The Nurse Leader's Pivotal Role in Retaining Millennial Nurses.

With increasing patient acuity and a significant nursing shortage expected in the near future, understanding and gaining the commitment of the new generation of novice nurses are important for nursing leaders. This article provides a review of recent literature and presents innovative strategies that nurse leaders can use to improve the engagement and commitment of millennials. The benefit of expanding mentoring to 3 years, involvement in department committees, quality initiatives, or unit-based councils and opportunities for lateral movement are also discussed.

Accurate falls risk assessment and interventions for preventing falls in patients in the acute care setting within a private hospital in a large capital city: a best practice implementation project.

BACKGROUND: Patient falls are a leading cause of adverse events in Australian hospitals. Most Australian hospitals have fall prevention policies, procedures and programs for preventing inpatient falls; however despite these resources many preventable falls continue to occur in Australian hospitals.It is imperative that clinicians understand the potential impact of inpatient falls, and what triggers can be identified and managed by a multifactorial team approach. Patients admitted to hospital often experience changes in physical and/or cognitive function which is then exacerbated by an unfamiliar environment and medical interventions. Adverse outcomes post falling can range from minor injuries such as skin tears to significant injuries such as intracranial hemorrhages and fractures which can ultimately result in permanent disability or death.In 2007, Calvary Wakefield Hospital implemented a Falls Minimization Program requiring routine assessment of all patients admitted using an Admission Risk Screening Tool in conjunction with completion of a detailed Falls Risk Assessment Tool when indicated. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this implementation was to review current nursing practice against compliance with the Falls Minimization Program and also identify areas for improvement with a focus on preventative strategies. It was essential that the project and its outcomes also complement the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards (standard 10 - Preventing Falls and Harm from Falls) that provide a benchmark for Calvary Wakefield Hospital. This was achieved by completing a baseline audit, implementing a corrective action plan post audit and then re-auditing in three months once strategies had been implemented METHODS: This project used the pre- and post-implementation audit strategy made up of eight criteria using the Joanna Briggs Institute Practical Application of Clinical Evidence System and Getting Research into Practice. The audit, review, implementation and re-audit sequence was the strategy used to improve clinical practice, and the project was conducted over a five-month period, with the addition of a third audit cycle six months post completion of the implementation phase.Results were generated using the JBI-PACES module and were scrutinized by the project lead in conjunction with members of the project team. Results were discussed with key clinicians throughout the duration of the project. Baseline audit results provided the foundation for generating change and this data was then compared with the first follow-up audit to identify improvements in compliance with criteria. Again this data was compared with audits from six months post implementation to identify sustainability of the project. RESULTS: The results from the baseline audit highlighted that there was significant opportunity for improvement in all criteria audited. It was pleasing to report that in the first follow-up audit cycle, nearly all criteria showed an improvement in both medical and surgical fields. The greatest areas of improvement pertained to healthcare professionals receiving formal education (improvement of 46%), and patient and family education improved by 43%. To measure sustainability, a second follow-up audit was conducted using the same criteria and identified that strategies implemented had in fact been maintained, and the results were consistent with those from the first follow-up audit. CONCLUSIONS: The project used the pre- and post-audit strategy to translate evidence into practice, and not only demonstrated that implementation of evidence-based practice is possible in the acute setting but also showed improvement in the prevention of falls and harm from falls in that setting.

Factors affecting the adoption of quality assurance technologies in healthcare.

PURPOSE: In the light of public concern and of strong policy emphasis on quality and safety in the nursing care of patients in hospital settings, this paper aims to focus on the factors affecting the adoption of innovative quality assurance technologies. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Two sets of complementary literature were mined for key themes. Next, new empirical insights were sought. Data gathering was conducted in three phases. The first involved contact with NHS Technology Hubs and other institutions which had insights into leading centres in quality assurance technologies. The second phase was a series of telephone interviews with lead nurses in those hospitals which were identified in the first phase as comprising the leading centres. The third phase comprised a series of face to face interviews with innovators and adopters of healthcare quality assurance technologies in five hospital trusts. FINDINGS: There were three main sets of findings. First, despite the strong policy push and the templates established at national level, there were significant variations in the nature and robustness of the quality assurance toolkits that were developed, adapted and adopted. Second, in most of the adopting cases there were important obstacles to the full adoption of the toolkits that were designed. Third, the extent and nature of the ambition of the developers varied dramatically - some wished to see their work impacting widely across the health service; others had a number of different reasons for wanting to restrict the impact of their work. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The general concerns about front-line care and the various inquiries into care quality failures emphasise the need for improved and consistent care quality assurance methodologies and practice. The technology adoption literature gives only partial insight into the nature of the challenges; this paper offers specific insights into the factors inhibiting the full adoption of quality assurance technologies in ward-based care.

