American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing
Login
Cart
Support
Search
Store
Certification Review Course
Conferences
Publication Contact Hours
FAQ
Quick Tips
Rotating banner image
Event Summary
Sessions
Engagement
More

The View Archive button will launch a recorded poster presentation.

Congratulations to the selected Spotlight posters! These featured posters are the top 10 scored posters.


  • Displaying 80 - 90 of 102
  • First
  • «
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • »
  • Last
P079 - Nurse-Driven Remote Monitoring Programs for Heart Failure (HF) Management
Karina Brown, BSN, RN    |     Heather Gunter, MSN, MBA, HCM, RN NE-BC
Tags: heart failure ambulatory care nurse-driven remote monitoring multidisciplinary

Updated: 03/22/23

Updated: 03/22/23
Objective: To develop nurse-led remote monitoring programs for HF management to improve quality of life and reduce hospital readmissions.
Background: The nurse-driven remote HF program was developed to refocus the APP's work burden, allowing them to focus on billable encounters. Leveraging a dedicated RN to assess and manage the HF patients keeps team members working at the top of their licenses and allows for consistent, safe patient care.
Methods: A multidisciplinary heart failure team was developed to include an MD and APP, as well as a new HF RN position created for remote HF monitoring. Together, the team streamlined processes and developed tools to ensure a standard workflow was followed. Remote monitoring has enabled us to further support and improve quality of life for our advanced HF patients by allowing us to remotely monitor their fluid status on a daily basis. By doing so we are able to closely follow trends and promptly respond with assessment and interventions. Interventions may include medication adjustments, lab orders, same-day provider visits, and reinforced education. Often, temporary diuretic adjustments combined with reinforced education are enough to prevent hospital readmission.
Results: HF patients feel more empowered in their care and are more likely to reach out in early stages of decompensation, which results in earlier interventions and reduces need for emergency department visits. The RN builds a strong relationship with the patients and works with patient and family to develop an individualized treatment plan. Patients express "feelings of being watched over" and comfort in knowing who to reach out to for questions. In early stages of program development, it was identified that patients benefited from targeted HF education specific to symptom monitoring and management, medication compliance, diet, and additional beneficial resources available through our healthcare system. Because of this, we developed a virtual HF education class tailored to address these specific needs.
Conclusions: Since implementing the nurse-driven HF remote monitoring program, we have expanded the program to include two additional devices that are remotely monitored. As ambulatory care continues to evolve and the pressure to reduce hospital readmissions increases, healthcare organizations will find that remote monitoring in the outpatient setting enables us to provide quality, timely care while reducing the need for emergency services and preventing hospital readmissions.

Learning Objective:

  • After completing this learning activity, the participant will be able to assess innovations being used by other professionals in the specialty and evaluate the potential of implementing the improvements into practice.

P080 - Getting the Full Picture: Nurses Find Ways to Incorporate Telehealth Video Visits to Enhance Telephone Triage to Homebound Patients
Silvia Chavez, MSN, ANP-BC    |     Jennifer Huang, BSN, RN    |     Barbara Squeri, BSN, RN-BC
Tags: telephone triage telehealth nursing homebound community health worker and video visits

Updated: 04/12/23

Updated: 04/12/23
Research purpose: To utilize office-based nursing staff at a home-based primary care program to pilot use of video visits to enhance telephone triage for homebound patients.
Background: Office-based nursing staff are the initial responders to urgent clinical calls coming into the practice at a large home-based primary care program in New York City. Despite thorough telephone triage, sometimes the clinical picture isn’t fully clear. In order to gather the pertinent clinical information necessary for care planning, the MSVD nursing team initiated the use of video visits into their practice, with the objective of enhancing telephone triage with visualization of the patient. Grant funding was received for a telehealth project in 2020, which included over 100 tablets with 4G connectivity given to patients and introduced two community health workers (CHW) to the program. CHWs made home visits with tablets to facilitate video visits. In response to this new resource, our office-based nursing staff decided to launch a pilot project with the goal of completing same-day video visits for patients who called in with clinical changes where telephone triage alone was not sufficient.
Methods: Retrospective chart reviewed (n=97) analyzing six months of data from January 2022- June 2022 of the patients who received a video visit by the nurse. Quantitative and qualitative data was obtained. Interdisciplinary staff huddles were performed to discuss reasons and triggers for visits and resulting outcomes and benefits.
Results/findings: The most common reason for visits was wound or skin lesion assessment (39.6%), but nurses also performed visits for respiratory assessment (16.8%), heart failure (3.1%), blood pressure monitoring (7.3%), post-fall assessment (1.0%), medication reconciliation (2.1%), and transitional care (19.8%). 61% of the video visits were completed on the same day as the urgent clinical call came in. Nurses noted a broader usefulness of video visits beyond physical assessment including medication reconciliation and transitional care calls. The CHWs were able to assist with technological support, obtaining vital signs, photographing wounds, reconciling medications, and assisting with home environment assessments.
Conclusion/implications: Facilitating video visits may be part of the expanding role of CHWs. Nurses’ innovative use of technology has enhanced the quality of nursing assessment and could be applied to a variety of nursing settings. Telephone triage nursing is a growing field, and adding video visit capability when appropriate could be beneficial for patient care. In this project, nurses intended to address clinical calls with rapid deployment of video visits for timely treatment planning and optimization of care, but we found that video visits can have a broad usefulness in nursing practice including patient education, assessment of home environment, and transitional care management.

