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Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) is a chronic medical condition characterized by an impaired ability to control or stop the use of alcohol, despite the adverse social, occupational, and health consequences (APA, 2013; Witkiewicz, Litten & Leggio, 2019). The purpose of this study was to identify the presence of stigma and perceived negative attitudes of nurses working with patients diagnosed with AUD in all areas of practice, with the aim of decreasing stigma and enhancing positive attitudes in nurses caring for patients with AUD through an educational intervention. The literature is well established that nurses feel unprepared educationally to care for patients with AUD, and also hold negative attitudes and perceptions of working with patients with AUD (Haskins, et. al, 2014). This research will conduct a pre-and post-survey of registered nurses’ attitudes and perceived stigma followed by an educational intervention to evaluate whether the education is a positive critical element that can help to reduce stigma and improve negative attitudes nurses may hold toward caring for patients with AUD. This research is a quality improvement project to collect and use data that is meant to drive change that has practice and policy changing implications. The Seaman-Mannello Survey was used as a pre-and post-survey to measure the efficacy of the interventional education video. A convenience sampling of 76 registered nurses from three Northwestern Pennsylvania hospitals was used. The goal of this research study was to investigate the effectiveness of an educational intervention that, if significantly effective, can be used on a larger scale to decrease stigma and improve attitudes of nurses toward patients with AUD. The results found no significant relationship between the provided educational intervention and reduced stigma or improved attitudes of nurses while working with patients with AUD. Although a positive relationship could not be established, it was inferred from the pre-and post-survey scores, ongoing education is still needed and may impact the care of individuals with AUD., Copyrights are retained by the author. Please contact Jennifer Peterson for further use of this material.

Background: Heart failure (HF) readmissions are incredibly burdensome to hospitals across the country. In 2020, approximately $563 million in penalties from the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) were assigned based on higher than average admission rates (Allen, 2019) with a significant portion related to HF. Our facility has consistently had readmission rates higher than the CMS national benchmark. This is both detrimental to our patients and the cause of assessed yearly CMS reimbursement penalties, which significantly impacts payment for care delivered. There has historically been a very incomplete and disjointed care transition post-discharge for our HF population. Methods: The Transitional Heart Failure Program was designed to target gaps in care and decrease readmissions through comprehensive, holistic transitional care interventions. Financial data were pulled and comparatives reviewed between the 3rd quarters of 2019 and 2020 to determine correlations between financial data and improvements in care delivery. Results: Productivity data were obtained and analyzed to determine differences in volumes and work RVUs (wRVUs) for Advanced Practice Providers (APPs) designated to provide post-discharge and HF care in the outpatient setting. CMS reimbursement penalties were analyzed and compared year over year, and future penalties were extrapolated based on available information. APP wRVUs were positively impacted by the program implementation and reimbursement penalties are projected to decline substantially based on readmission rate improvements. Conclusions: Ongoing evaluation would be beneficial to determine the long-term impact of the HF discharge program, but data suggests that there is a significant financial benefit to continuing current efforts., Copyrights are retained by the author. Please contact Bonnie Nye for further use of this material.

The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a performance evaluation tool for use by the preceptors in a particular orientation program. The tool was devised by an ad hoc committee of five preceptors appointed by the Staff Development Coordinator. It was expected that an easy to use but consistent tool to evaluate the preceptees would increase the effectiveness of a preceptor program., Copyrights are retained by the author. Please contact Teri Swartzbeck for further use of this material.

The nursing staff on an inpatient psychiatric unit were seeking ways to improve quality of nursing care in order to meet the standards mandated by the American Nurses' Association and Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals. Problems arising from use of the team nursing model on the unit included fragmentation of client care, complex and ineffective channels of communication, and lack of accountability due to shared responsibility for client care. Continuity of care was lacking, and task-oriented care prevented individualized treatment of clients. The professional nurse spent most of her time directing and supervising the care given by others rather than delivering direct client care., Copyrights are retained by the author.

Copyright is retained by the author. Please contact Dorothy Stano for further use of this material.

Copyrights are retained by the author. Please contact Dolores Garvey for further use of this material.

Copyrights are retained by the author. Please contact Alice Ryan for further use of this material.

The purpose of this study was to determine if nurses and families agree regarding the most important needs of families with head injured members in the acute rehabilitation hospital. Furthermore, it was hoped that an understanding of these needs would assist rehabilitation nurses in developing appropriate nursing interventions to assist families in fulfilling their perceived needs.