Evaluation of Text Messaging Effects on Health Goal Adherence in the Management of Participants With Chronic Diseases.

Purpose Of The Study: The study purpose was to determine whether text messaging health-related messages, questions, and reminders to community case management participants with chronic diseases increased health goal adherence.

Primary Practice Setting: This study was conducted by a rural community case management, hospital-affiliated program.

Methodology And Sample: This pilot, quasiexperimental study measured health goal adherence, the degree to which an individual continues work toward self-identified health goals under limited supervision, before and after a text messaging intervention.

Effect of ABCDE Bundle Implementation on Prevalence of Delirium in Intensive Care Unit Patients.

Background: The ABCDE bundle incorporates multidisciplinary measures to improve and/or preserve patients' physical, functional, and neurocognitive status through awakening and breathing coordination, delirium prevention and management, and early physical mobility.

Objectives: To quantify the prevalence and duration of delirium in patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) before and after implementation of the ABCDE bundle.

Methods: Delirium prevalence was defined as the percentage of patients who had at least 1 positive delirium score on the Intensive Care Delirium Screening Checklist (ICDSC) during the ICU stay; delirium duration was the number of days during the ICU stay that a positive ICDSC score was noted.

Timing of Newborn Pulse Oximetry Screenings for Critical Congenital Heart Defects Before Discharge.

Objective: To determine if there would be positive results from a second pulse oximetry screening (POS) completed for newborns at discharge at 28 to 48 hours of age in addition to the newborn POS completed at 24 to 25 hours of age.

Design: Prospective descriptive research study.

Setting: Rural, mid-Atlantic, 13-bed, level I hospital.

A prospective, randomized, single-blind study evaluating the effectiveness, tolerability, and cost of colonoscopy bowel preparations.

Colorectal cancer, the third most common cancer in U.S. adults, can be detected early through colonoscopy.

Evaluation of fall risk assessment tools for psychiatric patient fall prevention: a comparative study.

The Hendrich II Fall Risk Model™ (Hendrich II) is used to determine patient fall risks. However, the WilsonSims Fall Risk Assessment Tool (WSFRAT) is more specific to psychiatric patients. The current study tested the Hendrich II and WSFRAT simultaneously to determine which tool was the most predictive for patient falls in a psychiatric population.

Exploring how nurses and managers perceive shared governance.

Background: Nurse managers have a pivotal role in the success of unit-based councils, which include direct care nurses. These councils establish shared governance to provide innovative, quality-based, and cost-effective nursing care.

Purpose: This study explored differences between direct care nurses' and nurse managers' perceptions of factors affecting direct care nurses' participation in unit-based and general shared governance activities and nurse engagement.

Effect of preoperative incentive spirometry patient education on patient outcomes in the knee and hip joint replacement population.

Purpose: This study examined the effects of preoperative incentive spirometry (IS) education (POISE) on postoperative outcomes for knee and hip total joint replacement patients.

Design: In this prospective study, 140 patients were randomized to Group 1 (POISE intervention = 50 completing) or Group 2 (no intervention = 56 completing) (34 dropped).

Methods: The Group 1 intervention consisted of formal instruction preoperatively for IS home use, postoperative use, and IS volumes documentation.

Knowledge and perceptions of prostate cancer among Nigerian male immigrants.

Studies focusing on prostate cancer in the Nigerian population, especially Nigerian male immigrants residing in the United States, are limited. Nigerian immigrants are one of the fastest growing populations of Africans currently residing in the United States. According to a report from Migration Policy Institute in Washington DC, 1.

The effect of menstruation on psychiatric hospitalization.

This study evaluated the effect of menstruation on psychiatric hospitalization. We conducted a retrospective chart review of the medical records of 177 women who met the eligibility criteria. Data collected included demographic details, primary and secondary diagnoses, date of last menstrual period (LMP), medication adherence, psychiatric hospitalization length of stay, previous psychiatric admissions (including those related to menstruation), discharge referrals, and readmissions.

Patients' perceptions of patient care providers with tattoos and/or body piercings.

Objective: This study evaluated patients' perceptions of patient care providers with visible tattoos and/or body piercings.

Background: As tattooing and body piercing are increasingly popular, research that informs nursing administrators regarding policies on patient care providers having visible tattoos and body piercings is warranted.

Methods: A total of 150 hospitalized adult patients compared pictures of male and female patient care providers in uniform with and without tattoos and/or nonearlobe body piercings.

A 2-tier study of direct care providers assessing the effectiveness of the red rule education project and precipitating factors surrounding red rule violations.

As a safety initiative, Inova Loudoun Hospital implemented a Red Rule policy and educated 100% of its staff. The policy consisted of 2 Red Rules: critical requirements for safety associated with an activity or a procedure. The purpose of tier 1 of this 2-tier survey research project was to determine the effectiveness of the educational effort in 13 departments of the hospital.

A comparison of the quality of blood specimens drawn in the field by EMS versus specimens obtained in the emergency department.

Introduction: Emergency Department (ED) acceptance of blood specimens drawn by Emergency Medical Services (EMS) staff is not a consistent standard of practice across hospitals. The literature does not address acceptance of pre-hospital phlebotomy specimens drawn by EMS staff. The purpose of this study was to compare specimen redraw rates and ED throughput times for specimens drawn by EMS versus ED staff.