Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Access Control

Open Access

Degree Program

Doctor of Nursing Practice

Degree Track

Family Nurse Practioner

Year Degree Awarded

2017

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7275/10062761

Month Degree Awarded

May

Keywords

education, high-risk adult smokers, low-dose computed tomography, lung cancer screening, primary care, toolkit

Advisor

Karen Kalmakis

DNP Project Chair

Rachel Walker

DNP Project Outside Member Name

Alicia Czarnecki

Abstract

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer mortality in the United States for both men and women. Lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) demonstrates reductions in lung cancer mortality and all-cause mortality, and improved rates of early stage diagnosis in high-risk current and former adult smokers. Evidence-based screening guidelines include annual LDCT in high-risk current and former adult smokers; however, these guidelines have not been fully translated into clinical practice. The purpose of this project was to create a toolkit for lung cancer screening to assist primary care providers in educating and screening their patients at high-risk for lung cancer with an overall goal of reducing lung cancer mortality and improving early stage diagnosis of lung cancer. An educational intervention using single group post-test was carried out in a primary care practice. Providers were asked to use a toolkit that included resources for lung cancer screening in clinical practice. Survey data was collected to determine effectiveness of the toolkit and educational intervention. Analysis of the data indicated that the toolkit may be beneficial to practice, although there were provider concerns about time and patient receptiveness. Lung cancer is a significant cause of mortality; giving providers tools to educate and screen high-risk patients for lung cancer may reduce mortality rates and improve survival.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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