NURS 8002 Week 7 Discussion: The Doctorally Prepared Nurse: Community of Practice
Sample Answer for NURS 8002 Week 7 Discussion: The Doctorally Prepared Nurse: Community of Practice Included After Question
What is meant by a community of practice?
A community of practice represents a group of individuals who share a common purpose and desire to positively impact their practice and share ideas, perspectives, and lessons learned to enhance the proficiency with which to engage in practice.
Not surprisingly, as a profession, nursing already represents a critical community of practice. Moreover, DNP-prepared nurses are uniquely poised to lead and install changes of a transformative capacity within a community of practice due to their skill set of understanding and engaging in evidence-based practice. As a future DNP-prepared nurse, how do you see yourself engaging with or leading a community of practice?
This week, you will examine community and organizational needs, challenges, and issues. You will analyze the role of the DNP-prepared nurse in addressing these needs, challenges, and issues in your Blog Assignment. You will also consider and recommend practice changes that will meet community and organizational needs, challenges, and issues.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
Evaluate community and organization needs, challenges, and issues
Analyze the role of the DNP-prepared nurse in addressing community and organization needs, challenges, and issues
Recommend practice changes and interventions that address community and organization needs, challenges, and issues
Learning Resources
Required Readings (click to expand/reduce)
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2006). The essentials of doctoral education for advanced nursing practice. https://www.aacnnursing.org/Portals/42/Publications/DNPEssentials.pdf
Andrew, N., Tolson, D., & Ferguson, D. (2008). Building on Wenger: Communities of practice in nursing. Nurse Education Today, 28(2), 246–252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2007.05.002
Cook, D. A., Pencille, L. J., Dupras, D. M., Linderbaum, J. A., Pankratz, V. S., & Wilkinson, J. M. (2018). Practice variation and practice guidelines: Attitudes of generalist and specialist physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants. PLOS ONE, 13(1), e0191943. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0191943
Fukuda, T., Sakurai, H., & Kashiwagi, M. (2020). Efforts to reduce the length of stay in a low-intensity ICU: Changes in the ICU brought about by collaboration between Certified Nurse Specialists as head nurses and intensivists. PLOS ONE, 15(6), e0234879. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0234879
Kislov, R., Walshe, K., & Harvey, G. (2012). Managing boundaries in primary care service improvement: A developmental approach to communities of practice. Implementation Science, 7(97), 97–110. https://doi.org/10.1186/1748-5908-7-97
Blog: The DNP-Prepared Nurse and Their Community
Vaccine and immunization legislation.
Nutritional assistance programs for school youths.
Diabetes education for elderly outpatients in a community health clinic.
Reducing the number of re-admits of patients who have had outpatient procedures.
Reducing the number of patient falls on a medical/surgical hospital floor.
Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
NURS 8002 Week 7 Discussion The Doctorally Prepared Nurse Community of Practice
These represent a few community and organizational needs, challenges, and issues that may require and merit the advocacy, skill set, and knowledge of the DNP-prepared nurse. In your role as a DNP-prepared nurse, you may find yourself the champion and advocate for improved health outcomes both at a local and individual patient level to one of a national or global and population-based level. The DNP-prepared nurse is well poised to address and advocate changes not only in a healthcare setting but in a community context to promote positive social change and positive health-based outcomes.
For this Discussion, reflect on those needs, challenges, and issues that may be most important for your community or organization. Why do these needs, challenges, and issues merit the attention of a DNP-prepared nurse?
To prepare:
Review the Learning Resources for this week and consider those local issues/topics that are most important for your community or organization. Find articles about your community or organization that reflect the need for intervention by a doctorally prepared nurse.
Reflect on why these local issues/topics merit addressing from your perspective as a DNP-prepared nurse.
Reflect on your role as the DNP-prepared nurse to address these local issues/topics and consider what type of practice changes or interventions you might recommend to bring about needed change for your community or organization.
By Day 3 of Week 7
Post a response to your Blog in which you describe at least two of the most important needs/challenges/issues in your community or organization. Why are these needs/challenges/issues important? Be specific. Then, recommend at least two practice changes or interventions you would suggest to address these needs/challenges/issues in your community or organization. Be sure to align your role as the DNP-prepared nurse to the competencies identified in the AACN Essentials.
By Day 5 of Week 7
Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses and respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days by suggesting additional strategies your colleague could implement to bring about needed change in their community.
