Be a Champion! An Approach to Medical Emergency Response In Situ Simulations in the Outpatient Setting.

Results from a needs assessment conducted by nursing professional development practitioners across several clinics in the Midwest showed current educational methods to prepare for medical emergencies were insufficient. A champion model was used to complete in situ medical emergency response simulations. This proved to be an effective method for staff preparation when resources were limited and identified opportunities for practice improvement.

Don't Forget About Us! Nurse Leaders May Benefit From Orientation Education to Support Their Preceptors and New Hires.

Nurse managers play an important role in supporting preceptors and new hires. Unless a nurse manager had previous experience and preparation as a preceptor, they may not fully understand the role nor have the foundational knowledge needed to support preceptors and new hires throughout orientation. Educating nurse managers on preceptor core skills had a positive impact and added value to their practice.

Implementing a Nursing Skills Practice Laboratory Using Social Distancing During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic emphasized the importance of preparing nursing staff at healthcare organizations to adequately respond and care for the influx of patients infected with the virus. Training redeployed nursing staff on equipment basics of acute care nursing while following social distancing guidelines posed a challenge. A skills practice laboratory was implemented utilizing a self-learning methodology while adhering to social distancing guidelines. This had favorable results in meeting objectives and improving anxiety and confidence.

Perspective of a float pool model in ambulatory care.

During challenging economic times, health care organizations need to function as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible. Use of a float model may help nurses meet patient care demands in the ambulatory setting.

Standardizing hospital discharge planning at the Mayo Clinic.

BACKGROUND: Improving the quality of patient coordination in the transition from hospital to home is a high-priority health care concern. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Conditions of Participation in the Medicare Program require that hospitals have a discharge planning (DP) process in effect that applies to all patients. The impact of a practice change in DP practice on the quality of care coordination at discharge was evaluated from patients' perspectives. METHODS: A multifactor, evidence-based DP practice change, which included merging of DP specialist roles and use of an early screen for DP decision support tool, was initiated in a large, Midwestern academic medical center and evaluated in a nonequivalent comparison group design with separate pre- and postpractice change samples. The three-item Care Transitions Measure (CTM-3) was mailed to adults recently discharged from one medical and one surgical nursing unit before and after the practice change. RESULTS: Response rates were 52.4% before (218/416) and 39.5% (153/387) after the practice change. There were no significant differences between characteristics of the pre- and postpractice change participants. The mean CTM-3 score of patients who received assistance from the nurse/ social worker DP team improved by 14 points (67.2 to 81.2), although the data were skewed with a ceiling effect, rendering the results inconclusive. CONCLUSIONS: Although the CTM-3 results were inconclusive, the practice change resulted in a clinically meaningful decrease in length of stay for a group of older patients at greater risk for complex discharge plans. The proactive approach to DP proved to be a valuable shift. The successes of the standardization of DP processes and improved multidisciplinary teamwork were important considerations for implementation throughout the organization.