Semester

Summer

Date of Graduation

2014

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

DNP

College

School of Nursing

Department

Family/Community Health

Committee Chair

Gina Maiocco

Committee Co-Chair

Emily Barnes

Committee Member

Holly J. Freed

Abstract

Background/problem statement: In 2010, asthma affected 25.7 million people in the United States including 7 million children (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2012). The clinical problem was providers and nurses were not documenting the use of asthma action plans in the care of patients with asthma at a rural health clinic in Wirt County, West Virginia.;Purpose: The purpose of this capstone project was to implement and evaluate a healthcare provider and nursing staff practice change related to the process of implementing training and asthma action plans for pediatric and adult patients with asthma.;Project Description with Procedures: The project plan included the following objectives (1) providers and nursing staff attended one educational session based on the PACE program regarding the use of action plans and learn about asthma management; (2) the team implemented asthma action plans based on the process change (3) pre/post knowledge testing scores were reviewed to identify the degree of change in practice.;Summary of Findings: The goal of a 10% increase in the implementation of asthma action plans was not met. There was a 4% increase in the documentation rate of asthma action plans in the post-implementation sample, but it was not statistically significant (p=0.153). Neither the documentation rate of the components of the action plan or the healthcare provider knowledge on asthma was statistically significant.;Implications: Success of future projects is dependent upon commitment from providers and nurses involved in the practice change. Because paper format was used in this project, future processes focused on improving documentation should utilize electronic charting to be more effective.

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