Nursing research was on full display in Light Hall recently during the Research Day Poster Presentations, organized by the Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) and Nursing Research Committee.
Hundreds of Vanderbilt nurses, members of Sigma Theta Tau, Vanderbilt University School of Nursing faculty, students and others attended the annual event, part of the weeklong OctoberFest 2014, which was devoted to evidence-based practice.
“I look forward to this event every year,” said Nancy Wells, DNSc., R.N., director of Nursing Research at VUMC. “It is an opportunity for nurses to showcase the work they do to improve patient care.”
In addition to presentations and educational sessions, 28 posters were featured, showcasing a range of research across the Medical Center.
The top three posters received monetary awards from the Iota Chapter of nursing honor society Sigma Theta Tau, which was founded at VUSN in the 1920s.
The winners were:
• First Place — Mary Ellen Egger, MSN, R.N.; Sheryl Redlin-Frazier, MSN, R.N., “The Impact of Advanced Practice Nursing in a Comprehensive Breast Center: Improving throughput, reducing readmission rates, and increasing satisfaction”
• Second Place — Aggie Read, MSN, R.N., “Student Nurses as Mentors in a School-based Asthma Program for At-risk Children.”
• Third Place — Angela Rampone, BSN, R.N., “Compliance with Pre-operative Skin Preparation.”
Rampone said she noticed an increase in post C-section infection rate and wanted to look at our staff’s compliance with the pre-operative skin scrub; in particular, the timing of the scrub.
“I then educated staff and placed a timer in the ORs to help nurses be more cognizant of their scrub times,” she said. “It worked. I was very surprised I won since this was my first research endeavor, and was amazed at how a simple project can have such an impact.”
Read, an instructor at VUSN, brought her students to a public elementary school in a socioeconomically disadvantaged area.
Such areas have a greater prevalence of asthma, leading to absenteeism, emergency room visits and other crises that affect their quality of education. Her goal was to improve student outcomes.
The nursing students, working one-on-one with fourth graders as mentors and teachers, were successful. Of the 21 elementary students enrolled in the program, 67 percent showed improved test scores. She said the program would be ongoing.
“It was such a simple program to put together,” she said. “So win-win.”
