Scholars@Duke
Deirdre KIing Thornlow

Deirdre KIing Thornlow

Associate Clinical Professor in the School of Nursing
School of Nursing
deirdre.thornlow@duke.edu
DUMC 3322, 307 Trent Drive, Durham, NC 27710
School of Nursing, BOX_3322, Durham, NC 27710

Selected Publications

2.0 Contact Hours Evaluating the Rate and Timing of Reactions Among Patients With Hansen’s Disease

Journal Article Journal of the Dermatology Nurses' Association · May 1, 2022 BACKGROUND: Immunologic reactions are a major complication of Hansen’s disease, also known as leprosy. To minimize reactions, clofazimine is added to multidrug therapy for its anti-inflammatory effect. Minocycline is an alternative antileprosy medication t ... Full text Cite

Student Success Factors in a Nurse Practitioner Program

Journal Article The Journal for Nurse Practitioners · June 2021 Full text Cite

Using Clinical Data to Improve the Quality of Health Care.

Journal Article Journal of perianesthesia nursing : official journal of the American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses · April 2021 Full text Cite

A Case Study of Cascade Iatrogenesis

Journal Article MEDSURG Nursing · March 1, 2021 A clinical case study is presented of a typical incident of cascade iatrogenesis, with analysis of care provided to the deteriorating patient during the unfolding events. Using Enhanced Recovery After Surgery protocols and practicing risk anticipation enab ... Cite

Hospital Readmission and Costs of Total Knee Replacement Surgery in 2009 and 2014: Potential Implications for Health Care Managers.

Journal Article Health Care Manag (Frederick) · 2019 The purpose of this article is to describe changes in hospital readmissions and costs for US hospital patients who underwent total knee replacement (TKR) in 2009 and 2014. Data came from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project net-Nationwide Readmissio ... Full text Link to item Cite

Hospital Readmission in Total Hip Replacement Patients in 2009 and 2014.

Journal Article Arch Phys Med Rehabil · June 2018 OBJECTIVE: To document changes in 30-day hospital readmission rates and causes for returning to the hospital for care in THR patients. DESIGN: Retrospective cross-sectional descriptive design. SETTING: Community-based acute care hospitals. PARTICIPANTS: To ... Full text Link to item Cite

Reducing RN Vacancy Rate: A Nursing Recruitment Office Process Improvement Project.

Journal Article The Journal of nursing administration · June 2018 ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to reduce the RN vacancy rate at an academic medical center by improving the hiring process in the Nursing Recruitment Office.BackgroundInability to fill RN positions can lead to higher vacancy rates and ... Full text Cite

Improving Quality and Safety Through Use of Secondary Data: Methods Case Study.

Journal Article Western journal of nursing research · November 2017 Researchers need to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of data sets to choose a secondary data set to use for a health care study. This research method review informs the reader of the major issues necessary for investigators to consider while incorpora ... Full text Cite

Intrahospital Transport of the Critically Ill Adult: A Standardized Evaluation Plan.

Journal Article Dimensions of critical care nursing : DCCN · May 2016 BackgroundIntrahospital transport of the critically ill adult carries inherent risks that can be manifested as unexpected events.ObjectiveThe aim of this study is to evaluate the implementation of a standardized evaluation plan for intrah ... Full text Cite

Decreasing workplace incivility.

Journal Article Nursing management · January 2016 Full text Cite

Cascade iatrogenesis: a case-control study to detect postoperative respiratory failure in hospitalized older adults.

Journal Article Res Gerontol Nurs · 2014 During hospitalization, older adults are at high risk for cascade iatrogenesis, the serial development of complications. In this retrospective, descriptive, case-control pilot study, 28 patients (cases) who developed respiratory failure after an elective s ... Full text Link to item Cite

Design and evaluation of a prelicensure interprofessional course on improving care transitions.

Conference Gerontol Geriatr Educ · 2014 Effective management of care transitions for older adults require the coordinated expertise of an interprofessional team. Unfortunately, different health care professions are rarely educated together or trained in teamwork skills. To address this issue, a ... Full text Link to item Cite

Implementation of the Josie King Care Journal in a pediatric intensive care unit: a quality improvement project.

Journal Article J Nurs Care Qual · 2013 The Care Journal is a tool developed by the Josie King Foundation to promote interactive exchange among providers and patients/families. The Care Journal was implemented in a pediatric intensive care unit, and surveys were administered to assess perception ... Full text Link to item Cite

Can we make postoperative patient handovers safer? A systematic review of the literature.

Journal Article Anesth Analg · July 2012 Postoperative patient handovers are fraught with technical and communication errors and may negatively impact patient safety. We systematically reviewed the literature on handover of care from the operating room to postanesthesia or intensive care units an ... Full text Link to item Cite

Design, implementation, and evaluation of population-specific telehealth nursing services.

Journal Article Nursing economic$ · September 2011 An implementation project was conducted to introduce a structure for telehealth nursing practice (TNP) which would address the specific needs of complex endocrinology patients in a hospital-based clinic. Outcomes of the pilot study include analysis of 727 ... Cite

Use of a Clinical Decision Support Tool to improve guideline adherence for the treatment of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: Skin and Soft Tissue Infections.

Journal Article Advanced emergency nursing journal · July 2011 Skin and Soft Tissue Infections (SSTI's) with abscess are commonly seen in the Emergency Department (ED) setting. Given the increasing prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus-aureus (MRSA)-related abscesses, appropriate evidence-based decisions ... Full text Cite

Evaluation of an evidence-based, nurse-driven checklist to prevent hospital-acquired catheter-associated urinary tract infections in intensive care units.

