Review your classmates’ threads, and respond through considering:
Classmates’ Tread 1.
In my hospital we have quite a few of APNs operating in many different roles and fields. We have Nurse Educators, Nurse Informatics, NPs, and Nurse Leaders. My boss for example is the Service Chief or Department Head of the Labor and Delivery Unit. She has her Master’s in Nursing Leadership and is currently working on her Doctorate. Her role as the Service Chief of the unit includes getting involved and using Evidence-Based Practice (EBP) and Quality Improvement (QI) Projects to see how different interventions can help improve our unit and make it function better. One of the Quality Improvement Projects that they are currently working on is to place infant formula in our Pyxis medication machine. By doing this, they can assess if taking them out of the supply room and placing them in the Pyxis will limit the amount of formula used on the unit and improve the promotion of breast milk and keeping the unit “Baby Friendly”. This Quality Improvement Project will allow the Lactation Consultants to be able to go into the Pyxis machine and search for all the patients that have had formula pulled and see which nurse pulled the formula. This will allow the Lactation nurses to be able to track down the nurse and find out why the patient received formula and if it was medically indicated, and to also find out which patients require more in-depth lactation focus.
A recent EBP that is now implemented based off a QI project is the use of glucose gel for babies with low blood sugars. In the past infants who had low blow sugar were given supplementation of formula on top of breast milk to help bring the blood sugar up. A QI project was implemented to see if the use of glucose gel would help lower the amount of formula use by babies with low blood sugar. This project did indeed show that mothers were able to utilize glucose gel in conjunction with breast milk to help increase blood sugars without the use of formula. This helped to provide mothers with another option for supplementation especially those that really did not want to introduce formula to their babies. This option was still available for mothers if they desired it, but the QI project showed that when given the option, most preferred the use of the glucose gel because it did not inhibit breastfeeding and bonding between mother and baby. Evidence also showed that when the gel was used along with breastfeeding, the blood sugar came up and stayed up more than if formula was used on top of breastfeeding. In most cases, the mothers continued to “top-up” breastfeeding with formula with each feeding, as opposed to the glucose gel that showed that most cases only required one initial dose of glucose gel with breastfeeding and then the sugars stayed up. An Australian study from 2018 showed similar results that both formula and glucose gel were equally effective in increasing sugars but glucose gel required less doses and promoted breastfeeding and bonding better than the use of formula (Barber et al, 2018). This EBP is now part of our standard care and provides the parents with options on how they want to improve their baby’s blood sugar levels. At the end of the day our overall goal is healthy mom and healthy baby. John 16:21 say, “When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world” (Open Bible, n.d.).
Barber, R., Ekin, A., Sivakumar, P., Howard, K. & O’Sullivan, T. (2018). Glucose Gel as a Potential Alternative Treatment to Infant Formula for Neonatal Hypoglycaemia in Australia. Int J Environment Res Public Health, 15(5), 876. Doi: 10.3390/ijerph15050876
Open Bible. (n.d.). 100 Bible Verses about Breastfeeding. Retrieved from https://www.openbible.info/topics/breastfeeding
Classmates’ Tread 2.
According to American Nurses Association (ANA), “Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) include nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, nurse anesthetists, and nurse midwives, all play a pivotal role in the future of health care. APRNs are often primary care providers and are at the forefront of providing preventive care services to the public. APRNs treat and diagnose illnesses, advise the public on health issues, manage chronic disease, and engage in continuous education to remain ahead of any technological, methodological, or other developments in the field.” According to McEwen & Wills (2019), “Roles for APNs include coordination of care for persons with chronic