Submission and Grading Information
Grading Criteria
To access your rubric:
Week 7 Blog Rubric
Post by Day 3 of Week 7 and Respond by Day 5 of Week 7
To Participate in this Blog:
Week 7 Blog
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A Sample Answer For the Assignment: NURS 8002 Week 7 Discussion: The Doctorally Prepared Nurse: Community of Practice
Title: NURS 8002 Week 7 Discussion: The Doctorally Prepared Nurse: Community of Practice
Needs, Challenges, and Issues Within Community
Throughout my career in the Orlando, Florida area, I have noticed several needs, challenges, and issues within healthcare. One of those issues I have noticed frequently is adherence to dialysis schedules. In the perioperative area, we regularly have dialysis patients who require surgeries or procedures. When interviewing these patients during the preoperative phase, I have noticed several of these patients do not adhere to a dialysis schedule. They miss dialysis frequently, for a variety of reasons. Missing a dialysis appointment can have several adverse effects. The patients may experience dyspnea, pulmonary edema, and stress on their cardiovascular system from missing sessions (Alikari et al., 2019). Skipping dialysis sessions can also lead to increased mortality rates (Alikari et al., 2019). Therefore, it is extremely important for the patient to adhere to their dialysis schedules. This is a worrisome trend that could benefit from a practice change or intervention.
Another issue I have noticed recently within my own organization is the elopement of involuntary psychiatric hold patients. As a charge nurse, I attend a daily safety meeting that includes all the departments of the hospital. Recently, there have been several instances of psychiatric patients with sitters who have eloped and have not been returned. This is a huge safety issue. The psychiatric patient who is under an involuntary hold is placed on this hold because they have been assessed as a threat to themselves or others. To keep the patient from harming themselves or others, they are watched 24/7 by a patient sitter. To have several episodes of these patients eloping and not being returned is troublesome. If these patients elope, there is an increased risk of an adverse safety event happening.
Practice Changes and Interventions
To assist with dialysis patient’s adherence to their dialysis schedules, the DNP-prepared nurse could suggest implementing an educational program. This approach was suggested by Alikari et al. (2019). During their study, they found patients greatly benefitted from educational programs (Alikari et al., 2019). These nurse-led educational programs focused on the patient being a “partner” in their health care, as opposed to just being told what to do (Alikari et al., 2019). I believe implementing such a program with the dialysis patients at my organization would be extremely beneficial.
To decrease the number of involuntary psychiatric hold patient elopements, the implementation of a “behavioral response team (BRT)” may be beneficial. Bravo (2017) describe the focus of the team, which is “to respond, de-escalate disruptive behaviors, educate less experienced nursing units and increase safety.” These teams could intervene in an escalating patient behavior situation and perhaps diffuse the situation, thus preventing patient elopement. Implementation of these teams could increase the safety of both the patients and the staff in these situations.
Alignment with AACN Essentials
Addressing these issues within my organization and community, along with implementing practice changes is a major role of the DNP-prepared nurse. The practice changes outlined in this blog post align with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN)’s DNP Essentials. The implementation of a nurse-led educational program for dialysis patient aligns with DNP Essential VII, which is Clinical Prevention and Population Health for Improving the Nation’s Health (AACN, 2006). This essential focuses on “health promotion and risk reduction” for populations (AACN, 2006). By assessing the needs of dialysis patients, the DNP-prepared nurse can implement ways to reduce the risk of missing dialysis sessions and the adverse outcomes that can be a result. The implementation of BRT in a hospital algins with the DNP Essential II, which is Organizational and Systems Leadership for Quality Improvement and Systems Thinking (AACN, 2006). This essential states DNP-prepared nurses must be able to “focus on the needs of a panel of patients, a target population” and “conceptualize new care delivery models” (AACN, 2006). By implementing a BRT as a standard of practice with involuntary psychiatric holds, this is creating a new delivery of care for this target population. DNP-prepared nurses are expected to assess the needs of an organization or population and implement new ways to achieve quality care.
