Aligning for Heroes: Partnership for Veteran Care in New Hampshire.

A growing number of veterans and service members ("veterans" refers to both veterans and eligible service members) are returning home and may be living with mental health conditions related to their military service. For a variety of reasons, the majority of US veterans receive their health care outside the Veterans Administration or the military health system. Nurse leaders and citizen-soldiers were among a number of concerned government officials, health care professionals, service providers, and military leaders in New Hampshire (NH) who joined forces to explore NH veterans' mental health needs and manage provider service capacity.

Going beyond patient classification systems to create an evidence-based staffing methodology.

The Department of Veterans Affairs developed a nationally standardized nurse staffing methodology, using an evidence-based process. We present an overview, linking an integrative review of recent literature on patient classification systems, interdisciplinary expert panel consultation, operational feasibility assessment, and frontline manager involvement. This resulted in 7 candidate indicators for inclusion in unit-specific staffing models.

Predisposing characteristics, enabling resources and need as predictors of utilization and clinical outcomes for veterans receiving mental health services.

Background: Though demand for mental health services (MHS) among US veterans is increasing, MHS utilization per veteran is decreasing. With health and social service needs competing for limited resources, it is important to understand the association between patient factors, MHS utilization, and clinical outcomes.

Objectives: We use a framework based on Andersen's behavioral model of health service utilization to examine predisposing characteristics, enabling resources, and clinical need as predictors of MHS utilization and clinical outcomes.

Results of an integrative review of patient classification systems.

This chapter presents the findings of an integrative review of the literature to identify current practices related to patient classification systems (PCSs). We sought to determine if there was a "gold standard" PCS that could be adopted or adapted for use by nurse leaders in practice. Sixty-three articles reporting studies related to PCS, Patient Acuity Systems or Workload Management Systems from 1983 to 2010 and applicable for inpatient medical/surgical settings were reviewed.

The culture of nursing engagement: a historical perspective.

Work engagement is key to organizational efforts to retain nurses and mitigate future nursing shortages. In their dual role as caregivers and organization "keepers," nurses may already have the key to creating a culture of engagement. The characteristics and benefits of "engaging" work environments are captured in nursing professional practice models, as evidenced by a quarter century of research on Magnet hospitals and professional practice.

Measuring the influence of professional nursing practice on global hospital performance in an organizational context.

The purpose of this study was to measure the influence of professional nursing practice (PNP) on global hospital performance (GHP). Evidence links PNP and positive outcomes for patients and nurses, however, little is known about PNP influence on GHP measures used for patient decision-making and hospital management resource allocation decisions. A quantitative study using multiple regression analysis to predict a composite measure of GHP was conducted.