Award Date

5-1-2021

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing (ND)

Department

Nursing

First Committee Member

Nirmala Lekhak

Second Committee Member

Mary Bondmass

Third Committee Member

Soumya Upadhyay

Number of Pages

54

Abstract

Elevated perioperative anxiety levels in the pediatric population is a main concern when providing nursing care in a specialty area. In the United States, over five million pediatric patients will have some type of surgery each year and greater than 65 percent of those pediatric patients will exhibit preoperative anxiety. The care of pediatric patients in the outpatient surgical setting has grown significantly, and pediatric care is no longer restricted to specialized facilities or hospitals. This increased number of pediatric patients in day surgery centers has created a shift in nursing care for perioperative nurses. Anxiety has been directly related to poor outcomes (e.g. elevated postoperative pain and difficult recoveries) and undesirable patient behaviors following surgery. Improvements to nursing care assessments and interventions for pediatric patients may have a direct and positive impact on decreasing preoperative anxiety and improving outcomes for this specific population. Purpose: The purpose of this Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project was to increase knowledge for perioperative outpatient nurses caring for pediatric patients with anxiety through use of a developed clinical guide. Method: A convenience sample of perioperative nurses was recruited through virtual platforms such as email and social media. The data on demographic characteristics, knowledge, attitude, and confidence on caring for pediatric patients experiencing anxiety prior to surgery were collected using Qualtrics®. Participants completed an instructional presentation on how to care for this patient population prior to surgery. They were provided with the clinical guide at the end of the survey. A change in knowledge from pre- to post-survey was analyzed by a paired t-test. Results: There was a statistically significant mean difference between pre-test and post-test knowledge score [t (29) = 6.6, p < 0.001]. Conclusion: The educational presentation and clinical guide were beneficial in improving nursing participants’ knowledge for pediatric patient anxiety prior to surgery. The future research/project should look at if such intervention reduces pediatric anxiety.

Keywords

Clinical guide; Nursing; Outpatient; Pediatric anxiety

Disciplines

Nursing

File Format

pdf

File Size

1274 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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Nursing Commons

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