Subject(s)
Critical Care/standards , Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care/organization & administration , Patient Care Planning/organization & administration , Respiration, Artificial/nursing , Respiration, Artificial/standards , Total Quality Management/organization & administration , Critical Care/statistics & numerical data , Critical Care/trends , Humans , Length of Stay/statistics & numerical data , Program Development , Respiration, Artificial/statistics & numerical data , Respiration, Artificial/trends , Time FactorsABSTRACT
Outcomes management offers the advanced practice nurse an opportunity to lead interdisciplinary providers in the restructuring of health care services across the continuum of care. Within an outcomes management framework, the advanced practice nurse functions as an attending nurse for a population of patients by overseeing interdisciplinary care delivery and outcomes measurement and refining standardized practices to achieve best practice.
Subject(s)
Case Management , Nurse Clinicians , Nurse Practitioners , Outcome Assessment, Health Care , Humans , Job Description , Models, Nursing , Nursing ResearchABSTRACT
This article examines the structure and process of a collaborative practice team established specifically to improve the quality and financial outcomes of ventilator-dependent patients in a tertiary care teaching hospital. A brief overview of descriptors regarding ventilator-dependent patients is synthesized from the literature and compared with the population at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston, Tex. An analysis of statistically significant physiologic variances that have been found to increase mechanical ventilation time or length of stay is detailed. Focused quality initiatives are discussed. Specific criteria indicative of improved outcomes are presented along with recommendations for future improvements.
