Date of Conferral

2020

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

School

Nursing

Advisor

Amelia Nichols

Abstract

The research problem at the practicum site was a delay in recognizing patient’s deterioration due to lack of nurses’ knowledge with early warning signs. It is important to address the problem as the Quality Department noted the delay in identification of patient decline and treatment from mortality case reviews, rapid response team and Code Blue debriefing analysis and missed sepsis identification. A further gap analysis revealed an inadequacy of staff knowledge with warning signs. The purpose of this project was to educate nurses on the Modified Early Warning System (MEWS), a patient assessment scoring system based on six physiological parameters. The theoretical foundation for the project was Knowles’ adult learning theory also called as theory of Andragogy. The research question searched the effectiveness of MEWS education for Registered Nurses (RNs). The methodology for the MEWS education entailed a Power Point Presentation, MEWS flow sheet practice, pre and a posttest in classroom setting. The inclusion criteria were 26 RNs of the pilot medical unit despite of their education, experience, or the employment status. The data analytic procedure included a paired t-test to calculate mean and standard deviation. The key results of pretest were Mean (M) = 0.41, Standard Deviation (SD) = 0.1696 and the posttest were M = 0.97, SD = 0.0507. In posttest 24 RNs scored above 90% and two RNs scored above 80% which had determined the effectiveness of MEWS education. The recommendation is to expand MEWS education to other units of the community hospital. The positive social change is improved patient outcomes within the organization and reduction of nation’s health care cost by limiting patient transfer to a higher level of care and decreased mortality rates.

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