Use of a Standardized Procedure to Improve Behavioral Health Patients' Care: A Quality Improvement Initiative.

Problem: Meeting the complex needs of behavioral health (BH) patients in the emergency department is an ongoing challenge. Delays in care can have adverse consequences for patient and staff safety and delay transfer to specialized care.

Methods: A quality improvement, nurse-driven initiative using a standardized procedure (STP) was developed and implemented in our busy Southern California Emergency Department, which focused on improving time to first medication and reduction of restraints.

A redesigned pressure ulcer program based on nurses' beliefs about the Braden Scale.

We examined nurses' perceptions about the value and applicability of the Braden Scale as an evidence-based practice assessment tool for determining nursing interventions. Findings revealed that nurses most often chose interventions associated with improving mobility over all other components of the Braden Scale assessment. The redesign of a clinical education program using targeted scenarios for aligning nurses' practice beliefs with comprehensive evidence-based practice interventions is described.

The interdepartmental ticket (IT) factor: enhancing communication to improve quality.

This article presents the implementation and 1-year evaluation of a staff nurse-driven initiative addressing a Joint Commission patient safety imperative to improve the consistency of handoff communication. An interdepartmental ticket was developed and implemented through a planned process. The interdepartmental ticket serves as a requisite passport for providing key communication of critical information to facilitate a safe transition between medical-surgical and progressive care nursing units and specific ancillary departments.

Using learning outcome measures to assess doctoral nursing education.

Education programs at all levels must be able to demonstrate successful program outcomes. Grades alone do not represent a comprehensive measurement methodology for assessing student learning outcomes at either the course or program level. The development and application of assessment rubrics provides an unequivocal measurement methodology to ensure a quality learning experience by providing a foundation for improvement based on qualitative and quantitatively measurable, aggregate course and program outcomes.

Management of embedded foreign body: penetrating stab wound to the head.

Penetrating craniocerebral trauma is an injury in which a projectile violates the skull but does not exit. The significance of penetrating injuries to the head depends largely on the circumstances of the injury, the velocity of impact, and attributes of the projectile. While most penetrating head injuries are caused by firearms, lower-velocity mechanisms of penetrating brain injury present unique challenges for the multidisciplinary team involved with the delivery of care.

The impact of ED nurse manager leadership style on staff nurse turnover and patient satisfaction in academic health center hospitals.

Introduction: Nurse managers with effective leadership skills are an essential component to the solution for ending the nursing shortage. Empirical studies of existing ED nurse manager leadership styles and their impact on key nurse management outcomes such as staff nurse turnover and patient satisfaction have not been performed. The specific aims of this study were to determine what types of leadership styles were used by ED nurse managers in academic health center hospitals and examine their influence on staff nurse turnover and patient satisfaction.