Date of Paper/Work

12-2020

Type of Paper/Work

Doctor of Nursing Practice Project

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice

Department

Nursing

First Advisor

Nanette Hoerr

Department/School

Doctor of Nursing Practice

Abstract

Background: Background evidence of surgical site infections (SSI) among bariatric c-section patients identified four themes, including risk factors, assessment, interventions, and education. Each theme guided the project intervention and recommendations for practice improvement.

Purpose: The original purpose of the project included four aims: educate nursing staff on the obstetrics unit about post-operative surgical site incision care through a 30-minute education session during annual training, administer a knowledge survey pre-education session, post-education session, and toward the end of project implementation to assess post-operative surgical incision care knowledge, establish ability to recognize risk and initiate prevention strategies for surgical site infection, and initiate focus group and anonymous feedback methods to gather information regarding barriers to practice change, feasibility, and for continuous quality improvement. The original purpose was adapted and instead focused on creating a practice protocol and education based on multiple Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) cycles to determine organizational need and gaps in practice.

Method and Results: The project used the Model for Improvement framework to design multiple PDSA cycles. The PDSA cycles established gaps between unit practice and best practice literature. The results of the project included development of a practice protocol.

Recommendations: The project included five recommendations related to returning to the original interrupted, repeated measures design to determine baseline knowledge, the efficacy of an education curriculum, knowledge retention, contribution of knowledge to adherence, and reductions of surgical site infection in bariatric patients.

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