Journal Article J Nurs Care Qual · 2011 Catheter-associated urinary tract infections account for 40% of all health care-associated infections. An evidence-based, nurse-driven daily checklist for initiation and continuance of urinary catheters was implemented in 5 adult intensive care units. Meas ... Full text Link to item Cite

What does quality care mean to nurses in rural hospitals?

Journal Article Journal of advanced nursing · June 2010 AimThis paper is a report of a study conducted to answer the question: 'How do rural nurses and their chief nursing officers define quality care?'BackgroundEstablished indicators of quality care were developed primarily in urban hospitals ... Full text Cite

A necessary sea change for nurse faculty development: spotlight on quality and safety.

Journal Article Journal of professional nursing : official journal of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing · March 2010 More than 10 years have passed since the publication of the Institute of Medicine's report, To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health Care System, yet recent reports indicate that significant strides toward transformational improvement in quality and patien ... Full text Cite

Cascade iatrogenesis: factors leading to the development of adverse events in hospitalized older adults.

Journal Article Int J Nurs Stud · November 2009 Featured Publication Older adults are at particular risk for injuries associated with hospitalization and the rate of adverse events increases significantly with age. The purpose of this paper is to review factors associated with the development of adverse events in hospitaliz ... Full text Link to item Cite

Increased risk for patient safety incidents in hospitalized older adults.

Journal Article Medsurg nursing : official journal of the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses · September 2009 2004 HCUPnet data indicated that hospitalized patients age 65 and older experience higher rates of patient safety incidents than younger adults for 11 of 13 indicators analyzed; patients over age 85 in particular were susceptible to certain adverse events. ... Cite

Managing to improve quality: the relationship between accreditation standards, safety practices, and patient outcomes.

Journal Article Health care management review · July 2009 Featured Publication BackgroundGiven the trend toward eliminating reimbursement for "never events," hospital administrators are challenged to implement practices designed to prevent their occurrence. Little evidence exists, however, that patient safety practices, as e ... Full text Cite

Clinical perspectives on portable do-not-resuscitate orders.

Journal Article Journal of gerontological nursing · October 2008 A do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order is a written medical order that documents a patient's wishes regarding resuscitation and, more specifically, the patient's desire to avoid cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). A DNR order is one of the most important patien ... Full text Cite

Nursing patient safety research in rural health care settings.

Journal Article Annual review of nursing research · January 2008 Featured Publication Adverse events occur in virtually all health care arenas, and while rural health care settings are no exception, these facilities often face unique financial burdens and personnel shortages. That may hamper patient safety efforts. Many of the interventions ... Full text Cite

A necessity not a luxury: preparing advanced practice nurses to care for older adults.

Journal Article Journal of professional nursing : official journal of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing · March 2006 Featured Publication Of today's 2.7 million registered nurses, less than 1% are certified in gerontological nursing and only 3% of advanced practice nurses (APNs) have specialized training in this area. These statistics indicate that there are not enough gerontological nurse p ... Full text Cite

Incorporating geriatrics into baccalaureate nursing curricula: laying the groundwork with faculty development.

Journal Article Journal of professional nursing : official journal of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing · March 2006 Featured Publication In June 2001, the John A. Hartford Foundation of New York awarded the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) a 3.99 million dollar grant to enhance gerontology curriculum development and new clinical experiences in 20 baccalaureate and 10 gradu ... Full text Cite

The association between hospital characteristics and rates of preventable complications and adverse events.

Journal Article Medical care · March 2006 Featured Publication Background/objectivesThis study examined the statistical relationship between hospital ownership and teaching status and hospital rates for potentially preventable adverse events measured using patient safety indicators recently developed by the A ... Full text Cite

Methodologies used in nursing research designed to improve patient safety.

Journal Article Annual review of nursing research · January 2006 Featured Publication Nursing research studies of patient safety for 2002-2005 were reviewed to determine methods used and methodological challenges within this field of research. Methods used in traditional clinical research and in health services research were often combined ... Full text Cite

Gerontological nursing content in baccalaureate nursing programs: comparison of findings from 1997 and 2003.

Journal Article Journal of professional nursing : official journal of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing · September 2005 Featured Publication In 2003, the John A. Hartford Foundation Institute for Geriatric Nursing (Hartford Institute), in collaboration with the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, conducted a survey of baccalaureate schools of nursing in the United States to compare ger ... Full text Cite

Your bright future in geriatric nursing.

Journal Article Imprint · January 2005 Featured Publication Cite

Making a home in the community for the academic medical center.

Journal Article Acad Med · January 2005 Academic medical centers (AMCs) have traditionally provided primary care for low-income and other underserved populations. However, they have had difficulty developing lasting partnerships with other organizations serving the same populations. This article ... Full text Link to item Cite

Is chest physiotherapy necessary after cardiac surgery?

Journal Article Critical care nurse · June 1995 Featured Publication Cite

Case study: heart transplantation--increased incidence of acute rejection in female recipients.

Journal Article American journal of critical care : an official publication, American Association of Critical-Care Nurses · March 1993 Featured Publication Although the precise link between the increased incidence of allograft rejection in female heart transplant recipients remains uncertain, various gender-specific characteristics may predispose women to earlier rejection episodes. Critical care practitioner ... Cite