“Development and Evaluation of an Evidence-based Statute and Regulations for Medical Marijuana Use Program for Ohio Nurses”

by Victoria Ellwood

Amy Jauch, DNP, RN, CNE, instructor of clinical practice, graduated in August. She is lead faculty for the RN to BSN program at the College of Nursing, and personally is most interested in healthcare policy.

“I started a PhD program years ago, but couldn’t see myself as a researcher,” she said. “The DNP program is a better fit [for what I wanted to do in my career]. With its focus on EBP, I can look at evidence and existing research to affect and steer health policy change.”

Her DNP project, an evidence-informed health policy project, centers on the use of medical marijuana by nurses for a state-authorized medical condition, compared to other treatments, and how it affects judgment, care delivery, patient safety and licensure status.

“This is a very hot subject,” she said, “because nurses in Ohio [by law] cannot use medical marijuana. I want to develop a policy for them to be able to use it temporarily, while still keeping the public safe.”

With EBP, it’s not just what you think or what you suppose. It’s what the evidence says.

— Amy Jauch, DNP

Based on her analysis of existing evidence, Jauch set out to develop recommendations that provide a program for nurses to temporarily use medical marijuana without facing disciplinary action, while protecting the public by restricting use to qualified medical treatment.

She reviewed evidence, drafted a proposed statute and regulations, conducted a stakeholder survey, reviewed ethical considerations and collected data.

Jauch said the EBP process was valuable. “It would be really hard to make a recommendation on an issue like this without having the evidence that tells us what works,” she said. “With EBP, I can bring a proposal to the table more effectively based on real evidence. The process makes it very clear about what needs to happen.”

“With EBP, it’s not just what you think or what you suppose. It’s what the evidence says. And that’s hard to argue with.”