I have launched the data collection, which is “Survey of attitudes & barriers to the utilization of the 2016 CDC Guideline for Chronic Pain Management with Opioids.” After an initial 7 weeks of pure anxiety, I was able to switch mid-stream to a survey method of data collection for my project. Two weeks ago I did send the survey via Survey Monkey to 1600 New Mexico NPs. To date: 10/18/18, I have received 234 replies. Not what I have expected, but there is excellent information. I will be wrapping up the survey in the next week or so. Putting at 2.5 weeks. One reminder has been sent out on day five, to do the study. I have received a few personal emails of individuals that know me from New Mexico, knew this was my project, and were very supportive and excited. A few of them did not do the survey as they were not NPs that did any form of pain management (they wanted me to know). So far, the data is >70% family NPs, the most significant response group that has been in practice for 1-5 years. 15% have been adult NPs. These two groups were my targets. The rest have been urgent care/ER NPs. They did not manage chronic pain but were passionate about using the CDC guideline. They did provide Narcan to any patients with an opioid script.
The most significant barrier to using the guideline that I could see was: Not enough time with my patients. And lack of education on chronic pain management with opioids.
What would help them utilize the guidelines:
1. They want an EMR Template based on guidelines 55.71%;
2. Policy Development that correlates with the CDC Guideline(40%) ( A question which stemmed from lack of organization support)
3. More time with the patient 42.86%
4. Patient Education material 41.90%
5. Education on chronic pain management 34.76%
Over 40% expressed not being comfortable with the guidelines. Over 30% felt very pleased. And the rest comprised of those that either felt the instructions did not apply to the practice. And there was 1 that did not think the guidelines were helpful.
It will be interesting how this all breaks down statistically. What I did get from this was; they are concerned about this epidemic, and over 90% felt this guideline and using it was extremely important and that this did impact their practice in a big way.
Kay
It sounds like things are going well for you. When will your survey end? What is your target responses? Hopefully you will receive more responses. When will your survey end? Will you send out a reminder stating that the survey will end? Hopefully everything keeps going well. I think you have been through enough.
Hi Paula,
I just closed the survey today. When it is time to send to the statistician; it will be ready to go.
235 out of 1600 sent out was it. There were two reminders. It has been almost 3 weeks. I think that is enough time. Still-good data.
Not a strong study, but it does carry good information.
Thank you for your questions and comments.
Kay
I think 235 surveys is a great place to start. It will be interesting to see your conclusion. Good job.
Kay- It appears that you have been able to turn it around and obtain our data. Now that you have collected the data when is your projected time to start processing the data? Looks like you were able to obtain quite a few surveys, do you forsee any problem with the surveys you were able to obtain?
There was one incomplete survey. I did not see any problems with the survey, or questions. I have saved the data to a PDF file from Survey Monkey. I would think that the next step is to send it to a statistician. Is that with DNP III? Data collection is complete for the information which I needed. Now with what I have will go into my DNP Project Paper to bring it up to date.
Kay
Wow! I’m impressed with your results thus far and I do feel like you gave them all enough time to respond. The reminders can be important for busy NPs but i found it interesting that your largest response group was ultimately “New grads” or at least those fairly new in practice.
I was very surprised that the biggest response was from those at 1-5 years of experience. Perhaps the less experienced coming out are more concerned about guidelines, and I do feel that NP programs hit EBP on a larger scale than when I went 21 years ago. I closed the Survey on October 24th. Now it is time to put the findings into my DNP paper and when the time is right to send to a statistician for evaluation, do so. I will be interested in how it all breaks down. I have a pretty good idea right now.
Kay
Kay- This is so exciting! your project has really come together!
Thanks, Violet. It helps to know there are others to share with!
Kay