Date of Conferral

2023

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

School

Nursing

Advisor

Joanne Minnick

Abstract

AbstractAs part of investigating staff nurses’ reluctance to have serious illness conversations (SIC) at a local hospital, an educational deficit was noted. Nurses articulated they felt uneducated about how to have a SIC with a patient in need and questioned if the practice of conducting SICs was part of the nurses’ scope of practice in the New England State where they were employed. The purpose of this project was to create an educational tool and have it validated by a multidisciplinary group of experts. Once validated, the goal will be to educate nurses, raise awareness on the topic of SICs, and ultimately increase the incidence of nurses having SICs with patients in need. The Iowa model of evidence- based practice was utilized to guide the implementation of evidence-based practice. The theory of task centered instructional design was the theory used as the foundation for the instructional educational activity for this project. The research question asked if a staff education module about serious illness conversations increases the staff’s knowledge in initiating end of life discussions with patients. The research design included a six-member panel of experts in palliative care and nursing leadership using a five-point Likert scale to review the proposed educational curriculum on SICs. The results from each reviewer were averaged. Results included an overall “5” rating for each question asked, representing the experts were in strong agreement that the training was high in quality, indicating the educational tool is valid. Using this validated educational tool will promote the education of nurses on SICs and will promote social change by increasing nurses’ knowledge, understanding, and likelihood of providing a SIC to patients in need.

Download

Included in

Nursing Commons

Share

 
COinS