Learning Objective:

  • After completing this learning activity, the participant will be able to assess innovations being used by other professionals in the specialty and evaluate the potential of implementing the improvements into practice.

P081 - Transition of a Nurse-Managed Mobile Primary Care Clinic to Telehealth during COVID-19
Susan M. Antol, PhD, MS, RN
Tags: telehealth primary care covid-19 nurse-managed mobile unit

Updated: 03/30/23

Updated: 03/30/23
The COVID-19 pandemic suspended operation of the University of Maryland School of Nursing’s (UMSON) Governor’s well-mobile nurse-managed mobile clinic as it prepared to resume services in Prince George's County. Clinic staff and driver positions were reconfigured following program contraction in Fall 2019. In the interim, the family nurse practitioner (FNP) and bilingual outreach worker provided primary care to undocumented Central American and African immigrants at a temporary community site. Empaneled patients depended on the clinic as an entry point for primary care and a gateway to specialty consultations. Effective March 16, 2020, UMSON and the program complied with campus and state orders to transition to a virtual environment; the electronic health record (EHR) acquired in in 2018 did not include a telehealth option. The patient population do not have access to computers and rely primarily on mobile phones for communication, and older patients do not have email addresses. Lack of fluency in spoken and written English and general low literacy in both native and English language further limited communication options. This poster details actions undertaken over a two-year timeframe at the interpersonal, organizational, and governmental policy levels to sustain continuity of care. Strategies including envisioning alternate visit options to ensure adherence to treatment plans, maintaining prescription renewals, assessing vulnerability to COVID-19, assessing exposure risk and symptoms of infection, and providing guidance for seeking will be detailed. Activities undertaken included cancelling the upcoming weeks’ appointments and rescheduling to telephone appointments with the FNP and bilingual outreach worker. Persistence of pandemic restrictions necessitated a pivot to new strategies. The impact of professional networking, technical innovations, and policy development resulting in a series of interim, transitional, and aspirational alternates to in-person visits will be outlined according to timelines. Examples include insights based on webinars hosted by ambulatory care industry leaders, the impact of policy changes by the Office of Civil Rights during the COVID-19 nationwide public health emergency, and acquisition of additional technologies. Patient-centered, personnel, and operational challenges during the initial transition to implementation of non-public facing virtual platforms and eventual EHR-integrated virtual visits will be detailed. Enumeration of encounters using the respective technologies will be displayed. The presentation will conclude with an analysis of current state of integration of telehealth technology with clinic operations and functionality and acceptability by providers and patients.

Learning Objective:

  • After completing this learning activity, the participant will be able to assess innovations being used by other professionals in the specialty and evaluate the potential of implementing the improvements into practice.

P082 - Electronic Health Record Modernization: Innovation, Virtual Care, and Nursing Excellence
Katherine K. Andersen, MSN, AMB-BC, CCM, Nurse Manager, Roseburg VA Medical Center    |     Julie Vatel, MPH, BSN, CCCTM
Tags: electronic health record va virtual care

