Degree Name
Nursing Practice, DNP
Publication Date
12-2-2025
First Advisor
Sandy King
Second Advisor
Beatrice Bailey
Abstract
Tobacco use is the leading cause of lung cancer and one of the most preventable causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The World Health Organization estimates that 1.25 billion people smoke, resulting in significant social, economic, and health burdens. Despite this, opportunities to screen and refer eligible patients for lung cancer screening are often missed in primary care, contrary to the recommendations of the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). This quality improvement (QI) project educated clinical staff about the USPSTF guidelines for lung cancer screening to increase referral rates. Lewin’s Change Model guided behavior change, and the Iowa Model supported implementation. A quasi-non-experimental one-group, pretest–posttest design with a paired t-test was used. Nine participants aged 18 years or older with more than six months of experience completed a 10-item pretest knowledge assessment, attended guideline-based training, and took a posttest. Normality was assessed using the Shapiro-Wilk test, confirming the use of the paired t-test. Posttest scores were higher than pretest scores, but the difference was not statistically significant at α = 0.05 level. However, Cohen’s d = 0.65 indicated a moderate effect, suggesting a meaningful improvement in knowledge. Screening referrals increased from 0% to 5% within five weeks after the intervention, reflecting the application of learned guidelines. The findings support brief, targeted education as a feasible strategy to enhance provider awareness and promote earlier detection through improved referral behavior. Integrating evidence-based guidelines with structured change frameworks may help sustain practice improvements in primary care.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Recommended Citation
Adhoch, Pauline, "Improving Lung Cancer Screening Rates through Low-Dose Computed Tomography" (2025). Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects. 282.
https://arch.astate.edu/dnp-projects/282
