Dr. Amy Blankenship received her doctorate in nursing from Idaho State University’s School of Nursing in May of 2024. In recognition of her unique research she received an award for Innovative Creative and Scholarly Work from ISU’s Kasiska Division of Health Sciences and the College of Health.
During her time at ISU she directed her focus on a research topic that she felt was an important area to explore. She received a small grant from Sigma, an organization focused on helping nurses grow throughout their career, to help her carry out her plan. Not only did she want to change how members of a sensitive demographic, individuals who are obese and severely obese are cared for in hospitals, she’s making improvements to patient care in Oregon based on this research. She cites evidence that “patients who are severely obese frequent hospitals more often due to obesity-related illnesses and exacerbations of these illnesses.”
Dr. Blankenship wanted to explore the nurses’ experience in caring for severely obese patients in critical access hospitals (CAHs). Many of these CAHs are underfunded and have fewer resources for new equipment and a large staff compared to hospitals located in urban areas. Her qualitative study included interviews with nurses working in CAHs in Oregon to get their feedback and feelings on this subject.
In her experience, this underserved demographic often is in need of specialized equipment that many of these facilities lack, and the number of people in this demographic is rising. Obesity is shown to have a negative impact on health and in rural areas like much of Oregon and Idaho, there is a higher prevalence of obesity. Negative health impacts include hypertension, coronary heart disease, and stroke to name a few.
Who is considered to be severely obese? Anyone with a body mass index over 40. Her research was dedicated to potentially highlight additional support needed by this demographic, that not only uses the health care system more frequently, but a system that isn’t set up to support these patients. Severely obese patients need more complex care, and many rural areas lack the resources to be able to take care of these patients properly.
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Dr. Amy Blankenship received a Doctorate of Nursing Practice in May 2024 and the Kasiska Division of Health Sciences College of Health award for Innovative Creative and Scholarly Work.
In Dr. Blankenship’s research abstract, she writes “Preliminary results reveal several interesting categories including nurses’ perceptions about patient beliefs, racial disparities, nurses’ beliefs, increased workload, use of teamwork, geographic location, and lack of resources (including understaffing).” This explains some of the specific areas of interest and possible change.
The possible changes are the critical part of this research, as it can help highlight the exact areas that need improvement, whether it’s through funding to purchase alternative equipment for the CAHs, and improved staff training.The study also addressed potential improvements related to communication sensitivity around this demographic for more quality care.
An important aspect of this research is the understanding of the impacts of having a small nursing staff, and how that affects the quality of care. With fewer nurses to fill the positions, many working nurses are left to do the job that requires more capable staff.
Even though her main focus of her research was in Oregon there could be possibilities for other states in the future. If the changes made in Oregon hospitals starting in urban areas and growing into the CAHs proves to be successful in dealing with obese patients, this could help neighboring states deal with this better as well. It could possibly supply them with larger beds and gurneys, ceiling lifts, size of rooms, bathrooms and hallways. Hospitals and manufacturers may eventually explore making MRI machines larger, and helping understaffed workers, especially on the night shift have more human resources. These are just a few changes on the horizon for medical professionals. Other possible outcomes could help change focus on patient perspectives and more objective measures of quality in care.
Dr. Blankenship was a nurse for 13 years in acute care, and community health settings. Her latest career move has been into academia, where she has been educating nurses at a community college. She will be coming back to ISU to be an adjunct professor in August 2024.
She sits on the Oregon nurses’ association as the Cabinet chair for education.