Patient education resource assessment: project management.

To thrive in today's health care environment, hospitals are constantly striving to exceed their customers' expectations in delivering quality care in a cost-effective manner. Meeting the patient educational needs of the consumer is one well-recognized aspect of quality care. Delivering quality care does not happen by chance; rather, it requires intense planning. Our academic medical center formalized this process by empowering professional staff from Nursing Development to develop and implement a patient education strategic plan. This article outlines the project management for the assessment phase of this strategic planning process. The findings were instrumental in outlining the future direction for patient education initiatives that will benefit both the patient and the organization.

Building a 21st century facility.

At Chicago's Northwestern Memorial Hospital, staff worked for 10 years to design a new facility and plan the transition for their patients, their equipment, and themselves.

Impact of telephone reinforcement of risk reduction education on patient compliance.

Smoking and hyperlipidemia are key risk factors resulting in peripheral arterial disease. These risk factors can be reduced when appropriate lifestyle changes are made, especially for patients less than 60 years of age. Therefore patient education regarding smoking cessation and healthy diet changes may positively impact the course of disease. The ability to make a lifestyle change is affected by (1) an individual's belief that his or her behavior affects the condition and (2) the social support received from family, especially a primary caregiver. This pilot study compared two randomized groups of patients with peripheral arterial disease for a 1-year period. The control group received the standardized teaching plan regarding smoking cessation and diet at the postoperative clinic visit. The experimental group received the standardized teaching plan in addition to quarterly telephone calls to reinforce smoking cessation and diet information. At the end of 1 year, both groups received follow-up telephone calls at the conclusion of the study for endpoint data collection. Specifically, this project investigated the following research statements: (1) Patients who receive periodic telephone follow-up will have greater compliance with the recommendations regarding smoking and diet than those who do not receive follow-up. (2) Patients whose caregivers are compliant with the recommendations regarding smoking cessation and diet will have significantly higher compliance themselves. The data were analyzed by using cross tabulation, sign test, and McNemar's test for nonparametric data to measure mobility, overall perception of health, knowledge of risk reduction information, and compliance with the smoking cessation and low fat/cholesterol diet plan. The results of this pilot study revealed no significant differences between the control and experimental groups. Telephone reinforcement was not sufficient in this study to influence lifestyle change. However, standardized teaching improved diet scores in both groups. Differences were found between smokers and nonsmokers.

Conducting unit-based research to improve quality of care.

How does a tertiary care medical center without a primary academic nursing affiliation improve quality of patient care by conducting unit-based nursing research? The organization's strengths and opportunities include top management support, an infrastructure for development of nurse researchers, a specific patient care coordinator role, research supporting organizational decision making, and success in obtaining nursing research grants. The effects of limited consultative support, statistical avoidance, reorganization, competing staff demands, and lack of funding must be minimized. Strategies include: continue communication with top management, provide meaningful development opportunities and technical research support, build on completed research, use multidisciplinary teams, and change thinking to maximize the research opportunities that already exist.

Peer social support: a key to care giver morale and satisfaction.

Social support is a group dynamic, but studies have not identified specific strategies for managers to use as direct environmental resources. The authors discuss a study that explored group social support as a component of job morale for bedside care givers. Specific unit-based factors are identified for managers to develop focused staff social support activities. These include means of universal recognition, use of common space, methods to develop team culture and styles, and methods of communication.

Evaluating a committee structure.

An active nursing committee structure supports a healthcare organization's ability to provide high-quality care. Traditionally, the success of a committee structure has been measured quantitatively in terms of staff nurse participation or the number of policies processed. The authors describe the process by which one nursing division evaluated their committee structure in terms of achieving the goals of their strategic plan, communication effectiveness, and the benefits and costs of participation.