Date of Graduation

Fall 12-12-2025

Document Access

Restricted Project/Capstone - USF access only

Degree Name

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)

College/School

School of Nursing and Health Professions

Department/Program

<--Please Select Department-->

Program

MSN project

First Advisor

Ghada Dunbar

Abstract

At a pediatric outpatient infusion center located in California, medical assistants (MAs) struggle with the appropriate placement of infusion patients. Inconsistent training and a lack of standardized assessment and education tools are contributing factors toward inefficient infusion placement. Due to the uncertainty of where to place each patient, MAs rely on verbal directions from charge nurses, which hinders workflow efficiency, burdens charge nurses with non-urgent matters, and creates bottlenecks on the unit, ultimately elongating patient wait times and affecting their satisfaction with the services provided. By developing room assignment guidelines and a reference tool, this project will aim to support MAs in confidently making patient placement decisions, while taking away interruptions to nursing staff, which will allocate more time for other critical nursing tasks. Phase 1 of the project sought to streamline patient flow while supporting more consistent care through implementing a standardized room assignment guideline and reference tool for MAs to place patients independently in appropriate rooms at least 80% of the time without charge nurse intervention, improving efficiency and reducing charge nurse interruptions by 30%. Despite the successful development of a standardized guideline and reference tool, the planned pilot implementation could not be executed within the timeframe of the project because of site logistical issues. Therefore, outcome data were not collected, and future evaluation is needed to measure the intervention's effects on workflow efficiencies and patient placement accuracy. Phase 2 entailed monthly training and education to reinforce the standardized guideline and to make necessary changes after feedback from medical assistants and from limitations that might have arisen.

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