Date of Award

Fall 10-18-2021

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

PhD Nursing Practice

Department

Nursing

Advisor

Mary Ellen Roberts, DNP

Committee Member

Lori WIlt, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Teryn Edwards, MD

Keywords

Emergency management, school-based health centers (SBHC), pediatrics, emergency management training, emergency medical kit(s)

Abstract

Background: Emergencies are situations that present without warning but require skilled individuals to provide aid to someone needing assistance. The pediatric primary care setting rarely experiences emergency-based care, which could lead to a lack of training in this area of expertise. As pediatric primary care extends to schools, there is also a need to ensure staff and providers have an annual emergency management training program. Project Aim: The current program aimed to determine the need to incorporate emergency management training in the school-based health center (SBHC) setting. Methods: This quality improvement project method was a pre-intervention with post-intervention design. The pre-intervention consisted of reviewing the current emergency protocols and procedures for the SBHCs and previous emergency management training tools utilized by SBHC staff. A pre-test was sent to all participants to determine the current emergency management knowledge and skills. Two training sessions were conducted: an initial training for all staff, and second training only for providers and nurses. The post-intervention consisted of participants taking a post-test and survey determining the need to offer emergency management training on an annual basis. A total of 19 participants started the program, but four of the 19 left the organization to pursue other career opportunities, leaving 15 participants to complete the project. All 15 participants engaged in a 60-minute virtual training session; 7 of the participants (the providers and nurses) met a second time for the emergency medication administration training session. The post-intervention of the project consisted of all 15 participants participating in a post-test and survey. Results: The participants expressed an enhanced comfort level with managing an emergency (average 4.6 out on scale of 1-5) in the school- based setting. Many of the participants (75%) agreed that uniform emergency management protocols and procedures should be implemented within the SBHCs. Conclusions: The need to incorporate emergency management training on an annual basis is necessary to ensure SBHC staff and providers are equipped to offer care in the event an individual needs assistance.

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