Dawn Toussaint

DNP, FNP-BC, RNC-OB

Assistant Professor, Professional Track

Professional Nursing Education

Email Address: cdtoussaint@uncg.edu

Phone: 336.334.4291

Education

DNP -Frontier Nursing University, 2024

MSN, FNP – Frontier Nursing University, 2021

BSN – University of North Carolina Wilmington, 2017

ADN – Cape Fear Community College, 2003

PN –  Brunswick Community College, 1995

Areas of Interest/ScholArship/or Research

High Risk Pregnancy

Obstetrics and Gynecology

Women’s Health

Functional Health and Root Cause Analysis

Integrating Technology in Nursing Practice

Research Completed:

ACOG Guidelines: The Key to Improving Effective Care for High-Risk Pregnant Patients with Obesity.

This quality improvement project aimed to improve effective care for high-risk pregnant patients with obesity by implementing a comprehensive care model that included enhanced prenatal monitoring, lifestyle interventions, patient education, and mental health support. The project demonstrated significant improvements, with compliance rates to ACOG guidelines increasing from 20% to 75%. Using the maternal obesity checklist and order set proved to be an effective method of standardizing charting practices and promoting adherence to guidelines. Given that chronic diseases related to obesity usually develop over decades, improving effective obesity care during pregnancy provides an early window of opportunity to identify risk factors and improve long-term health. The findings underscore the importance of personalized, multidisciplinary care in managing high-risk pregnancies complicated by obesity.