facebook, in efforts to advertise the survey to ED nurses across the United States. Basic demographic information along with responses to seven satisfaction questions were collected. A total of 89 respondents from 31 different states were represented in this study. There were 75 females and 14 males that completed the survey. The majority of respondents had their BSN, while 33 held an ASN, and 8 held an MSN. Seventy-two percent of ED nurses were satisfied overall with their current ED job. Males and females were found to have almost the exact same overall job satisfaction rates. Associate degree nurses were found to have the highest overall job satisfaction. Respondents were most satisfied with the job itself and working relationships while working conditions, achievement/recognition, and company policies were found to have the lowest satisfaction scores.Item Are Emergency Department Triage Nurses Knowledgeable about Acute Coronary Syndromes Recognition?(2017) Weeks, Jennifer C.Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) has been the leading cause of death since 1921 and the volume of ED patients with a chest pain chief complaint equates to six million visits annually. Though a common ED patient presentation, triage accuracy rates are low and time delays in patient care are high despite extensive ACS presentation research and published practice guidelines. Objective: Triage nurses must have adequate ACS knowledge to perform prompt recognition and medical response, thereby reducing patient mortality and morbidity. Using the Synergy Model for Patient Care, this study sought to determine if triage nurses within the emergency department have the knowledge to accurately identify patients at risk for ACS. Methods: After pilot testing the instrument, an anonymous electronic survey of 12 closed-ended questions was administered to nurses who met sample criteria at two EDs. Results: Correct answers ranged from 3 (25.00%) to 10 (83.30%) with a mean, median, and mode of 7 (58.30%) and a confidence interval (α) of ±0.04 (6.96, 7.04). The SD for the study is 0.13. No study participants achieved a passing score of 84% or greater accuracy. The independent t-test found significance in the participants years of ED experience with their survey results (P = 0.0056). Simple linear regression determined the slope of this relationship to be 1.191 ± 0.4520. Conclusions: This research facilitates bridging the gap between existing research and practice guidelines through the provision of improved training for ED triage nurses to enhance ACS recognition and medical response which is essential to optimal outcomes for ACS patients.Item Does shift work affect sleep patterns among nurses?(2017) Owens, BethanySleep and sleep quality are important to maintaining a healthy quality of life. Nurses that work long hour shifts, more importantly, consecutive shifts, often feel the effects of not acquiring enough sleep or enough quality sleep. The question answered here is whether shift work affects sleeping patterns among nurses. In addition to that question, another question answered is whether or not the lack of sleep related to shift hours effects overall quality of life. The results of this study detail the answers to these questions and additionally may encourage nurses to employ health promotion tactics in their own personal lives and not just in their patient’s lives.