Date of this Version

12-11-2023

Document Type

DNP Project

Abstract

Abstract Background: Diabetes is a condition that disproportionally affects the Veteran population.

Depression often accompanies this condition and may contribute to worsening disease outcomes. It is therefore essential for depression to be treated in a timely manner to prevent further complications. As an important member of the health care team, nurses can potentially enhance the proportion of Veteran patients with diabetes that receive timely care for depression. Purpose: The purpose of this DNP quality improvement project is to improve telehealth nurses’ knowledge on the PHQ-2/PHQ-9 screening tools, identification of depression and care coordination for Veteran patients with diabetes in order to improve healthcare outcomes. Methodology: This quality improvement project was done with a group of seven telehealth nurses with a pre-test/post-test design. A 10-point Likert scale survey was administered pre- intervention and post-intervention to assess for knowledge in identification, screening, and coordination of care, as well as confidence in ability to identify, screen and coordination care. The intervention was done via video-based platform.

Results: In total n=7 nurses with > 4 years of nursing experience participated in the project. Mean score changes were not statistically for three out of the four question categories. The Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test showed a statistically significant increase in knowledge score post- intervention for question category number 2 regarding knowledge of screening tools (p=.027). Conclusions: Nurses in the unit improved in their knowledge of utilization of the PHQ-2 and PHQ-9 screening tools post-intervention. Educating nurses regarding proper administration of screening tools may help increase their knowledge base and improve care practices.

Key Words: depression, diabetes, patient health questionnaire, nurse, education, veteran

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