Date of Conferral

2020

Degree

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

School

Nursing

Advisor

Barbara Niedz

Abstract

A quality patient experience is one of the highest priorities for hospitals as patients and families are looking to healthcare providers to meet their demands for quality service. The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey measures the extent to which providers effectively communicate pertinent information such as communication about medications. On a 20-bed intermediate care unit, the HCAHPS item scores relating to nurse communication and communication about medicine were inconsistent and, on most occasions, were below the comparison benchmark of the 50th percentile when compared to other like hospitals. The purpose of this quality improvement project guided by the patient-centered care model, needs based theory, and adult learning theory, was to test the impact of an educational module for nurses on best practices for teaching patients about medications. Thirty nurses consented to participate in the teach-back sessions. Results of the pre- and posttest, evaluating the nurses' knowledge and attitude about teach-back, were analyzed using the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test and findings showed an improvement in knowledge scores (z = -2.833, p = .005). However, no statistically significant changes occurred in nurse attitudes toward teach-back. A comparison of descriptive HCAHPS scores on communication about medications and nurse communication showed that scores improved from a low of 58% top box to 74% after the teach-back education. These findings indicated that using teach-back could enhance communication about medications. Effectively communicating pertinent health information using teach-back may have significant consequences for nurse-patient-family engagement contributing to positive social change.

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