An interventional approach for patient and nurse safety: a fatigue countermeasures feasibility study.

Background: Studies indicate that extended shifts worked by hospital staff nurses are associated with higher risk of errors. Long work hours coupled with insufficient sleep and fatigue are even riskier. Although other industries have developed programs to reduce fatigue-related errors and injury, fatigue countermeasures program for nurses (FCMPN) are lacking.

Implementing a fatigue countermeasures program for nurses: a focus group analysis.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe the structural, organizational, and environmental factors associated with the implementation a fatigue countermeasures program for nurses (FCMPN).

Background: The industrial sector has developed fatigue management programs to improve safety for employees and customers. However, fatigue management programs have not been developed for nurses.

Meeting the complex needs of the health care team: identification of nurse-team communication practices perceived to enhance patient outcomes.

Nurses occupy a central position in today's increasingly collaborative health care teams that place a premium on quality patient care. In this study we examined critical team processes and identified specific nurse-team communication practices that were perceived by team members to enhance patient outcomes. Fifty patient-care team members were interviewed to uncover forms of nurse communication perceived to improve team performance.

Collaboration, credibility, compassion, and coordination: professional nurse communication skill sets in health care team interactions.

This study explored how nurses communicate professionalism in interactions with members of their health care teams. Extant research show that effective team communication is a vital aspect of a positive nursing practice environment, a setting that has been linked to enhanced patient outcomes. Although communication principles are emphasized in nursing education as an important component of professional nursing practice, actual nurse interaction skills in team-based health care delivery remain understudied.