Updated: 03/22/23

Updated: 03/22/23
The Department of Veterans Affairs is currently implementing a new electronic health record (EHR) system across the entire enterprise. This is challenging and requires flexibility and adaptability from the implementation team (Rizer et al., 2015). The national EHRM supplemental staffing unit (NESSU), which offers services that strengthen a facility’s productivity mitigation plan during the pre- and post-go-live phases of deployment, was developed to provide clinical and administrative support to sites during the national rollout. The NESSU is comprised of knowledge and experience from multiple deployments across the enterprise, with interdisciplinary divisions including primary care providers, nursing (inpatient onsite and outpatient virtual), behavioral health, pharmacy, and scheduling. The outpatient nursing team is comprised of 18 nurses who were selected based on their significant primary care experience, contributions, and expertise. These nurses are adaptable, flexible, and dedicated to the delivery of safe, quality healthcare for veterans. They provide 100% virtual surge support to deliver high-quality care to veterans utilizing both telephone and video telehealth modalities.
Within the first six months, the virtual outpatient nursing team completed more than 26,000 encounters with veterans and entered nearly 16,000 orders in the EHR at four VA facilities. Two NESSU outpatient nursing subject matter experts provided over 600 hours of EHR education and peer support to onsite nursing staff via group meetings, 1:1 sessions, and a go-live chat as part of the NESSU peer support program. A nurse manager support group was established to build a stronger community of practice for pre- and post-go-live sites. This poster will demonstrate the NESSU outpatient nursing team’s role and recent contributions to the nationwide implementation of VA’s new EHR.
Reference: Rizer, M., Kaufman, B., Sieck, C., Hefner, J., & McAlearney, A. (2015). Top 10 Lessons Learned from Electronic Medical Record Implementation in a Large Academic Medical Center. Perspect Health Inf Management. Jul 1;12. pp.1-9.

Learning Objective:

  • After completing this learning activity, the participant will be able to assess innovations being used by other professionals in the specialty and evaluate the potential of implementing the improvements into practice.

P083 - Improvement of Heart Failure-Related Self Care Levels with Telehealth Use
Gabriela Allison, BSN, RN
Tags: telehealth heart failure self-care heart failure-related rehospitalization health-related quality of life

Updated: 03/14/23

Updated: 03/14/23
Purpose: Heart failure management with telehealth use in the outpatient setting is associated with decreased hospital readmissions, increased health-related quality of life, and improved self-care levels. However, prior to COVID-19, the use of telehealth interventions for outpatient management was uncommon. The pandemic transformed the outpatient management approach of chronic disease patients within the United States, leading to a rapid increase in outpatient telehealth use. The evidence-based quality improvement project aimed to determine if telephone-based personalized education sessions improved heart failure-related self-care levels and rehospitalization rates over twelve months in four adult patients. The intended improvement of the evidence-based quality improvement project was to assist heart failure patients in self-care management, maintenance, and confidence behaviors and assess how to improve compliance levels with telehealth methods in the outpatient setting.
Description: The project intervention opted to utilize telehealth visits via telephone calls to conduct personalized education sessions. A quantitative, quasi-experimental, one-group, pre-/post-test design was used. The project intervention included two to four telephone-based education sessions personalized for each participant based on their pre-intervention self-care of heart failure index scores. The self-care of heart failure index was mailed to each participant via the United States Postal Service and returned to the project team leader for analysis prior to the first education session. Personalized education plans were then created according to each participant’s self-care of heart failure index responses. Each session was allotted thirty minutes in duration and was followed up with an email to the participant, including additional educational information and website links if necessary. After each session, the information and feedback were used to plan each subsequent session for up to four sessions, depending on the needs of each participant. Twelve months after the education sessions were complete, the self-care of heart failure index was readministered to the participants and compared to their pre-intervention results to determine the effect that personalized education sessions had on their heart failure-related self-care levels. The number of self-reported hospitalizations during the twelve-month post-intervention period were compared to the number of self-reported hospitalizations in the twelve-month pre-intervention period to determine if the personalized education sessions affected the number of heart failure-related hospitalizations.
Evaluation/outcome: The primary outcomes of the quality improvement project were the improvement of heart failure-related self-care levels and the reduction of heart failure-related rehospitalization rates. If the primary outcomes were achieved, the use of telehealth-based patient education sessions and management of heart failure in the outpatient setting could provide strongly supported evidence for widespread implementation. Improved treatment adherence was the anticipated secondary outcome. The project data collection is completed at this time and is currently awaiting statistical analysis. Ideally, the evidence-based quality improvement project would have included more participants and had education sessions conducted with video calls along with the telephone sessions. Preliminary results have shown a positive response from participants regarding the telephone-based personalized education sessions and could indicate a promising and evolving future for telehealth-based personalized education for heart failure patients in the outpatient setting.

Learning Objective:

  • After completing this learning activity, the participant will be able to assess innovations being used by other professionals in the specialty and evaluate the potential of implementing the improvements into practice.

