Date of Conferral

2018

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

School

Nursing

Advisor

Mary T. Verklan

Abstract

Sepsis is a life-threatening organ dysfunction disease process that costs the healthcare system millions of dollars each year. By using existing assets, the number of patients admitted to the hospital suffering from sepsis secondary to community-acquired pneumonia can be reduced. The purpose of this project was to improve and expand the scope of practice of the registered nurse working in a private medical office to initiate treatment for suspected CAP using evidence-based practice. Data from the last quarter of 2017 and the first quarter of 2018 were compared. The purpose of comparing these data sets was to examine outcomes of patients who received empirical treatment for CAP using both the complaint-specific protocol (CSP) and algorithm to see if these patients had lower rates of hospitalization than those who received the standard treatment. None of the patients who were treated using the CSP and algorithm were admitted to the hospital. Two patients were diagnosed with CAP before the implementation of the CSP and algorithm in the last quarter of 2017. The implications for social change resulting from the project are expansion of the scope of practice of the RN to work collaboratively with the physician in empirically treating CAP in the patients at the clinic to prevent hospitalization for pneumonia.

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