proof positive - UCLA School of Nursing

of their practi ce,” says Dr. Mary Ann
Lewis, professor and chair of the school’s
Undergraduate Program Committee.
“Students learn that research makes a
difference, and that it’s critical to be
involved in asking questions and basing
clinical decisions on scientific evidence.”
Few schools of nursing offer anything
like the capstone experience, Lewis says,
and most that do require it of only a select
group of students. By exposing the entire
undergraduate class to research, Lewis
explains, the school is preparing students
who see their trajectory as including
graduate education. Even those who
don’t end up pursuing a Ph.D. and going
on to a career as a nurse scientist learn
a way of thinking that is vital in clinical
settings, Lewis says.
In many cases, the studies (four of
which are featured in the accompanying
sidebars) have had a significant impact on
the nursing units. “One of the students
said nurses who had been working 20
years on the unit told her they never
understood some of the issues raised in
her project,” says Lewis.
“eduCAtionAl presentAtion
of Blood BACteriA
Culture drAw proCedure
to emergenCy room
nursing stAff to deCreAse
rAte of ContAminAtion”
leona sandrik
Studies have suggested that as many as
half of all positive blood cultures are falsepositives,
with the culture having been
contaminated by outside bacteria. Often,
this is the result of improper technique
on the part of the health care provider in
drawing the blood. False-positive blood
cultures incur a great cost – in increased
diagnostic testing and lengthier patient
hospital stays, as well as in declining
patient satisfaction rates.
The 3.85 percent contamination rate
in the hospital emergency department
where Leona Sandrik was beginning her
immersion was the highest of any unit in
that facility – and significantly higher than
that of the emergency department at
neighboring Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical
Center. Upon learning of these numbers
from the unit’s nurse educator – as well as
finding in her literature review that lack of
ongoing training was a major contributor
to higher rates of contaminated cultures
in other emergency departments – Sandrik
decided she would focus her capstone
on an educational intervention aimed at
reducing that percentage by going over
proper technique for blood culture draws
with the unit’s nursing staff.
Sandrik first administered a sevenquestion
written survey to assess the
staff’s knowledge of proper blood-culture
collection procedure. She then delivered
a five-minute PowerPoint presentation to
the nurses at the morning and evening
huddles, and left a poster display in the
24 UCLA SCHOOL OF NURSING fAll 2010