P084 - Using Modern Applications for Clinical Advice in Primary Care Pediatrics
Lisa Kircik, BSN, RN    |     Lisa Klosek, BSN, RN, RNC, LRN    |     Mary Phillips, BSN, RN
Tags: access triage pediatric innovation text

Updated: 03/22/23

Updated: 03/22/23
Purpose/background: Our purpose is to provide our pediatric primary care patients and their parents access to a modern HIPAA compliant secure triage text platform as an alternative method to reach triage RNs for clinical advice. Pediatric patients and their parents contact our healthcare system through phone, website, electronic health record (EHR) portal, and now, text. Annually, 700,000 calls are received by our centralized pediatric call center. Historically, parents accessed triage RNs through phone encounters. Increased call volume increases wait times for parents to speak with a triage RN, which leads parents to using electronic health record portal communication tools. Offering a triage text chat will provide patients with a convenient access method. Requests for clinical advice are in the top five reasons patients and families call into the pediatric primary care call center and nurses are ranked highly as trusted professionals. Leadership hypothesized that if we found another other avenue for our patients to reach us during heavy call volume times, that would help decrease call volume, improve patient care, and meet our patients “where they are.” Millennials have grown up in the information age and are used to communicating via cell phones. Currently, they are the generation with young children utilizing pediatric care. A 2019 Pew research center report stated, “96% of Americans have a cell phone, with 99% of people with cells phones from ages 18 to 49.” Adding a text option to communicate with pediatric triage RNs promotes access and efficiency when addressing acute symptoms and concerns.
Description: We partnered with a company which designed a HIPAA compliant text platform. The centralized virtual ambulatory care pediatric nurses initialized the operations of this platform using evidence-based triage protocols. Training is provided to pediatric triage nurses working in the clinic, which allows for more personalized patient concerns to be addressed. The program workflow allows virtual triage RN team to warm text transfer the patient’s messages to a triage RN working in the patient’s primary care practice if needed. This eliminates the delayed back and forth communication seen in EHR portal platforms where accepted response timeframes are up to 48 hours.
Evaluation/outcomes: Pilot program started August 31, 2022. 74 text messages received for patients 0-21 years. 107 messages received for patients 22+ that were re-directed to appropriate resources. Data is collected on each text encounter to allow us to learn how to improve functionality and patient care. Robust pediatric triage RN training is in development to allow a larger number of trained nurses eligible to respond to the text messages. Triage RNs are learning how to handle different types of patient requests, including the need to schedule an appointment for evaluation, progress from text to phone call triage encounter and workflows to involve patient’s pediatrician for advice. Triage RNs have developed smart phrase shortcuts to quickly type commonly used questions/phrases, which allows them to quickly obtain relevant symptoms for triage. Anecdotal evidence from parents shows a positive experience with the triage text encounter.

Learning Objective:

  • After completing this learning activity, the participant will be able to assess innovations being used by other professionals in the specialty and evaluate the potential of implementing the improvements into practice.

P086 - Remote Patient Monitoring: Not Just a Set of Vital Signs
Brandi Rives, MSN, RN    |     Jim Woodard, DNP, MBA, RN, Chief Operating Officer, TRU Community Care
Tags: telehealth care coordination remote patient monitoring

Updated: 04/06/23

Updated: 04/06/23
Background: As a result of the CCOVID pandemic, telehealth has taken its place as a mainstream avenue of care. Traditional telehealth has included video visits and remote patient monitoring of vital signs (RPM). Remote vital sign monitoring has improved outcomes for CHF and COPD patients. However, as telehealth utilization increases, opportunities for expanding RPM beyond vital signs have become evident. This increase in monitoring options allows telehealth teams to improve the care they provide to their patients and families.
Intervention: As the TRU telehealth service expanded, it became clear that patients and families would benefit from additional support. As a result, expanded RPM opportunities were developed in two main categories: care coordination and psychosocial support. These interventions deploy a “pathway” designed specifically for the patient being served. These pathways include interactive questions and information sent out via the telehealth system. Pathways are delivered at intervals determined by the patient’s treatment team. As patients respond to their inquiries, telehealth nurses can provide care proactively.
The care coordination RPM is designed to promote better coordination between all patient care team members. The philosophy of this pathway is to move away from reactive care to a paradigm of proactive care delivery. Care coordination pathways are monitored for minor changes that indicate the need for early interventions. The telehealth team then uses interventions like virtual care conferences to bring patients, families, and providers together to adjust care.
The psychosocial RPM uses a wide variety of pathways to support telehealth patients. Based on patient responses, the telehealth nurses can order needed medical supplies, coordinate medication refills, or prompt a social worker visit. One of the most successful components of the psychosocial RPM has been helping to reduce the anxiety of patients and their families. Telehealth patients report that having the ability to respond to these pathways helps them feel supported and that a telehealth nurse is always available.
Outcomes: Traditional RPM of vital signs will always have a place in a robust telehealth program. However, expanded RPM allows telehealth teams to increase the support provided to patients and families. In many instances, patients who would not traditionally receive telehealth services benefit from the expanded RPM approach. Early outcomes for this approach show a decrease in rehospitalizations of telehealth patients. In addition, the program has improved medication compliance by assisting with timely prescription refills and daily medication reminders.
Discussion: Expanding RPM is a complex endeavor. However, the interventions by the TRU telehealth team have opened many new opportunities to support patients and families.

