Critical Care Resource Nurse Team: A Patient Safety and Quality Outcomes Model.

The Critical Care Resource Nurse Team (CCRNT) evolved from our traditional Rapid Response Team (RRT). The CCRNT is a unique paradigm created using the conceptual framework of the American Association of Critical Care Nursing Synergy Model for Patient Care. The goal of the CCRNT is to help align nurse competencies with patient needs.

Medical emergency kits in ambulatory care clinics.

Implementation and staff perceptions of usability and feasibility.

Emergency Airway Response Team (EART) Documentation: Criteria, Feasibility, and Usability.

Patients in an acute care hospital who experience a difficult airway event outside the operating room need a specialized emergency airway response team (EART) immediately. This designated team manages catastrophic airway events using advanced airway techniques as well as surgical intervention. Nurses respond as part of this team.

Oral Care Clinical Trial to Reduce Non-Intensive Care Unit, Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia: Lessons for Future Research.

Hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) contributes greatly to patient mortality and healthcare costs. Studies have shown that aggressive oral care in intensive care units (ICUs) can significantly reduce pneumonia rates, and hospitals have implemented stringent protocols in this setting. However, little is known about the effectiveness of aggressive oral care in reducing HAP in non-intensive care wards, prompting us to conduct a nonrandomized controlled clinical trial.

Emergency Airway Response Team Simulation Training: A Nursing Perspective.

Background: Simulation-based education is an important tool in the training of professionals in the medical field, especially for low-frequency, high-risk events. An interprofessional simulation-based training program was developed to enhance Emergency Airway Response Team (EART) knowledge, team dynamics, and personnel confidence. This quality improvement study evaluated the EART simulation training results of nurse participants.

Nurse Residency Program Designed for a Large Cohort of New Graduate Nurses: Implementation and Outcomes.

A nurse residency program was designed to train a large group of new graduate nurses hired into multiple specialty areas. The program included a generalist 1 month 5 day/week clinical orientation followed by specialty clinical orientation with ongoing generalist education. Retention rate after 1 year was 91%.

Cardiac monitoring: Hospital-wide education and staff competence.

Background: The numbers of patients in acute care hospitals who require cardiac monitoring are increasing. Unpredictable fluctuations in patient flow may result in shortages of telemetry beds for patients who need this level of care.

Objective: The aims of this study were to design and implement cardiac monitoring education for all medical-surgical nursing staff in a level I trauma center.

Translating guidelines into practice: ventilator-associated pneumonia prevention strategies in an acute rehabilitation unit.

Ventilator-associated pneumonia has significant mortality (33%-50%). The highest risk of ventilator-associated pneumonia is early in mechanical ventilation with an increase in morbidity and mortality seen with late-onset ventilator-associated pneumonia. Prevention strategies have been recommended for acute care facilities, but there is lack of evidence-based data and recommendations for acute rehabilitation units.

Evidence-based practice, clinical simulations workshop, and intravenous medications: moving toward safer practice.

In an era of increased emphasis on medication safety practice, a gap exists in the translation of research to clinical practice for administering intravenous continuous infusion medications. An educational initiative was designed for medical-surgical nurses in a tertiary care center to standardize operational procedures in a clinical model focusing on evidence-based practice.

Standardizing adult tracheostomy tube styles: what is the clinical and cost-effective impact?

Tracheostomy tubes are made of a variety of materials, components, and styles. In a recent merger of our hospitals, we noted a large assortment of tubes available for clinicians. The different tubes resulted in complaints from staff, which included confusion, delays in obtaining preferred tubes, and inconsistent shelf stock.

Neurologic assessment skills for the acute medical surgical nurse.

Practical and efficient neurologic assessment skills are vital for acute care nurses. During an acute neurologic event, the nurse needs a focused assessment of the pertinent history and symptom analysis and an immediate head-to-toe survey, eliciting any abnormal signs to identify and correctly report the medical problem. When a patient requires routine monitoring of neurologic signs, the nurse's role includes a neurologic assessment, collecting and assimilating that data, interpreting the patient problem, notifying the physician when appropriate, and documenting that data.

New graduate RNs in a float pool. An inner-city hospital experience.

Nurse managers and nurse educators alike have historically discouraged hiring new graduate RNs into a float pool and have preferred experienced nurses with multiple clinical skills. With a nursing shortage and changing marketplace, we need different strategies for recruitment and retention and ways to improve our clinical practice. A new graduate RN offers a nursing service an opportunity to employ a motivated, ready-to-learn, educationally prepared and intellectually stimulated nurse who happens to have limited clinical experience.