Validation of the process criteria for assessment of a hospital nursing service.

OBJECTIVE: to validate an instrument containing process criteria for assessment of a hospital nursing service based on the National Accreditation Organization program. METHOD: a descriptive, quantitative methodological study performed in stages. An instrument constructed with 69 process criteria was assessed by 49 nurses from accredited hospitals in 2009, according to a Likert scale, and validated by 16 judges through Delphi rounds in 2010. RESULT: the original instrument assessed by nurses with 69 process criteria was judged by the degree of importance, and changed to 39 criteria. In the first Delphi round, the 39 criteria reached consensus among the 19 judges, with a medium reliability by Cronbach's alpha. In the second round, 40 converging criteria were validated by 16 judges, with high reliability. The criteria addressed management, costs, teaching, education, indicators, protocols, human resources, communication, among others. CONCLUSION: the 40 process criteria formed a validated instrument to assess the hospital nursing service which, when measured, can better direct interventions by nurses in reaching and strengthening outcomes.

Validation of the process criteria for assessment of a hospital nursing service / Validação dos critérios de processo para avaliação do serviço de enfermagem hospitalar / La validación de los criterios del proceso de evaluación del servicio de enfermería hospitalario

OBJECTIVE: to validate an instrument containing process criteria for assessment of a hospital nursing service based on the National Accreditation Organization program. METHOD: a descriptive, quantitative methodological study performed in stages. An instrument constructed with 69 process criteria was assessed by 49 nurses from accredited hospitals in 2009, according to a Likert scale, and validated by 16 judges through Delphi rounds in 2010. RESULT: the original instrument assessed by nurses with 69 process criteria was judged by the degree of importance, and changed to 39 criteria. In the first Delphi round, the 39 criteria reached consensus among the 19 judges, with a medium reliability by Cronbach's alpha. In the second round, 40 converging criteria were validated by 16 judges, with high reliability. The criteria addressed management, costs, teaching, education, indicators, protocols, human resources, communication, among others. CONCLUSION: the 40 process criteria formed a validated instrument to assess the hospital nursing service which, when measured, can better direct interventions by nurses in reaching and strengthening outcomes. .

OBJETIVO: validar um instrumento com critérios de processo para avaliação do serviço de enfermagem, com base na Organização Nacional de Acreditação. MÉTODO: estudo descritivo, quantitativo, de abordagem metodológica, realizado em etapas, onde, após elaboração do instrumento com 69 critérios de processo, esse foi avaliado, conforme escala tipo Likert, por 49 enfermeiros de hospitais acreditados em 2009, e validado por 16 juízes, por meio do ciclo de Delphi, em 2010. RESULTADO: o instrumento inicial, analisado pelos enfermeiros com 69 critérios de processo, foi julgado pelo grau de importância, e passou para 39 critérios. No 1º ciclo Delphi, os 39 critérios atingiram o consenso entre os 19 juízes, com média de confiabilidade pelo alfa Cronbach. No 2º ciclo, foram validados 40 critérios convergentes, por 16 juízes, com alta confiabilidade. Os critérios abordam a gestão, custo, ensino, educação, indicadores, protocolos, recursos humanos, comunicação, entre outros. CONCLUSÃO: os 40 critérios de processo validados formam um instrumento para avaliação do serviço de enfermagem hospitalar que, ao ser mensurado, pode melhor direcionar as intervenções pelo enfermeiro para o alcance e fortalecimento dos resultados. .

