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July 1, 2008 (Volume 8, Issue 7)

Keep nurses satisfied and at the bedside
"We all know about the nursing shortage, and it's more important than ever that when we bring candidates in the door, we have to start thinking about retention as a recruitment tool," Lydia Ostermeier, MSN, RN, CHCR, director of nurse recruitment, retention, work force development, resource allocation, and customer service at Clarian Health in Indianapolis, said during HCPro's March 27 audioconference, "Retention in Nursing: Top Solutions to Keep Nurses from Hire to Retire."

Finance 101 for the new nurse manager
New nurse managers have a very full plate, leaving you little time to seek education and guidance on the principles of finance and budgeting related to your role. But any amount of time you spend learning basic terminology and concepts associated with the budget process will save you time and sanity down the road. Your learning curve begins with knowing who and where your resources are.

Grooming the next generation of nursing leaders
Healthcare facilities spend a great deal of time developing clinical competence in nurses but relatively little time developing nursing leaders. If we are to have competent nurse leaders, it is imperative for us to develop the ones we have and grow new ones from our ranks of entry-level nurses. A question that needs to be addressed, and one that will be unique for each facility, is the level of clinical proficiency expected of nursing leaders as their leadership roles expand.

'Be our guest! Be our guest!'
Becoming a five-star customer service facility means focusing on patient satisfaction at both the macro and micro levels. Customer service and communication will quickly decline if you do not pay enough attention to them. They must become woven into the very fabric of your facility.

CMS proposal could halt payment for nine more hospital-acquired conditions
A new CMS proposal would add nine hospital-acquired conditions (HAC) to the list of conditions it will no longer pay for and require organizations to report on 43 more quality measures to receive their full Medicare reimbursement. The proposal, which applies to all facilities paid under the inpatient prospective payment system, was unveiled April 14. Hospitals have until June 13 to comment on the proposal, and CMS will issue a final rule on or before August 1.

Claim victory over ventilator-associated pneumonia
In 2002, the ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) rate at Owensboro (KY) Medical Health System was "way too high," reaching 22 incidents per 1,000 ventilator days, says Sherry O'Bryan, RN, MSN, ICU manager at the facility. By comparison, a national benchmark at the time was 8.7 incidents per 1,000 ventilator days. Facility officials knew they needed to take action and decided on a goal: to cut the number of VAP infections in half in 18 months using the VAP bundle promoted by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement in Cambridge, MA.

Proposed changes to Universal Protocol could make National Patient Safety Goals more specific
The Joint Commission's proposed changes to the Universal Protocol would make the NPSG much more prescriptive than it has been and require significantly more documentation. Perhaps most important of the proposed changes is the requirement that a staff member directly involved with performing the procedure mark the site with his or her initials.

Project management
You have been handed a project with a pat on the back, a verbal "I know you can handle this," and off goes your manager. You are left feeling lonely and overwhelmed. Always remember, being handed a project does not imply you actually have to do the entire project; overseeing it will be time-consuming enough.

Product Spotlight

Nursing Peer Review:

With this book and CD-ROM, you will develop a formalized, non-punitive structure to examine nurses after unexpected patient outcomes to evaluate whether the care provided was within the agreed upon standards of nursing care. It also includes a mechanism to track and trend data regarding quality of care issues.

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