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School of Nursing

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Browsing School of Nursing by Author "Augustyniak, Heather"

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    Reducing Distress and Emergency Room Visits with and an Evidence-Based Aroma Therapy Palliative Care Program for Breast Oncology Patients
    Horton, Priscilla; Welch, Teresa D.; Augustyniak, Heather
    Implementing an evidence-based nurse-led palliative care program that incorporates aromatherapy can significantly enhance the quality of life for cancer patients. This approach aims to minimize emergency department visits and reduce the necessity for additional full-time advanced practice Nurse Practitioners (APRNs). The presence of unaddressed symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, anxiety, and pain can contribute to the challenges in patient care, chronic side effects, compromised treatment tolerance, and an overall decrease in the quality of life. These uncontrolled symptoms directly contribute to the rising utilization of emergency department services. Integrating essential oils into a palliative care program can effectively mitigate the need for emergency department visits. Methods: Implementation of an evidence-based nurse-led palliative symptom management program in an outpatient comprehensive cancer care center using essential oils for symptom management for breast cancer patients undergoing active treatment. Results: Key findings from this process improvement project were statistically significant in decreasing ED visits with 100% reduction in Emergency Department visits by breast cancer patients, with a p-value below 0.0001. Conversely, when examining productivity, a reduction of 1.4 hours in weekly time, approximately 10%, was observed, but this reduction was not statistically significant, as indicated by a p-value of 0.3151. Implication: An evidenced based process improvement project integrating essential oils as palliative care option effectively addressed symptom-related challenges. This program successfully created a holistic therapeutic environment that significantly improved the quality of life for cancer patients, bridging the gap between symptom management and patient care