Learning Objective:

  • After completing this learning activity, the participant will be able to assess innovations being used by other professionals in the specialty and evaluate the potential of implementing the improvements into practice.

P088 - Utilizing Patient-Initiated Call Program to Assist with Self-Care in Pediatric Patients after Hospital Discharge
Susan Webber, MSN, RN, CPN, CEN, CPEN, CCCTM
Tags: telehealth coordination discharge patient-initiated safety net

Updated: 03/14/23

Updated: 03/14/23
Description: Discharge follow-up contact helps reduce readmissions and returns to the emergency department. Post-discharge follow-up phone calls may not meet patients’ needs if unavailable or questions arise after the call. Our organization didn’t have a dedicated 24/7 nurse to contact for clarification of discharge instructions. The discharge after-visit summary (AVS) included a follow-up appointment with the patient’s primary care provider or subspecialist but listed the main hospital phone number. Hospital operators transferred calls to the nursing unit where the patient was most recently admitted. When the patient called the primary care provider, they often referred the patient to the ED for questions related to a recent hospitalization. We looked for a technology solution that could assist and engage families post-discharge. The purpose of this EBP project is to determine if patient-initiated calls to experienced nurses in a centralized call center can identify barriers and assist with self-management at home within 72 hours of discharge.
Methods: A technology solution was implemented in January 2021 to engage patients post-discharge along with the nurse advice line (NAL) phone number included on the AVS, with 24/7 access to an experienced nurse immediately after discharge. A standardized texting script, comprised of seven discharge-related questions, was programmed into the text messaging technology. When a parent replies to a question that indicates help is needed, a number is displayed connecting the family to a nurse in real time. The unique phone number indicates to the nurse that this is a recently discharged patient. The nurse receives a best practice alert that the patient was discharged within the last 72 hours to reduce the chance of missing a recently discharged patient.
Analysis: Calls were placed into categories related to the purpose of the call. The total number of calls was calculated and the percentage of calls for each category was determined. The reason for calls at the beginning of the project was compared to data collected one year later. Patient care units and inpatient stays were compared.
Results: After one year, a total of 228 calls were received averaging 19 calls per month. In the first 24 hours, 118 (52%) of calls occurred. Respiratory calls increased and were the highest percentage (35%), mostly in the first 24 hours -19. Many ENT and endocrine calls occurred. ENT and endocrine clinics were engaged and met with the nurse advice line to discuss calls and improve processes. Endocrine concerns decreased from 20% to 8% of calls. ENT calls decreased from 13% to 9%. Calls in which patients were sent to the ED and readmitted were 31 of 61 calls (51%). Four of those readmissions went to the PICU. Patient units, observation, and inpatient stays were compared and showed no significant difference. One year later this program is a safety net for discharged patients to receive proactive care. The program evolved to transfer calls to the post-discharge care managers during daytime hours, but new or worsening symptoms are transferred to the nurse advice line maintaining 24/7 coverage.

Learning Objective:

  • After completing this learning activity, the participant will be able to assess innovations being used by other professionals in the specialty and evaluate the potential of implementing the improvements into practice.

