First Advisor

Patricia Cullen

College

Rueckert-Hartman College for Health Professions

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice

Division

Loretto Heights

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Number of Pages

48 pages

Abstract

Executive Summary

Project Title: Standardized nurse leader patient rounding

Problem: The problem was that there is an expectation of nurse leader rounding (NLR) on the inpatient units, however, there was not a standardized process in place to support this expectation. In addition, patient falls, and patient falls with injury remain high in this acute care setting.

Purpose: The purpose of this DNP quality improvement project was to determine if standardized nurse leader rounding on hospitalized inpatients improves nursing outcomes, specifically, patient falls, patient falls with injury and overall patient satisfaction.

Goals: The goals of this quality improvement project included decreasing/improving patient falls and patient falls with injury, and increasing/improving overall patient satisfaction on the inpatient acute care nursing unit.

Objectives: The objectives included the implementation of a standardized NLR process through standardized education and competency validation. The standardized process defined who conducts NLR, how often NLR was conducted, the time of day rounding occurred and what was covered in a patient round.

Plan: This quality improvement project utilized a quasi-experimental design, with a convenience sample of hospitalized inpatients, to evaluate three outcome variables impacted by the intervention of nurse leader rounding. Pre-intervention data, a baseline of three months, was compared to post-intervention data, three months of data, to determine the overall impact of standardized NLR.

Outcomes and Results: Standardized NLR positively impacted the dependent variables of patient falls, patient falls with injury and the overall HCAHPS patient satisfaction scores. Patient falls decreased/improved 48%. Patient falls with injury decreased/improved 100%. Overall patient satisfaction score increased/improved 43%. This quality improvement project demonstrated the positive results of standardized NLR on nursing quality outcomes and patient satisfaction. In addition, the standardized approach ensured that all patients receive the same intervention from nursing leaders. All nursing leaders must conduct NLR consistently in approach and frequency to increase the impact on patient outcomes and patient satisfaction.

Date of Award

Fall 2020

Location (Creation)

Colorado (state); Denver (county); Denver (inhabited place)

Rights Statement

All content in this Collection is owned by and subject to the exclusive control of Regis University and the authors of the materials. It is available only for research purposes and may not be used in violation of copyright laws or for unlawful purposes. The materials may not be downloaded in whole or in part without permission of the copyright holder or as otherwise authorized in the “fair use” standards of the U.S. copyright laws and regulations.

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