Asthma is the most common childhood disease. It affects nearly 5 million children, and is one of the leading causes for pediatric hospital admission. Despite an increased knowledge about pathophysiology and increased options for treatment, the morbidity and mortality continue to rise.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) through the National Asthma Education Prevention Program (NAEPP) published guidelines for the diagnosis and management of asthma in 1991 and updated those guidelines in 1997 and 2002. There have been numerous studies looking at the guidelines and their impact on care. Several studies have looked to different groups of physicians and assessed their adherence to the guidelines. Some studies have asked why the guidelines aren't followed more closely.

Nurse practitioners, that work in either family or pediatric primary care, see children with asthma on a weekly, if not a daily basis. There has been no study that looks directly at nurse practitioners and their compliance with national asthma guidelines. This study seeks to determine the extent to which nurse practitioners, that care for children with asthma in the primary care setting, follow asthma guidelines. The questions that will guide the research are: are nurse practitioners familiar with the guidelines and to what extent do they use them in their practice; and are there any factors that increase or decrease use of the guidelines. Participants will be nurse practitioners who work in primary care and have access to the Internet. Self-reported typical practice answers will be collected on an online survey. The NAEPP guidelines will serve as a framework to guide the research. Descriptive statistics will be used to analyze the data.

Abstract: In the United States, there are an estimated 12 million cases of STD each year with approximately two-thirds of the STD cases among individuals less than 25 years of age. This same population, individuals less than 25 years of age, account for one half of the newly diagnosed HIV cases according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Over 50% of the reported cases of HIV in 13- to 24-year-old females were from heterosexual transmission. These statistics exist despite aggressive educational efforts and programs by health care professionals. Research has revealed that behavior of sexually active patients does not reflect their respective knowledge level. Therefore, screening, teaching and intervention strategies may need to be reexamined in order to refocus the efforts of health care professionals. The purpose of this study is to explore the screening practices of nurse practitioners for sexually active patients. Nola Pender's Health Promotion Model will be utilized in this study. There is one research question: (1) What are the screening practices of nurse practitioners for sexually active patients? The sample will be obtained from nurse practitioners that access the World Wide Web and participate in the Dunn Screening Questionnaire. The data will be collected using a non-experimental, descriptive survey design and analyzed using frequency and distribution in percentages.

Abstract: Unintended Pregnancy is a major health problem in the United States. Unintended pregnancies are related to the high rate of abortions in the United States. A large number of women of child bearing age are seeking methods of contraception from health care providers in the primary care setting. Emergency Contraception is a method of post-coital contraception that if used within seventy-two hours after unprotected intercourse, it can reduce the risk of pregnancy by 75%. Emergency contraception has been proven to be safe and effective. Despite this fact, health care providers often choose not to prescribe and counsel their clients regarding the use of emergency contraception. The purpose of this descriptive study is to examine nurse practitioners attitudes about and management practices with emergency contraception. Insight into these attitudes and management practices can serve as valuable information and a guide for nurse practitioners in the primary care setting. Imogene Kings, Goal Attainment Theory will be used to guide the proposed research study. The research questions that will guide this study are: What are the attitudes of nurse practitioners toward the use of emergency contraception and what are the nurse practitioners management practices of emergency contraception? A convenience sample of nurse practitioners in the United States with access to the Internet will be utilized. Data will be obtained through the use of a self-report survey, the Adapted Adolescent Post-Coital Contraceptive Use: Views of Adolescent Health Care Providers, accessed via the Internet by the participants. The data will be analyzed using descriptive statistics.