OBJETIVO: validar un instrumento que contiene los criterios del proceso de evaluación de los servicios de enfermería de hospitales basado en el programa de la Organización Nacional de Acreditación. MÉTODO: estudio metodológico descriptivo, cuantitativo realizado en etapas. Un instrumento construido con 69 criterios del proceso fue evaluado por 49 enfermeras de los hospitales acreditados en 2009, utilizando una escala Likert, y validado por 16 jueces a través de rondas Delphi en 2010. RESULTADO: el instrumento original evaluado por enfermeras tenía 69 criterios del proceso que fueron juzgados por el grado de importancia, y se modificaron 39 criterios. En la primera ronda Delphi, los 19 jueces llegaron a un consenso acerca de los 39 criterios, con una confiabilidad media obtenida a través de alfa de Cronbach. En la segunda ronda, 40 criterios convergentes fueron validados por 16 jueces, con una alta confiabilidad. Los criterios abordados fueron gestión, costos, enseñanza, educación, indicadores, protocolos, recursos humanos, comunicación, entre otros. CONCLUSIÓN: los 40 criterios del proceso formaron un instrumento validado para evaluar el servicio de enfermería hospitalario, que, cuando se mide, puede dirigir mejor las intervenciones de enfermería para alcanzar y fortalecer los resultados. .

Value-based resource management: a model for best value nursing care.

With the health care environment shifting to a value-based payment system, Catholic Health Initiatives nursing leadership spearheaded an initiative with 14 hospitals to establish best nursing care at a lower cost. The implementation of technology-enabled business processes at point of care led to a new model for best value nursing care: Value-Based Resource Management. The new model integrates clinical patient data from the electronic medical record and embeds the new information in care team workflows for actionable real-time decision support and predictive forecasting. The participating hospitals reported increased patient satisfaction and cost savings in the reduction of overtime and improvement in length of stay management. New data generated by the initiative on nursing hours and cost by patient and by population (Medicare severity diagnosis-related groups), and patient health status outcomes across the acute care continuum expanded business intelligence for a value-based population health system.

Specialized vascular floors after open aortic surgery: cost containment while preserving quality outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Postoperative care of open abdominal aortic surgery (OAAS) traditionally involves the intensive care unit (ICU). We hypothesized that in patients without an indication for postoperative ICU admission, admission to a specialized vascular floor unit (hemodynamic monitoring, 2:1 nursing) offers cost savings to both payer and institution without compromising care. METHODS: The electronic medical record was used to collect perioperative data for patients who underwent OAAS between July 2007 and July 2011. The university's cost accounting system provided information on revenue, total margin, and professional billing. Patients with ICU indications (spinal drain, Swan-Ganz monitoring, vasopressors, intubation, or blood product resuscitation) were excluded. Comparative cost and outcome analysis was performed on vascular ward and ICU admissions using the Fisher's exact test for dichotomous categorical variables and the Student's t-test for continuous variables. Long-term survival comparison was calculated using Kaplan-Meier survival estimates. RESULTS: One hundred thirty of 215 patients were included for analysis (85 excluded, 51 floor, 79 ICU). Perioperative data amongst the floor and ICU cohorts were similar. Day of operation professional billing fees were comparable (ICU $13,365 vs. floor $12,626; P = 0.18); however, postoperative professional fees were significantly higher in the ICU cohort (ICU $3,258 vs. floor $2,101; P = 0.001) primarily because of intensivist billing. The hospital generated an average of 8.7% more revenue from the ICU cohort (ICU $37,770 vs. floor $34,756; P = 0.023). This was offset by greater expenses in the ICU cohort (ICU $30,756 vs. floor $25,144; P = 0.02), yielding a hospital profit margin of 107.5% favoring floor admission (ICU $2,858 vs. floor $5,931; P = 0.19). Duration of stay was similar (ICU 8.0 days vs. floor 7.8 days; P = 0.86). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was not significantly different between cohorts (ICU 10.1%, median follow-up, 1,070 days vs. floor 0%, median follow-up, 405 days; P = 0.13). CONCLUSIONS: Postoperative admission to the ICU is not always necessary after OAAS. Specialized vascular floors offer a financial savings to both payer and institution, which allows for simultaneous cost containment while preserving quality outcomes.

Assessment and accreditation system improves patient safety.

In 2008, Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust introduced a ward-based performance assessment framework, the Nursing Assessment and Accreditation System, which is designed to foster a culture of safety by helping nurses monitor the quality of care. It is based on the trust's Safe, Clean and Personal Every time approach to service provision and is designed to support communication, accountability, teamworking and leadership, attention to safety and quality improvement, to ensure that patients are placed at the centre of the care services provided.

