Date of Conferral

2021

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

School

Nursing

Advisor

Mary Verklan

Abstract

Lack of education on the appropriate use of antibiotic therapy can lead to an increase in early readmissions for patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). The purpose of this project was to educate medical-surgical nurses at an inpatient hospital in the southern region of the United States on the appropriate use of antibiotic therapy to decrease early CAP readmissions. The project practice question was whether the infection control clinical practice guidelines would increase the medical-surgical nurses’ knowledge on the appropriate use of antibiotic therapy to decrease the 30-day readmission rates for patients diagnosed with CAP. The staff education development was guided by the Iowa model and the self-care theory to achieve the project objectives. The sources of evidence to support the project were through a literature review and data made available from the project site hospital. The project used a pretest and posttest 10-question questionnaire and de-identified retrospective and prospective data for patients with early CAP readmissions. The participants were thirteen registered nurses from three medical-surgical units in the inpatient hospital. Results of the findings using descriptive statistics revealed a 91.5% increase in nurses’ knowledge on the appropriate use of antibiotic therapy and a decrease in early CAP readmissions from 20 (52.3%) to 2 (6.67%) in 1 month following implementation. The recommendation was made to continue using the staff educational intervention to increase nurses’ knowledge and decrease early CAP readmissions. Implications for positive social change that result from this project are the increase of knowledge among nurses, which can foster patient satisfaction, and reduce the financial burden of preventable early CAP readmissions.

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