References
Alikari, V., Tsironi, M., Matziou, V., Tzavella, F., Stathoulis, J., Babatsikou, F., Fradelos, E., & Zyga, S. (2019). The impact of education on knowledge, adherence and quality of life among patients on haemodialysis. Quality of Life Research, 28(1), 73-83. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-018-1989-y
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2006). The essentials of doctoral education for advanced nursing practice. https://www.aacnnursing.org/Portals/42/Publications/DNPEssentials.pdf
Bravo, J. (2017). The behavioral response team: building a safer hospital. Journal of Healthcare Protection Management, 33(1), 113-117. Retrieved from the Walden University Library databases.
A Sample Answer 2 For the Assignment: NURS 8002 Week 7 Discussion: The Doctorally Prepared Nurse: Community of Practice
Title: NURS 8002 Week 7 Discussion: The Doctorally Prepared Nurse: Community of Practice
Thank you for your excellent main post addressing the needs, challenges, and issues with your community, along with some appropriate practice changes and interventions based on specific essentials. You choose to address the following: 1) dialysis scheduling and 2) elopement of involuntary psychiatric hold patients. Both of these were addressed with practice changes such as 1) dialysis patients – staff educational program aligned with DNP Essential VII, and 2) for involuntary psychiatric hold patient elopements, the implementation of a “behavioral response team (BRT)” aligned with DNP Essential II. You seem to have a keen eye when evaluating your community health needs and have proporsed appropriate solutions.
I agree something needs to be done for both those issues. Essential II: Organizational and Systems Leadership for Quality Improvement and Systems Thinking allows the DNP graduate nurse to review and help amend policy within the system (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2006). For those eloping patients, there has to be a whole in the system of the organization that is allowing them to leave. At my current facility, there are different levels of sitters. For those that are at an elopement risk, they would require a higher level sitter, trained to handle these types of psych patients. Security is also notified for those who are not assigned to the psych unit. The security would round on those who have been placed on a regular Med-Surg floor because those floors are not locked down. We also have a behavior health code. Our employees have a button on our badge that when pressed sends out an alert. It knows our location based on the position of our badge and will echo the call to that area. The facility that I work at now has a great number of patients going through withdrawal. The changes to their system were necessary for this population of patients. Your facility will have to change its system thinking to prepare for this new population of patients.
Reference
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2006). The essentials of doctoral education for advanced nursing practice. https://www.aacnnursing.org/Portals/42/Publications/DNPEssentials.pdf
COLLAPSE
A Sample Answer 3 For the Assignment: NURS 8002 Week 7 Discussion: The Doctorally Prepared Nurse: Community of Practice
Title: NURS 8002 Week 7 Discussion: The Doctorally Prepared Nurse: Community of Practice
I agree dialysis is a hard commitment for a lot of patients to uphold. According to Medline plus (n.d.) patients have three treatments a week, takes 3-4 hours each time, and appointments are scheduled same time, same days a week. I would implement a questionnaire to see why are patients not able to adhere to the schedule. Then based on the answers from the questionnaire offer resources.
Education is a huge piece as well. It’s important to educated and re-educate on a consistent basis. The AANC essentials speak about using technology to support and improve patient care and health care system, and provide leadership within health care systems like a dialysis clinic using web-based learning or intervention tools to support and improve patient care (ANCC, 2006).
Resource:
U.S. National Library of Medicine. (n.d.). Dialysis centers – what to expect: Medlineplus medical encyclopedia. MedlinePlus. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000706.htm#:~:text=What%20to%20Expect%201%20Your%20access%20area%20will,to%20the%20dialysis%20machine.%20…%20More%20items…%20.
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2006). The essentials of doctoraleducation for advanced nursing practice. https://www.aacnnursing.org/Portals/42/Publications/DNPEssentials.pdf
A Sample Answer 4 For the Assignment: NURS 8002 Week 7 Discussion: The Doctorally Prepared Nurse: Community of Practice
Title: NURS 8002 Week 7 Discussion: The Doctorally Prepared Nurse: Community of Practice
Hi Tiffany, great post. You are definitely correct that dialysis patients are at serious risk of adverse effects when they do not commit to dialysis. You brought up some great points about how to encourage them to make their visits. Educational programs are a great idea, and can lead to being inspirational for the patient. Sulka, as cited by Wilkins (2021) points out that when we look at overall health in the community, you really have to go beyond the clinical picture. She makes a great point considering how important it is to get to the root of why patients are missing dialysis appointments. To your point regarding making them a partner in their own healthcare, this is definitely key. White et al. (2021) notes with respect to patients and their families, accountable care changes clinicians and systems with keeping patients and their goals in the center of all planning and caregiving. Making them a partner while making them accountable is a great way to help them better understand the significance of the care. Great plans!
