Why is your Project Important?
There are a number of questions that your committee may ask you during your oral defense. Select ONE of these questions and provide your response. Questions may include (but are not limited to) the following:
If you were to do it all over again, what changes would you make?
What surprises did you find in your study?
What was the most challenging aspect of your project?
What specific aspects of your findings can be taken to practice?
How generalizable is your study?
What is the most important contribution your study can make to your profession or society?
Is there an alternative interpretation of your findings?
How would a policy maker be able to utilize your findings?
Will your project change current thinking in the field? If so, how?
How will you communicate your work to other scholars in your field?
What advice would you give a student who is starting the DNP process and considering using the methodology you used?
Sample Paper
Why is your Project Important?
For healthcare practitioners, the study’s relevance is that it will help them better understand the need for sign language teaching for deaf patients. At the orientation stage, which is critical to the patient’s treatment, sign language-skilled nurses will assist break down the communication barrier (Boujon et al., 2018). In addition, the research will help healthcare institutions understand how to better coordinate patient care for the deaf, as well as how to improve the quality of care even after the end of a patient’s treatment. The findings of this study will have a significant influence on nursing education policies and curriculum programs aimed at improving students’ proficiency in sign language. For non-American sign language users, education is a critical technique for acquiring the necessary abilities, and this is true for nurses as well. Deaf patients can be effectively cared for if all American nurses are proficient in sign language communication abilities (Jacobs et al., 2018). This study will help shape education strategy to guarantee that all American nurses are competent in sign language communication skills. In addition, the project will improve the quality of care that deaf patients that those with hard of hearing receive. According to Rotoli et al. (2019), most deaf patients receive poor quality of care due to a lack of fluent communication between them and nurses. In most cases, deaf patients rely on a family member to interpret, which results in delayed treatment and even misdiagnosis. Last but not the least, the project will improve nursing practices and positively contribute to skills and knowledge on American sign language. This will improve healthcare providers, especially nurses, competence and confidence when serving deaf patients as well as hard-of-hearing patients.
References
Boujon, V., Bouillon, P., Spechbach, H., Gerlach, J., & Strasly, I. (2018). Can speech-enabled phraselators improve healthcare accessibility? A case study comparing BabelDr with MediBabble for anamnesis in emergency settings. In Proceedings of the 1st Swiss Conference on Barrier-free Communication.
Jacobs, B., Ryan, A. M., Henrichs, K. S., & Weiss, B. D. (2018). Medical interpreters in outpatient practice. The Annals of Family Medicine, 16(1), 70-76.
Rotoli, J. M., Grenga, P., Halle, T., Nelson, R., & Wink, G. (2019). Cultural Competence and the Deaf Patient. In Diversity and Inclusion in Quality Patient Care (pp. 45-59). Springer, Cham.
