Northern Arizona University School of Nursing, DNP Doctoral Papers
This collection houses the doctoral project papers of the DNP students of Northern Arizona University School of Nursing. The school of nursing program offers challenging and rewarding coursework in multiple learning environments that reflects the standards of professional nursing and prepares students to practice in a variety of healthcare settings and graduate school.
To learn more about the school, please visit nau.edu.nursing.
Recent Submissions
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Nurse preceptor support
Competence and clinical judgment among new graduate nurses are at a historical low of 9% based on observational performance assessments (Kavanagh & Sharpnack, 2021). This points to a need for collaboration between ... -
Compassion fatigue: A leadership driven quality improvement project
Compassion fatigue, defined as the physical and mental exhaustion experienced by those who care for sick or traumatized people over an extended time-period (Merriam-Webster, 2019; Berg, et. al., 2016), has emerged as a ... -
Addressing compassion fatigue of a family caregiver of adolescents in a mental health setting: A practice change project
Family members who care for adolescents with a mental health disorder (AMHD) have yet to be recognized as an at-risk population for developing Compassion Fatigue (CF). The project introduced the concept of CF and the ... -
Palliative care: Improving eligible patient identification to encourage early intervention
Palliative care (PC) encompasses a holistic way of caring for patients and families with chronic disease or life-limiting illness through optimal symptom management. Individuals in need of PC has reached 20 million annually ... -
Depression screening to improve early detection, referral, and treatment of depression in patients with diabetes
Comorbid depression is common among adults with diabetes and is associated with negative impacts on quality of life, health outcomes, and mortality rates. As of 2015, it was estimated that 415 million people were living ... -
Implementing a community education campaign to improve prenatal care among Navajo women
Early and consistent prenatal care (PNC) is essential to preventing adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes. Despite the recommendations made by the World Health Organization and the American College of Obstetricians and ... -
Implementing evidence to improve chronic insomnia treatment for older adults in primary care: A quality improvement project
Background: Chronic insomnia (CI) affects over 50% of American adults 65 years and older. The most currently used treatment approach for this problem is inconsistent with the most up-to-date evidence-based clinical guidelines ... -
Evidence based change: A protocol to reduce ambulance diversion using the National Emergency Department Overcrowding Scale Tool
Background: Ambulance diversion (AD) occurs when emergency departments (EDs) experience over-demand of available resources and can no longer accept ambulance patients. Current evidence however, shows that AD delays critical ... -
Enhancing Patient Education to Reduce Unnecessary Health Information Seeking Behavior after Cardiac Ablation
Problem: Atria fibrillation (a-fib) is an irregular heart rhythm effecting approximately 2.7 to 6.1 million individuals annually (CDC, 2017), of which approximately 153 underwent catheter ablation by the electrophysiologist ... -
Adapting an evidence-based insomnia practice guideline for use in a university healthcare setting
(2018-07-03)Recent evidence-based practice guidelines (EBPGs) recommend cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) as first-line treatment for adults with chronic insomnia, with pharmacotherapy as a secondary option. Pharmacotherapy ... -
Evidence-based practice change: Implementation of a collaborative practice model for diabetes
(2017-09-12)Background: The prevalence of type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in the United States is high, especially in underserved populations. Many patients with T2DM do not receive the optimal interprofessional collaborative ... -
Promoting safe infant sleep: The creation and appraisal of a practice guideline for nurses
(2017-09-12)Background: Every day in America, healthy infants are dying from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and other sleep-related deaths. Once a terrifying mystery, these deaths, also called sudden unexpected infant death (SUID), ... -
Implementation of a diabetes treatment algorithm in primary care for use in the adult Hispanic population
(2017-09-01)Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 (DM2) is a growing problem in the United States. Hispanic Americans have a higher prevalence of diabetes than Non-Hispanic Whites and suffer from more severe complications of the disease. Although ... -
Education and Implementation of POLST Protocols in Northern Arizona
(2017-09-01)Provider orders for life-sustaining treatment (POLST) is a medical order set that is signed by a physician, nurse practitioner, or a physician assistant and describes how patients wish to be cared for regarding their medical ... -
Improving Culturally Competent Care for International Students
(2017-08-31)Background: As the international student population grows on college campuses across the United States (U.S.), health professionals are challenged to meet national and college health objectives for providing culturally ... -
Implementation of rheumatoid arthritis assessment tool: A quality improvement project
(2016-10-07)Objective. Rheumatoid arthritis is a common inflammatory arthritis resulting in joint destruction that leads to physical and functional disability. This condition is characterized by variable disease activity ... -
Procalcitonin as a Prognostic Indicator of Risk for Sepsis in the Neonate
(2016-06-22)Introduction. Procalcitonin (PCT) is a biomarker that rises at the onset of bacterial infection while remaining relatively low in other inflammatory processes. Diagnosing serious bacterial infection (SBI) in neonates ... -
Implementation of depression screening to optimize chronic pain management
(2016-06-15)Background: Chronic pain affects millions of people worldwide and the evidence demonstrates prevalent co morbidity of chronic pain and psychological issues such as anxiety, insomnia, and depression. The existence of ... -
Improving intimate partner violence screening in the emergency department setting
(2015-04-29)Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant public health issue. Global rates of IPV range between 15% and 71%. Approximately three million U.S. women are affected during their lifetimes; and approximately 15.5 million ... -
Adult ADHD: An Assessment Tool for Non-Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners
(2015-04-23)Evidence suggests primary care providers, including nurse practitioners (NPs), have deficits in knowledge, use of assessment tools, and management of adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Education to ...
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