Abstract
Surgical patients represent a vulnerable population and have risks of complications, including inadequate optimization pre-operatively, anesthesia-related harm, hemodynamic instability, surgical site infections, and pulmonary complications. Specifically, the post-surgical phase of care often requires patients to possess self-management competence for health monitoring, wound care, device management, medication management, and physical therapies to mitigate the risk of complications, achieve desired health goals, and return to baseline functional status. The level of patient engagement and empowerment involved with the appropriate utilization of knowledge, skills, and abilities to self-manage one’s health care is referred to as patient activation. Patients with low activation have poor self-management abilities and struggle to experience optimal postoperative outcomes. Nationally, lower activated patients utilize more healthcare resources, experience more health complications, have poor medication management, have significant gaps in knowledge, report increased perceptions of powerlessness, and are more likely to be hospitalized. Locally, organizational data show 46% of patient incident reports involve unmet care needs, knowledge and skill deficits, unrealistic expectations, poor self-advocacy, health illiteracy, or disempowerment. These phenomena indicate low patient activation and sub-optimal self-management ability in the adult surgical population.
Sigma Membership
Non-member
Lead Author Affiliation
Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama, USA
Type
DNP Capstone Project
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Quality Improvement
Research Approach
N/A
Keywords:
Activation, Engagement, Empowerment
Advisor
Hess, Annette
Degree
DNP
Degree Grantor
Samford University
Degree Year
2020
Recommended Citation
Morris, Randy, "Improving patient outcomes through increased patient activation and self-management ability in the adult surgical population" (2020). Group: Samford University Moffett & Sanders School of Nursing. 8.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/samford/8
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.
All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.
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Review Type
None: Degree-based Submission
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Date of Issue
2020-07-17
Full Text of Presentation
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