A guide for HCAs on safe patient transfers.

This article is written predominantly for healthcare assistants. It may also be useful for anyone less familiar with transferring patients or who delegates to HCAs. It offers a definition of patient transfer and addresses considerations for patient safety and the role of HCAs throughout the three distinct phases of transfer, which are: preparation to transfer (before); considerations of transfer (during); and at the point of final handover (actual transfer) in a hospital.

Factors that contribute to the diversion of patients from long-term care.

This service evaluation aimed to identify the factors at an interim care unit that contributed to the diversion of patients from long-term care to care at home. A triangulated, mixed methods approach was adopted. Data were collated from an analysis of individual patient case notes; interviews with patients, carers and relatives; and workshops with unit staff.

The nurse's role in hospital ward rounds.

Ward rounds are a crucial aspect of acute care, but nurses' involvement varies. While their responsibilities on ward rounds may vary from ward to ward, nurses have a vital role to play and should make it a priority to attend. This article discusses key aspects of nurses' responsibilities and the different stages in the ward-round process.

Packed and ready to go.

Timely discharge from hospital is a fundamental part of care that requires staff to be well trained, clear about their roles and open to innovative ideas.

Implementing nurse-led discharge.

Many hospitals have for years tried to introduce nurse-led discharge but the evidence suggests this has not been entirely successful. Projects have failed due to lack of engagement from staff, failure to monitor outcomes and lack of sustainability. This article describes the early stages of the introduction of nurse/midwife-led discharge at the Heart of England Foundation Trust, which attempted to address these issues.

Promoting single sex acute units.

This article discusses an audit to explore patients' experiences of being nursed in mixed sex accommodation on an acute medicine unit. It outlines achievements resulting from the audit, which include staff awareness of the effect of mixed sex areas on patients and changing the culture in the unit to embrace single sex bays.

A practitioner's guide to service development.

Service development and service improvement are complex concepts, but this should not prevent practitioners engaging in, or initiating, them. There is no set blueprint for service development so this article examines the process, describes the skills required, lists some change management tools and offers a guide to the stages involved. The article aims to demystify service development for those considering embarking on the process for the first time.

Improving the quality of nursing documentation on an acute medicine unit.

Background: An action research project was undertaken to explore issues underpinning poor quality documentation and how improvement in assessment can be achieved and sustained.

Aim: To improve nursing documentation, as well as the quality of nursing assessments and evaluation in an acute medicine unit using anaction research approach.

Method: Nurses from an acute medicine unit helped develop a new process for assessment documentation.

Exploring the principles of best practice discharge to ensure patient involvement.

Recent guidance features 10 practical steps to improve the process of patient discharge and transfer- one of the eight high impact actions for nursing and midwifery. This article examines the current policy context surrounding discharge in the health service, and gives practical advice on implementing the 10 steps. For each step the Lean methodology has been used.

Venous thromboembolism risk assessments in acute care.

This article is aimed at nurses and other health professionals working in clinical practice and involved in venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk assessments. The article adds to the body of published literature relating to patient risk assessment for VTE by exploring practical clinical perspectives of introducing a sustainable risk assessment process. It reports on a series of small scale changes carried out during a project in an acute medicine unit at the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust in Birmingham, which aimed to improve the level of compliance with carrying out VTE risk assessments and administering prophylaxis.

Developing discharge practice through education: module development, delivery and outcomes.

In England (UK) the discharge of patients from hospital is a source of constant scrutiny from primary care trusts in order to reduce the patient length of stay in Hospital. To support nurses in practice a part time, post registration discharge practice education module was developed entitled Facilitating Timely Patient Discharge. It was the first of its kind to be accredited at degree level (level 6) during 2006.

Implementing a patient assessment framework in acute care.

This article describes the secondment of a critical care practitioner to an acute medicine unit. The aim was to develop the acute assessment skills of the unit's nurses and to implement a new assessment framework. The secondment took place over four months from December 2007 to March 2008 at the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham.

Auditing the nursing standard for weighing patients on an acute medical unit.

This article describes an audit of a standard for observations and assessments introduced on an acute medical unit (AMU), one element of which was patient weight. It showed that only 50% of nurses routinely weighed patients as part of the admission process and/or as part of nutritional screening. Revisions were made to the existing nursing standard.