goal

PICOT

In adults’ patients undergoing general anesthesia, does forced-air warming before or during

induction compared to passive blanket warming decrease incidence of hypothermia and improve

intraoperative blood pressure stability during intraoperative period through PACU discharge?

Primary DNP Project Goal

Begin with a statement of the purpose of your project. What are you trying to accomplish

(1 paragraph).

Describe your practice site. Consider data that is relevant such as description of the

facility, number of staff, mission, vision, values, organizational structure and culture. Consider

what is important about your practice site to your project (1 paragraph).

Follow with a review of your chosen problem as it relates to your practice site. If you are

claiming that patients are not provided with DSMES in a primary care site, you must provide

evidence that this is going on. You do not have to site sources, but you must be able to show that

it is a problem at your clinical site and that is why you are addressing it (1 to 2 paragraphs).

Using the problem at your practice site, identify the gap between what is being done at

your site and what the literature says should be done (1-2 paragraphs).

Describe your project sponsor and the role they will play in your project. Also identify

key stakeholders (if appropriate) and their role within your project (1-2 paragraphs).

Describe you participants include potential number and general demographics, e.g., “The

sample will include 25 certified registered nurse anesthetist working in the operating room.

Discuss why this population is important to the project (1 paragraph).

Only CRNAs will be used. You may not use hospital personnel or patients.

SMART Objectives

Describe your goals and objectives for the DNP project. Remember the acronym

SMART when writing your objectives and expected outcomes. They should be Specific,

Measurable, Assignable (specify who will carry them out), Realistic, and Time-specific. You

can include a table or a numbered list in this section. Make sure your goals and Objectives match

your Expected Outcomes. Make sure that the Expected Outcomes are reasonable for your project

design, plan, and timeframe and are measureable. Avoid using vague terms such as “understand”

for this section.

Specific

Measurable

Assignable

Realistic

Time Specific

Identify at least 3 SMART objectives that will be used for your project. These objectives

should be placed in a bullet list and should include a brief introduction, i.e., For the purposes of

this DNP quality improvement project, the following SMART objectives were identified:

• Educate nurses in an ICU about proper medication reconciliation within three months of

starting the quality improvement project.

This will require you to consider what milestones in your project will be used to identify

your progress. You must consider your entire project from the current semester through

DNP III.

Description of the Program Structure

Conduct a baseline organizational needs assessment at the potential project setting. Think

about what baseline organizational data is currently available that helps identify for

organizational leaders/stakeholders that this is a topic requiring action. An organizational needs

assessment is a crucial step in securing buy in from stakeholders in the project setting. This

section of the paper should answer the question, “What secondary data supports the need for this

project and what partnerships do I need to be successful in completion of this project?”

(Approximately 1 page).

Organizational SWOT Analysis

Identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats as they relate to your

practice site. Provide a brief introduction to this section here (1 paragraph) in which you discuss

the SWOT matrix and its use in translating evidence into practice.

Strengths

Review organizational strengths in 1-2 paragraphs. Support strengths with references

from the literature.

Weaknesses

Review organizational weaknesses in 1-2 paragraphs. Support weaknesses with

references from the literature.

Opportunities

Review organizational opportunities in 1-2 paragraphs. Support opportunities with

references from the literature.

Threats

Review organizational threats in 1-2 paragraphs. Support threats with references from the

literature.