A New Patient Acuity Tool to Support Equitable Patient Assignments in a Progressive Care Unit.

Making fair and equitable staffing decisions and patient assignments created complexities and undue nursing dissatisfaction on a 20-bed progressive care unit. Common themes shared by the nursing staff included inadequate staffing ratios, increased workload, and unease for patient safety. On the basis of these concerns, a unit-based needs assessment provided insight into what perceived and actual barriers exist preventing nurses from providing excellent care.

Managing Falls: Implementation of a Three-Intervention Initiative to Improve Quality of Care for Patients With Cancer.

Background: All healthcare institutions prioritize falls as a major safety issue. Falls are of particular concern on inpatient oncology units where patients are substantially at risk for injury related to falls.

Objectives: This article describes a multifaceted fall-prevention initiative that can be implemented on oncology units using evidence-based interventions in the key areas of communication, toileting, and hourly rounding.

The Trach Trail: A Systems-Based Pathway to Improve Quality of Tracheostomy Care and Interdisciplinary Collaboration.

Objective: To implement a standardized tracheostomy pathway that reduces length of stay through tracheostomy education, coordinated care protocols, and tracking patient outcomes.

Methods: The project design involved retrospective analysis of a baseline state, followed by a multimodal intervention (Trach Trail) and prospective comparison against synchronous controls. Patients undergoing tracheostomy from 2015 to 2016 (n = 60) were analyzed for demographics and outcomes.