References
Wilkins, T. (2021). Gwinnett’s health department shares data on health and community
Disparities. Data dashboard: Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale counties: Community
Health. Retrieved October 12, 2021, from https://www.ajc.com/neighborhoods/gwinnett/
White, K. M., Dudley-Brown, S., and Terhaar, M. F. (2021). Translation of evidence into nursing
And healthcare (3rd ed.). Education:An enabler of translation. Springer Publishing
Company.
A Sample Answer 5 For the Assignment: NURS 8002 Week 7 Discussion: The Doctorally Prepared Nurse: Community of Practice
Title: NURS 8002 Week 7 Discussion: The Doctorally Prepared Nurse: Community of Practice
I am speaking about CPI in my blog post as a way to address lack of appropriate care for psych patients but I have of course heard of the Behavioral Response Team. I actually wrote about it quite awhile back as (before this course) an evidence based intervention and what I found was it did reduce behavioral incidents in all of the studies that I looked at. With that being said, there was limited data. The same could be said about the research around implementing CPI outside of psych and all other behavioral interventions outside of mental health. The reason for this is sad and it is that most staff outside of that specialty need help in that area so I think it is great that we have multiple people in this group who care about it.
This is insightful Tiffany. There are different problems faced by healthcare institutions in different communities. These problems/challenges are always unique depending on the methods of treatments and types of complications that are under consideration (Alikari et al., 2019). Adherence to dialysis schedules often become a challenge for most healthcare institutions. Given the long distance that patients have to travel to get dialysis, some people may miss the stated deadlines required (Liu et al., 2021). Missing a dialysis appointment can have several adverse effects. The patients may experience dyspnea, pulmonary edema, and stress on their cardiovascular system from missing sessions (Tohme et al., 2017). One of the best approach to manage the increasing cases of missed dialysis is to create reminders for the patients; this is possible through the use of the modern technologies that can be installed in the Smartphones. From the research studies, missed dialysis often interfere with the quality treatment outcomes. Most of the patients who miss dialysis often experience further complications in the process of treatment.
References
Alikari, V., Tsironi, M., Matziou, V., Tzavella, F., Stathoulis, J., Babatsikou, F., Fradelos, E., & Zyga, S. (2019). The impact of education on knowledge, adherence and quality of life among patients on haemodialysis. Quality of Life Research, 28(1), 73-83. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-018-1989-y
Liu, M. W. C., Syukri, M., Abdullah, A., & Chien, L. Y. (2021). Missing In-Center Hemodialysis Sessions among Patients with End Stage Renal Disease in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(17), 9215. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/17/9215
Tohme, F., Mor, M. K., Pena-Polanco, J., Green, J. A., Fine, M. J., Palevsky, P. M., & Weisbord, S. D. (2017). Predictors and outcomes of non-adherence in patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis. International urology and nephrology, 49(8), 1471-1479. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11255-017-1600-4
A Sample Answer 6 For the Assignment: NURS 8002 Week 7 Discussion: The Doctorally Prepared Nurse: Community of Practice
Title: NURS 8002 Week 7 Discussion: The Doctorally Prepared Nurse: Community of Practice
Great ideas for practice problems that need to be addressed. The issue of assisting dialysis patients on the importance of not skipping treatment is of high importance. I have worked as a dialysis nurse and definitely understand this issue. You are correct in stating that they miss appointments for different reasons. It is important for the nurse to educate the patient on the importance to adhering to their schedule treatment time. I worked in outpatient dialysis, and called EMS many times for patients who were receiving treatment after skipping treatment. The DNP Essential, Clinical Prevention and Population Health for Improving the Nation’s Health aligns perfectly with this practice problem, as it focuses on health promotion and risk reduction (AACN, 2006).
Reference
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2006). The essentials of doctoral education for advanced nursing practice. https://www.aacnnursing.org/Portals/42/Publications/DNPEssentials.pdf
COLLAPSE
Dear Class:
Look forward to a ROBUST discussion and sharing of your community knowledge and experience during Week 7! Please think about the following:
Reflect on unique community needs, challenges, and issues
Reflect on why these local issues/topics merit addressing from your perspective as a DNP-prepared nurse.
