Providing a Clear Path to the Direct Admission Process.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to increase patient safety during care transitions through the development of a new process and electronic screening tool. BACKGROUND: Direct hospital admissions that are not clinically triaged can put the patient at an increased safety risk. METHODS: Utilizing the electronic medical record and mnemonic situation, background, assessment, and recommendation (SBAR), an admission module was created to intake direct admission requests by transfer center nurses to ensure clinical triage and accurate bed placement. RESULTS: One hundred eighty-nine direct admissions met inclusion criteria. Thirteen patients were clinically screened, deemed not stable for the acute care setting, and sent to the emergency department. One direct admission safety event occurred involving a hypoglycemic patient upon arrival. Results indicate the new clinical screening program offered a safer way to directly admit patients to the inpatient setting. CONCLUSION: Implementation of the electronic SBAR handoff tool meets the Joint Commission standard of care transitions compliance. The significant workflow changes increased patient safety and will be expanded in the future to all service lines.

Surge Planning and Implementation: A Required Competency for Today's Nurse Leaders.

The ability to respond effectively and efficiently during times of crisis, including a pandemic, has emerged as a competency for nurse leaders. This article describes one institution's experience using the American Organization of Nurse Leaders Competencies for Nurse Executives in operationalizing the concept of surge capacity.

COVID-19 and Nurse-Sensitive Indicators: Using Performance Improvement Teams to Address Quality Indicators During a Pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Nurse-sensitive quality indicators have historically been used as a metric of nursing care quality in health care organizations. PROBLEM: At our academic medical center, critically ill COVID-19 patients led to a dramatic change in the organizational standard of care resulting in an increase in nurse-sensitive health care-associated infections. APPROACH: Nursing performance improvement teams provided the structure for development of innovative strategies implemented in real time by our frontline clinicians to address the quality and safety issues found with these elevated health care-associated infections. OUTCOMES: A new COVID-19 CLABSI (central line-associated bloodstream infection) Tip Sheet and a Prone Positioning Kit for HAPI Prevention are strategies developed to address quality of care issues experienced with the COVID-19 patients. CONCLUSIONS: Deployment of these innovative practice strategies has led to a decline in health care-associated infections and instituted a new care standard for the COVID-19 patients.

Iliac vein compression syndrome: an underdiagnosed cause of lower extremity deep venous thrombosis.

Iliac vein compression syndrome (CS) is a rare cause of deep venous thrombosis. It is caused by an anatomic anomaly in which the right common iliac artery overlies the left common iliac vein causing mechanical compression. Subsequent endothelial changes within the vessels have the potential to spur thrombus formation. Aggressive diagnostic and therapeutic interventions must be implemented upon suspicion to avoid long-term complications. We report on a 19 year old male who presented with ICS. We discuss the clinical presentation, diagnosis, and current treatment options.