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theses

ETD doctoral

Purpose: This quality improvement project was to categorize the medical and psychological issues, essentials of complex treatment and needed resources related to transition from hospital to home for those with a spinal cord injury. Nurses are responsible for providing patients with discharge instructions. Often, limited instruction is provided to the patient by the nurse due to time constraints and patient load, which may lessen adherence and understanding and increase the stress associated with discharge.

Methodology: Thirty patient charts were reviewed over a two-month period. Fifteen of the patients were diagnosed with paraplegia and 15 with tetraplegia. The commonalities and differences in the needed care and necessary resources between these two groups was highlighted. The Information was developed into an infographic. The infographic was piloted with 10 patients prior to discharge. Patients, caregivers and the nurse using the infographic were asked to evaluate its ease of use, comprehensiveness, level of understanding, and whether there is a need for additional information.

Results: Respondents agreed that the infographic was easy to understand and,covered the important information. Most disagreed that the infographic needed additional information.

Implications for Practice: The implications for practice to using an infographic for patient discharge education will allow healthcare providers to use an innovative way to provide broad or complex health information more distilled, simplified, colorful, creative, and engaging. The infographic also has the power to grab your audience attention, which prompts them to engage and interact with the learning content in a more meaningful way. One of the most significant implications for practice for using infographics is that it enhance knowledge retention and recall.

ETD_11140

DNP

Includes bibliographical references

doi:10.7282/t3-dpka-3w75

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