Supporting and Retaining Nurses in Trying Times.

The nursing profession has witnessed its share of challenging and trying times including toxic or unhealthy work environments, unsustainable workloads, an aging workforce, inadequate staffing, nurse burnout, staff retention, inadequately trained staff, an increase in workplace violence, and several pandemics. Both individually and collectively, these thorny issues have placed a heavy burden on nurses. Unfortunately, many capable and competent nurses have left the profession altogether, which further compounds an already problematic situation. This article highlights several important strategies for recruiting, retaining, and supporting a high functioning nursing workforce in challenging and trying times.

Changing practice, saving lives.

Reduction of CAUTIs in the neurosurgical ICU.

"Keep Calm and Stop the Clot".

The impact of a nurse-driven change project.

Driving Organizational Change From the Bedside: The AACN Clinical Scene Investigator Academy.

BACKGROUND: Staff nurses are pivotal in leading change related to quality improvement efforts, although many lack skills to steer change from the bedside. The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) staff nurse leadership program, Clinical Scene Investigator (CSI) Academy, teaches and empowers staff nurses in leadership skills and change concepts to translate evidence into practice affecting patient outcomes. OBJECTIVES: To describe the curriculum of the AACN CSI Academy that provides staff nurses with the leadership skills required to create unit-based change projects that positively impact patient/family outcomes. METHODS: The curriculum of the Academy included leadership topics, communication, change concepts, quality improvement methods, project management, and data management and analysis. Each team of participants collected project data to show improvements in patient care. The program evaluation used many data sources to assess the program effectiveness, relating to the professional growth of the participant nurses. The participants assessed project patient outcomes, sustainability, and spread. RESULTS: The first cohort of CSI participants included 164 direct care nurses from 42 hospitals in 6 cities. They rated the Academy highly in the program evaluation, and they reported that the Academy contributed to their professional development. The individual hospital quality improvement projects resulted in positive patient and estimated fiscal outcomes that were generally sustained 1 year after the program. CONCLUSION: With the skills, tools, and support obtained from participation in the CSI Academy, staff nurses can make substantial contributions to their organizations in clinical and possibly fiscal outcomes.

Redefining "time" to meet nursing's evolving demands.

The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) developed the Clinical Scene Investigator (CSI) Academy for nurses at the bedside to hone leadership and innovation skills to create and sustain lasting change and improve patient outcomes. In this first part of a three-part series, we take a look at how the AACN CSI Academy helps clinical nurses cultivate skills that measurably demonstrate how "nonproductive time" is a misnomer that interferes with achieving optimal patient outcomes.

Want to create lasting change? It's all about that base.

The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) created the Clinical Scene Investigator (CSI) Academy for nurses at the bedside to develop leadership and innovation skills to create and sustain lasting change that positively impacts patient outcomes. In our 2015 three-part series, we explored how to redefine "nonproductive" time, change leadership, and the formation of the Massachusetts CSI Nursing Delirium Collaborative. In this first part of our 2016 series, we share the Duke Raleigh CSI Academy team's journey through change management while creating an early progressive mobility (EPM) initiative.

AACN CSI Academy, part 2: Nurses emerge as change leaders.

In the first part of this three-part series, we explored how the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) Clinical Scene Investigator (CSI) Academy aids clinical nurses in cultivating skills that measurably demonstrate how nonproductive time is a misnomer that interferes with achieving optimal patient outcomes. Join us for part 2, as we examine how the CSI Academy helped one hospital's neurosurgical ICU (NSCU) nurses achieve zero CAUTIs.

Redefining "time" to meet evolving demands.

The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) developed the Clinical Scene Investigator (CSI) Academy for nurses at the bedside to hone leadership and innovation skills to create and sustain lasting change and improve positive patient outcomes. In this first part of a three-part series, we take a look at how the AACN CSI Academy helps clinical nurses cultivate skills that measurably demonstrate how nonproductive time is a misnomer that interferes with achieving optimal patient outcomes.

Bedside nurses leading the way for falls prevention: an evidence-based approach.

Incidence and characteristics of patient falls and fall prevention programs have been a topic of interest in the literature; however, few articles on fall reduction strategies written by staff nurses have been published. Falls in hospitalized patients are serious threats to patient safety. According to Morse, sequelae of falls are the second leading cause of death in the United States. Costs resulting from falls alone have been reported at between 0.85% and 1.5% of the total health care expenses within the United States, Australia, the European Union, and the United Kingdom. A fall is the most reported safety incident in inpatients and occurs in all adult clinical areas. Accidental falls are among the most common incidents reported in hospitals and occur in approximately 2% of all hospital stays. Growing evidence indicates that falls occurring in the hospital can be reduced with planning and intervention techniques

Let's get certified: best practices for nurse leaders to create a culture of certification.

Certification benefits nurses, patients and their families, and hospitals. Nurses become certified for various reasons: personal challenge; self-improvement; advancement of knowledge and education; demonstration of mastery of skills, knowledge, and abilities; and commitment to lifelong learning and career growth. However, there are also barriers to certification. Fear of test taking or failure and lack of resources or organization recognition are reasons many nurses cite for not becoming certified. Nurse leaders play a pivotal role in supporting nurses to obtain and maintain specialty nursing certification. Nurse leaders may promote certification, support nurses who are on their certification journey, and reward and recognize those staff that become certified. This article will share practices to increase the number of specialty certified nurses in your unit or organization.