Date of Award
Summer 2025
Project Type
Thesis
College or School
CHHS
Department
Nursing
Program or Major
Direct Entry Master's in Nursing
Degree Name
Master of Science
First Advisor
Elizabeth Evans
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Nurse-led education to inpatient boarding patients in the emergency department is essential to improve patient’s understanding with their care and nurse’s satisfaction surrounding communicating with their patients. Inpatient boarding in the emergency department is associated with poor patient outcomes, adverse events, and reduced communication between patient and nurse.
LOCAL PROBLEM:
Within this microsystem there is a gap in patient understanding of their admission status. This includes who the patient’s provider is, which provider to direct questions to, and why the patient is still in the emergency department.
METHODS:
The plan-do-study-act quality improvement framework was utilized to improve nurse-led patient education and increase nurse satisfaction surrounding patient communication.
INTERVENTION:
A pre-intervention survey was designed to assess the rates of patient understanding of their admission status and to assess for a correlation between amount of nursing experience and higher pre-intervention rates of patient understanding. The intervention, an educational pamphlet, was distributed by facility nurses and a post-intervention survey was distributed to assess for change in patient understanding.
RESULTS:
There was a statistically significant positive change in central tendency in patients’ understanding they are no longer under the care of the emergency department provider and in which provider to direct their questions to. Nursing satisfaction surrounding communicating with admitted boarding patients also had a statistically significant change in central tendency. No significant change was seen in patient understanding of why they are still in the emergency department.
CONCLUSION:
This quality improvement project and the intervention increased patient understanding of their care and nurse’s satisfaction surrounding communicating with their admitted patients. Inpatient boarding is a problem faced in emergency departments across the country, and this intervention may have use in reducing adverse patient outcomes as they relate to decreased patient understanding of their care.
Recommended Citation
Wallace, Jack, "Implementing Nurse-Driven Education on Patient’s Inpatient Boarding Status: An Emergency Department Quality Improvement Project" (2025). Master's Theses and Capstones. 1929.
https://scholars.unh.edu/thesis/1929