Discovering "What Matters" to patients: A quality improvement project.

PURPOSE: Age-Friendly Health Systems were developed to provide an evidenced based framework to provide high-quality care to older adults. The purpose of this quality improvement initiative was to increase the completion of the "What Matters" section of the "Get to Know Me" boards. METHODS: Face-to-face training was provided to staff via individual sessions on "What Matters" to patients and how to complete the boards. Re-education continued weekly over a 15 week period. Board Completion rates were collected weekly. RESULTS: 60 nurses participated in this project. The "What Matters" completion rates increased from 27 % to 59 % over the intervention period on the SACU and 16 % to 32 % on the SIMC . CONCLUSIONS: The "Get to Know Me Boards" are a visible way to describe "What Matters" to patients. Education helped to increase the completion rate of the boards allowing for "What Matters" to be accessible to members of the healthcare team.

Designing an outcome-focused model for orienting new graduate nurses.

A new outcome-focused orientation model was developed in response to poor preceptor satisfaction and a high nurse graduate turnover. Progression through the program was determined by the orientee's accomplishment of the target or strategic outcomes across seven progressive phases-not by time and budget. At the conclusion of the first year, decreased turnover, increased preceptor satisfaction, and substantial financial savings were documented.