Reflect on your role as the DNP-prepared nurse to address these local issues/topics and consider what type of practice changes or interventions you might recommend to bring about needed change for your community or organization.
Look forward to your posts soon!
A Sample Answer 7 For the Assignment: NURS 8002 Week 7 Discussion: The Doctorally Prepared Nurse: Community of Practice
Title: NURS 8002 Week 7 Discussion: The Doctorally Prepared Nurse: Community of Practice
Reducing the number of re-admits of patients who have had outpatient procedures.
Working in the transitional care unit hospital, I have witnessed numerous of re-admissions from outpatient procedures and inpatient. Re-admit issues are patients not adhering to discharge plans, medication adherence, and not showing up to follow-up appointments. Lack of not adhering to discharge plans patients sometimes develop an infection at the procedure sites, which causes longer recovery time for patients. Also, not adhering to medication regimens could lead to adverse drug events. Hospital re-admit is associated with adverse patient outcomes and results in high financial costs. Due to the increased cases of hospital re-admit for both inpatient and outpatient procedures, Medicare and Medicaid Services have penalties hospitals/providers for their 30-days re-admit rates based on reimbursement fees.
Some intervention that could help reduce re-admit of patients and aligning the AACN Essentials of DNP are:
Essential II: Organizational and Systems Leadership for Quality Improvement and Systems Thinking – DNP-prepared nurses could help reduce re-admit of patients by employ principles of business, finance, economics, and health policy to develop and implement effective plans for practice-level and system-wide practice initiatives that will improve the quality-of-care delivery. Analyze the cost-effectiveness of practice initiatives accounting for risk and improvement of health care outcomes (AACN, 2006). An example of essential II, DNP-prepared nurses could implement a transitional care process adhering to Medicare and Medicaid concerns about re-admit and hospital/provider penalties cost. Transitional care processes are designed to prevent re-admit by conducting teach-back methods (checking comprehension of information learned). The patient or caregiver demonstrates what they have learned in their plan of care information to the nurse. Another intervention is the implementation of a discharge checklist- this is where nurses go over with patients before discharging a patient’s living situation, need for prosthetic items, need for home health, availability of a caregiver, transportation needs to go to follow-up appointments. Also, medication reconciliation before discharge- this is where medications are reviewed before discharge to ensure that all medication changes (new medication, dose change on previously prescribed medication, and elimination of medication) are accurate in patient’s medical records (Pugh et al., 2021). These interventions could help reduce the cost of re-admit issues in outpatient procedures and inpatient.
Essential VI: Interprofessional Collaboration for Improving Patient and Population Health Outcomes Employ effective communication and collaborative skills to develop and implement practice models, peer review, practice guidelines, health policy, and standards of care (AACN, 2006). An example of essential VI is where DNP- prepared nurses collaborate with other team members to help prevent patients re-admit. Some interventions include communicating medical plans in front of patients during physician team rounds. Discussions are held in the patient rooms and engaging patients regarding discharge treatment plans involving physician teams, nurses, and other team members. Another intervention is collaborating with staff routinely to assess patients for rehabilitation services during discharge planning to PT/OT at home, PT/OT outpatient, inpatient rehabilitation, or SNF (Pugh et al., 2021).
Reducing the number of patient falls on a medical/surgical hospital floor.
Other issues that I have witnessed in the hospital are high fall incidence in the med surg floors. Patient falls and re-admit are two of the biggest Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services list of non-reimbursable events in the hospital. Patient falls on the hospital floors are problematic safety concerns that can be prevented with the correct intervention protocol. Falling can range from minor bruises and abrasions to more severe results such as fractures, lacerations, head injuries, and even death. Some patients are not even aware of being identified as fall risk patients while in the hospital (Cuttler et al., 2017). Fall risk identification should be placed on patients’ communication board in the room, place a yellow wristband on patients, and place a fall risk sign on the outside door of patients to help prevent falls on the hospital floor. Also, making sure on staff shift, patients bed exit alarm are turned on.
