Honouring patient's resuscitation wishes: a multiphased effort to improve identification and documentation.

Background: Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) orders are intended to safeguard patients' autonomy and prevent unwanted resuscitative care. However, DNR orders may be miscommunicated between health care providers, leading to errors honoring patient wishes during cardiac arrest events. This project focused on improving accuracy of DNR ordering processes for an academic, tertiary care hospital.

Registered nurse initiation of a tobacco intervention protocol: leading quality care.

Unlabelled: This article summarizes the development and implementation of a registered nurse-initiated protocol to intervene with hospitalized patients who are tobacco-dependent, may be experiencing tobacco withdrawal, and who are hospitalized in a smoke-free environment.

Rationale: Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Hospitalization provides a unique teachable moment to treat tobacco dependence.

A nonresident cardiovascular inpatient service improves residents' experiences in an academic medical center: a new model to meet the challenges of the new millennium.

Purpose: Hospital practices in academic medical centers have fewer medical residents available to provide hospital care, necessitating alternative models for patient care. This article reports a new model for care of inpatients with cardiovascular diseases.

Method: In 1998, a new nonresident cardiovascular patient care (Cardiology IV) service was implemented that used a team approach of staff attending cardiologists, cardiovascular fellows, midlevel practitioners (nurse practitioners and physician's assistants), and nurses to evaluate and treat patients.