Rikki Zissler

Ferris State University

NURS 495

This project was designed to target the audience of a patients caregivers. The patient being a newly born infant, made this care giver often a parent. I wanted to develop a education piece that is friendly to read and have it be very informational. It will explain the process of a neonate experiencing withdrawal. A popular tool we use is the Finnegan Scale and this helps the staff to have the ability to scale the withdraw using a numbers system. Along with explaining that tool, I added tips and techniques of care and resources for the parent.

Since 2007 our NICU has seen a dramatic increase in infants that are exposed to maternal drug use.

The drug in discussion is primarily Methadone o Victory Clinic opened in the Saginaw area in 2009 o This is one of many clinics in the state that are trying to aid in decreasing

street drug use in the areas these clinics have formed.

Another focus of this project is to help teach the community the importance of proper education and disbursement of highly addictive drugs and their affects on unborn children.

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Primary goal----- TO REDUCE CARE GIVER ANXIETY This was best sought after with early education. And the

development of a tool to help with proper education. (Currently we do not have a tool in place.)

Another goal is to complete this and have it to a committee by the end of this semester To date, I have it ready to present to the physicians of my

unit, after their approval and revisions, it will go to the directors of the hospital and off to the press for printing!

Main objective • Effective time management and developing a task

force to aide in the production of this tool.

Main Goal

Reduce anxiety of care giver

Plan

Develop a rough draft involving needs for the

education tool

Present plan to peers Evaluate accuracy of

education tool

Present to committees for

approval to publish and use

Publish finished project

Form evaluation tool

Form a way to encompass

effectiveness using peers from work

Develop and evaluate the surveys

pre and post

Use this a tool to evaluate if education

will be effective

The culture of quality and safety for this project entails the insurance of accurate material provided in a reading fashion that is acceptable for the target population • It is stated by Scott (2001) “Readability formulas can

improve patient education and awareness. Patients need to understand their ailments, prescribed drugs, risks and side effects of the drugs, clinical tests, when to contact their doctors, when to seek immediate medical attention, and so on.” This is being addressed with my working with the readability

and my involvement with the education department of this facility.

Pro

ce

ss Development of the

education tool was designed by project leader (myself). I submitted it to the team I chose for this project that would offer the best additional input.

Pro

gre

ss Since this project has

began, we have interested other counties in wanting us to teach them and involve them in the overall education of this material. My managers are currently setting up a plan to encompass my project to help those counties learn about what really happens after an infant is born after being exposed to drugs in utero.

Co

mp

leti

on

The final stages are being set for this project, a presentation to the facilities physicians is set for this month and then to a further committee to work on publishing the material for other facility education as well as the original target audience!

Personal obstacles and challenges have mainly been with the evaluation tool I developed for my peers. I have not been very successful at a 100 percent compliance, however, from the pre survey to the post survey, I have had a double in participation! This has encouraged me to be more active with emails and personal reminders to my peers on completing the survey’s!

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After beginning this project the main

ethical issue encountered was the ability

for the target population to read the

material. I have since learned about the

readability tools used to help with this so

the handout will be appropriately

gauged for all types of readers. An

assistance in this is pronunciations and

pictures as aides in reading.

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My overall lesson learned would be the importance of choosing a team appropriate for the task. I have also learned time management is key in a development of a project such as this. I have learned many new aspects in development of an education piece and it has now taught me the education pieces we hand out are not just words on a page, they are well thought out and designed to help with teaching our patients what is important!

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Hamdan, A. H. (2010, March 3). Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome. EMedicine Pediatrics. Retrieved March 5, 2011, from emedicine.medscape.com/article/978763-overview.

Heldman, K. (2005). Project management jump start. (3nd ed.) San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Johnson, K., Gerada, C., & Greenough, A. (2003). Treatment of neonatal abstinence

syndrome. Archives of Disease in Childhood: Fetal & Neonatal Ed, 88(1):F2-F5. Doi 10.1136/fn.88.1.F2.

Oei, J., & Lui, K. (2007). Management of the newborn infant affected by maternal opiates and other drugs of dependency. Journal of Pediatrics and Child Health, 43(1-2), 9-18.

Osborn, D. A., Jeffery, H. E., & Cole, M. J. (2010). Opiate treatment for opiate withdrawal in newborn infants. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 10, 1-55. Doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD002059.pub3.

Scott, B. (2001) Why Should The Healthcare Industry Use Readability Formulas. Retreieved from http://www.readabilityformulas.com/articles/why-should-the-healthcare-industry-use-readability-formulas.php

Schub, E., & Davidson, H. A. (2010, March 5). Evidence Based Care Sheet, Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome. Retrieved March 1, 2011, from http://www.cinahl.com/

Yoder-Wise, P. S. (2011). Leading and managing in nursing. (5th ed.) St Louis, MO: Mosby