Some intervention that could help reduce patient falls in hospital floor and aligning the AACN Essentials of DNP are:
Essential IV: Information Systems/Technology and Patient Care Technology for the Improvement and Transformation of Health Care. Design, select, use, and evaluate programs that evaluate and monitor outcomes of care, care systems, and quality improvement, including consumer use of health care information systems (AACN, 2006). Using essential IV to prevent patient falls in the hospital setting is critical. DNP-prepared nurses could implement fall risk interventions such as using the bed exit alarm alerting nurses when a patient attempts to get out of bed. While the bed exit alarm is integrated into the patient’s bed, staff can ensure the patients belonging are at arm’s reach. Also, using the patient’s electronic health records (EHR) to document fall risk intervention conducted on staff shift. Implementing bed alarms on, offering toileting, and remaining with the patient when they are out of bed can help reduce falls in the hospital setting
Essential VI: Interprofessional Collaboration for Improving Patient and Population Health Outcomes. DNP-prepared nurses could collaborate with staff and patients on the importance of adhering to fall intervention in the hospital. Some interventions to help prevent falls in the hospital are having in place a fall safety agreement. This agreement included the patient being educated on fall risk prevention strategies and acknowledging that falling can cause serious injuries. Also, conducting an in-service staff safety huddle during shift change. In safety huddles, the staff are instructed to ensure all patients receive the fall prevention education, fall risk health assessment, and documented and a signed patient fall safety agreement upon admission or transfer to the unit. Also, collaborating with staff to ensure high-risk fall patients are provided with nonskid socks, gait belts, and yellow wrist bands are all safety interventions to reduce patient fall risk on the hospital floor (Bargmann & Brundrett, 2020).
Reference
American Association of College of Nursing. (2006). The esstenial of doctoral education for advanced nursing practice. https://www.aacnnursing.org/Portals/42/Publications/DNPEssentials.pdf
Bargmann, A. L., & Brundrett, S. M. (2020). Implementation of a Multicomponent Fall Prevention Program: Contracting With Patients for Fall Safety. Oxford University Press, 185(2), 28-34. https://doi.org/10.1093/milmed/usz411
Cuttler, S. J., Barr-Walker, J., & Cuttler, L. (2017). Reducing medical-surgical inpatient falls and injuries with videos, icons and alarms. BMJ open quality, 6(2), e000119. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjoq-2017-000119
Pugh, J., Penney, L., Noel, P., Neller, S., Mader, M., Finley, E. P., Lanham, H. J., & Leykum, L. (2021). Evidence based processes to prevent readmissions: more is better, a ten-site observational study. BMC Health Serv Res, 29(89). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-021-06193-x
A Sample Answer 8 For the Assignment: NURS 8002 Week 7 Discussion: The Doctorally Prepared Nurse: Community of Practice
Title: NURS 8002 Week 7 Discussion: The Doctorally Prepared Nurse: Community of Practice
I enjoyed reading your post this week regarding the community needs you identified and possible interventions. Preventing falls within the inpatient care setting is a challenge for healthcare providers. In your post, you mainly discussed interventions for the adult patient on a medical-surgical unit. Falls are also experienced within pediatric units. The pediatric patients that may be at higher risk for falls while in the hospital are patients less than 3 years old and adolescents with a neurological diagnosis (Stubbs & Sikes, 2017). These authors identified the need to implement a fall prevention program, which they named “Red Light, Green Light” (Stubbs & Sikes, 2017). This program used the terms red light and green light to determine if the patient was unsafe or safe during “activities such as transfers, ambulation, bathing, showering” (Stubbs & Sikes, 2017). If the patient was indicated as a “red light,” the physical therapy staff would educate the patient and family members on how to safely transfer or ambulate the patient (Stubbs & Sikes, 2017). Although this fall prevention program focused on pediatric patients, something similar could be implemented with adult inpatients.
This program is an example of the DNP Essential VI, which is Interprofessional Collaboration for Improving Patient and Population Health Outcomes (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2006). The DNP-prepared nurse is prepared to contribute to interprofessional collaboration by being able to “facilitate collaborative team functioning” (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2006). The intervention described by Stubbs and Sikes (2017) involves teamwork from the nursing staff, physical therapy, and patient’s family. These individuals need to work together to successfully implement the fall prevention program. The DNP-prepared nurse can take the initiative as a leader and implement such interprofessional collaborations.
Thanks for a great post!
References
American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2006). The essentials of doctoral education for advanced nursing practice. https://www.aacnnursing.org/Portals/42/Publications/DNPEssentials.pdf
Stubbs, K. E., Sikes, L. (2017). Interdisciplinary approach to fall prevention in a high-risk inpatient pediatric population: Quality improvement project. Physical Therapy, 97(1), 97-104. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.25
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