Date of Award

5-14-2026

Degree Type

Evidence-Based Project Report

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

Department

Nursing

First Advisor

Rose M. Flinchum

Abstract

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention in patients with diabetes is essential, as heart disease remains the leading cause of death within this population (American Diabetes Association, n.d.). The purpose of this evidence-based project is to improve patient outcomes by enhancing adherence to statin therapy. A thorough literature review yielded 246 pieces of moderate-to-high-quality evidence; of these, eight articles were appraised in detail and selected for project inclusion. The strongest evidence identified four meaningful interventions. Thus, a multimodal approach was indicated for this project. This included addressing barriers to therapy, creating practice nudges, implementing a shared decision-making (SDM) tool, and utilizing clinical decision support tools (Adusumalli et al., 2023; Buzancic et al., 2024; Kwan et al., 2020; Sperl-Hillen et al., 2022; Stacy et al., 2024). The 16-week implementation included three providers and 19 participants with diabetes, aged 40-74, identified through a single insurance provider. Of these, only 12 met specific inclusion criteria and were compared at baseline with their prior-year data. The primary finding assessed the relationship between closing care gaps and improved patient outcomes. A Chi-square test of independence provided correlational evidence that addressing care gaps improves patient adherence to statins (χ2(1) = 4.800, p < 0.05), indicating that this approach increases the likelihood of prescription fulfillment. Of the 10 participants who reviewed their CVD risks, 8 (80%) were prescribed statins, and all 8 (100%) filled their prescriptions. Clinically, these strategies appear promising for this patient population, as providers continue to actively address modifiable cardiac risks and improve patient outcomes.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

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