Nursing grand Rounds

On January 23, 2009 St. Joseph held the third annual Nursing Grand Rounds dedicated to Nursing Research and Evidence Based Practice projects being conducted at the hospital.

St. Joseph Hospital’s Nurse Research Facilitator, Dana Rutledge, RN, PhD, led the seminar on the use of evidence-based practice in guiding health care decisions and improving patient outcomes.

This four-hour seminar featured twelve St. Joseph Registered Nurses providing updates on nursing research studies and evidence-based practice projects that are currently underway at St. Joseph. The classroom was decorated with posters created by St. Joseph nurses that have been submitted to regional, national, and international nursing conventions. In addition, nursing unit based “Show Me the Evidence” posters were displayed. These posters are the Research Council’s effort to bring nursing research to the bedside nurse by presenting research articles that relate to the patient population of that unit.

The EBP and nursing research course started with an analysis of clinical narratives from both novice and expert nurses which revealed nursing presence in varying degrees. Projects presented included outcomes from utilizing a low residue diet for bowel cleansing prior to colonoscopy, how implementing a newborn palliative care program supports expectant parents through the grieving process, and the establishment of transplant nurse competencies in meeting regulatory requirements needed for accreditation as a transplant center.

The hospital’s Condition H (HELP) program where the patient and/or family can initiate an emergency page regarding care was presented with the first year results. Also featured were the efforts to enhance mobility in the critically ill and how an environment can be established to aid the critically ill at the end of life. A discussion on the risk of secondary traumatic stress among oncology nurses indicated its effects on the nurse. Julie Smith, the manager of the St. Joseph Burlew Medical library provided an update on the EBP Blog, PubMed and CINAHL databases available to assist staff in nursing research and evidence-based projects while Dr. Rutledge presented the Iowa model and principles of evidence-based practice that is utilized at St. Joseph.