Degree Name
Nursing Practice, DNP
Publication Date
9-28-2026
First Advisor
Sandy King
Second Advisor
Anthony Morgan
Abstract
Monitoring for medication-related movement disorders is essential for adults with schizophrenia receiving antipsychotic medications; however, inconsistent Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS) assessment and documentation can limit timely recognition of abnormal movements. This quality improvement project evaluated a six-week structured AIMS education program designed to improve provider confidence and documentation accuracy in an outpatient behavioral health setting in Central Ohio. Guided by Benner’s Novice-to-Expert Model and Kotter’s Eight-Step Change Model, the project used a one-group pretest-posttest design with 15 licensed behavioral health providers. Weekly sessions included instruction, demonstration, guided practice, case-based learning, scoring, interpretation, and electronic health record (EHR) documentation. Descriptive statistics summarized pre- and post-intervention measures, and paired-samples t tests assessed changes in provider confidence and AIMS documentation accuracy. Provider confidence, measured using the Confidence Scale (C-Scale), increased from 15.00 (SD = 2.17) to 19.33 (SD = 2.38), t(14) = 15.08, p < .001, d = 3.89. AIMS documentation accuracy increased from 40.83% (SD = 17.34) to 73.33% (SD = 14.84), t(14) = 6.31, p < .001, d = 1.63. Correct scoring and EHR-section use also improved significantly. Limitations included the small convenience sample, lack of a comparison group, and an unvalidated project-developed checklist. Findings support continued AIMS education, competency reinforcement, audit and feedback, and workflow integration in outpatient behavioral health practice.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Recommended Citation
Okoani-Nneji, Victoria, "Enhancing Healthcare Provider Confidence and Accuracy in Performing and Documenting the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale" (2026). Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects. 392.
https://arch.astate.edu/dnp-projects/392