Input data quality control for NDNQI national comparative statistics and quarterly reports: a contrast of three robust scale estimators for multiple outlier detection.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate institutional nursing care performance in the context of national comparative statistics (benchmarks), approximately one in every three major healthcare institutions (over 1,800 hospitals) across the United States, have joined the National Database for Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI). With over 18,000 hospital units contributing data for nearly 200 quantitative measures at present, a reliable and efficient input data screening for all quantitative measures for data quality control is critical to the integrity, validity, and on-time delivery of NDNQI reports. METHODS: With Monte Carlo simulation and quantitative NDNQI indicator examples, we compared two ad-hoc methods using robust scale estimators, Inter Quartile Range (IQR) and Median Absolute Deviation from the Median (MAD), to the classic, theoretically-based Minimum Covariance Determinant (FAST-MCD) approach, for initial univariate outlier detection. RESULTS: While the theoretically based FAST-MCD used in one dimension can be sensitive and is better suited for identifying groups of outliers because of its high breakdown point, the ad-hoc IQR and MAD approaches are fast, easy to implement, and could be more robust and efficient, depending on the distributional property of the underlying measure of interest. CONCLUSION: With highly skewed distributions for most NDNQI indicators within a short data screen window, the FAST-MCD approach, when used in one dimensional raw data setting, could overestimate the false alarm rates for potential outliers than the IQR and MAD with the same pre-set of critical value, thus, overburden data quality control at both the data entry and administrative ends in our setting.

A path to nursing excellence.

The return on investment for achieving Magnet status can be found in improved quality and reduced turnover.

Joint or clinical chairs in nursing: from cup of plenty to poisoned chalice?

AIM: This paper presents a discussion of the current state of joint chair or clinical chair positions in nursing. Background. Joint chair positions in nursing or midwifery have been popular approaches to developing clinical research and to bridging the 'theory-practice gap'. Recent personal observations and commentaries in the literature suggest that the service-academy consensus that underpinned such positions may be crumbling. DATA SOURCES: This paper is based on 13 years' experience of holding a joint chair position, an extensive review of the professional literature (up to and including 2009 sources), and conversations and discussions with many professorial and joint chair colleagues. DISCUSSION: Despite its demonstrated success, the joint chair position may be under threat from competing and unrealistic demands from partner organizations and from changing understandings of the essential role and nature of a professor. The situation may be exacerbated by appointing inexperienced or unsuitable applicants to such key posts. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING: The joint chair position was a powerful initiative in nursing and midwifery with real potential. In the current climate, this potential is unlikely to be realized and nursing will be the poorer. CONCLUSION: If joint chair positions are still valued and seen as key roles in developing clinical research and university-service partnerships, then serious consideration needs to be given to the current state of position. I argue for a return to trust and what Onora O'Neill calls 'intelligent accountability' rather than the micromanagement that is so prevalent in both the health and academic industries.

The application of crime science to the prevention of medication errors.

It is now accepted that human error in healthcare is inevitable and that a punitive response does not facilitate patient safety. Reason's (2000) system approach acknowledges that adverse events, such as medication errors, rarely have a single explanation and advocates the review of systemic factors, such as organizational culture, management and strategy. Rational choice theory has much in common with the system approach but the emphasis is on understanding the decision-making process of those who make errors. It could therefore be used in conjunction with the system approach to enhance the ability of healthcare providers to learn from medication errors and other adverse events. The aim of this article is to explore the relationship between rational choice theory and the system approach to error management in nursing.

How our ICU decreased the rate of hospital-acquired pressure ulcers.

We describe 7 strategies our intensive care unit implemented to decrease the rate of hospital-acquired pressure ulcers. These strategies include the following: (1) restructured risk assessment and documentation, (2) translated numeric data into graphs for ease of understanding by staff, (3) increased staff awareness, (4) implemented "turn rounds," (5) increased prevalence assessments and redesigned structure of the skin team, (6) used evidence-based practice as a basis for care, and (7) created an Access database to track weekly prevalence.

Piloting nursing-sensitive hospital care measures in Massachusetts.

Under the umbrella of the Massachusetts Hospital Association and Massachusetts Organization of Nurse Executives Patients First Initiative, Massachusetts hospitals tested a subset of NQF-endorsed nursing-sensitive care measures in 2006. In this report, we describe the pilot test, report on pilot test measure data, summarize participant feedback on the tested measures, and offer observations on lessons learned from the pilot test.

Surveying nursing practice on wards for older people with mental health needs.

This article discusses a survey of the nursing care of older people with mental health problems in inpatient units. The survey considered assessment and care planning, record keeping, the environment, staff, user and carer feedback, staffing systems, compliments, complaints, incidents, dementia care mapping, and a clinical supervision and training needs audit. Practice development work, undertaken to ensure that the project's recommendations were implemented, is also described.