P089 - Wrapped Up: Efficiency Improvement from Surgical Packs at an Ambulatory Care Surgical Center
Dee Carbaugh, MHA, BSN, RN, NE-BC
Tags: productivity time management surgical packs time efficiency

Updated: 03/22/23

Updated: 03/22/23
Background: For all perioperative areas, the goal is to be productive, efficient, and safe, with minimal waste. The operating room (OR) atmosphere is one of unique balance, focused on patient safety while determined to decrease waste and increase venue. Inventory management of surgical supplies and sterile instruments is one approach to accomplishing these tasks (Ahmadi, Masel, Metcalf & Schuller, 2019).
Assessment: 4006 cases were performed in the OR at our ambulatory care surgical center (ASC) in 2021. The historical practice of pulling numerous individual supplies for cases was tasked to nurses (RN) and operating room assistants (ORA). The idea of stewardship towards time efficiency and supply management was suggested through the implementation of surgical packs at the facility. Utilization of surgical packs is suggested to be able to reduce setup time, maximize storage, boost productivity, and minimize waste while optimizing product utilization and clinical accuracy (Ahmadi, Masel, Metcalf & Schuller, 2019). Data was obtained to determine the amount of time staff spent pulling supplies/equipment for cases, as well as the number of individual supplies ordered.
Implementation: Surgical packs were ordered to meet the needs of cases at the facility. Preference cards were updated to reflect materials to be pulled for cases with surgical pack additions. Follow-up data was collected to determine if there were any notable cost savings through staff time, utilization, and supplies.
Evaluation/results: The amount of time it took staff to pull cases on average dropped from 20-40 minutes/case to 5-7 minutes/case, resulting in a projected savings of 1,589.5 hours of staff time in one year. For RNs to open a case, that time went from 5-10 minutes to 1.5-3 minutes, resulting in a projected 20,979 hours saved. These time savings were applied to the average hourly pay rate for our RNs and ORAs to estimate monetary savings in time of $120,898.97 projected for one year. The facilities use of paper for printing preferences cards decreased on average from 7-8 sheets to 3-4 sheets, resulting in projected savings of $103.76. These total projected savings of $121,002.73 for one year of staff time utilization, and paper was then subtracted by the cost increase, $55,726.88, of buying the surgical packs versus individual items. Through implementation of surgical packs, a projected cost savings of $65,275.84 over the first year of implementation is expected.
Implications in perioperative nursing: Stewardship of time can be as equally important and budget affecting, as savings on equipment items in healthcare. Nursing staff need to be aware of how they are spending their time at work, what tasks seem to be monopolizing their time more than others, and if there are resources or changes in equipment or supplies that could decrease that time spent. Productivity and efficiency are crucial in providing the safe, equipped, atmosphere ASCs strive for.
Reference
Ahmadi, E., Masel, D., Metcalf, A., Schuller, K. (2019). Inventory management of surgical supplies and sterile instruments in hospitals: A literature review. Health Sys (Basingstoke). 8(2): 134-151. Doi: 10.1080/20476965.2018.1496875.

Learning Objective:

  • After completing this learning activity, the participant will be able to assess innovations being used by other professionals in the specialty and evaluate the potential of implementing the improvements into practice.

P090 - Empower Your Staff: Improved Teamwork and Safety Through Implementing Specialty Leads in an Ambulatory Care Surgical Center
Dee Carbaugh, MHA, BSN, RN, NE-BC
Tags: staff engagement specialties team leads staff empowerment

Updated: 03/01/23

Updated: 03/01/23

Description of team: Specialty leads consist of two intraoperative RNs who volunteered for the role and collaborated with the nurse manager, surgeons/providers, and supply chain personnel. In each specialty team, one RN was considered the primary lead.
Preparation and planning: The intraoperative RNs who volunteered were then assigned the primary or secondary role as a point lead for their desired specialty. Leads were distinguished to cover numerous surgical specialties.
Assessment: The operating room (OR) has one of the highest risks of medical errors due to the high degree of coordination, technical equipment, complex and vulnerable populations of patients, and a hazardous environment (Teunissen et. al., 2019). This atmosphere offers a unique opportunity to explore concepts of teams and teamwork. This past year, the management team at AHSC identified the need to distinguish staff leads for each specialty to improve communication, teamwork, and staff preparedness and ensure proper supplies and equipment are ready for day of surgery. We anticipated that with specialty teams, team member satisfaction would improve and that staff engagement would improve while continuing to maintain safe patient care.
Implementation: All intraoperative staff were informed of the staff RNs who would be the specialty leads for each specialty. A specialty role was added to the daily staffing schedule in order to allot time for staff to complete their tasks.
Outcome: Improved staff engagement by 7%, as evidenced by Glint Survey reviews, a survey platform that allows organizations to solicit input, hear staff concerns, and translate feedback in a timely, effective manner, resulted. Additionally, OR staff were surveyed via a questionnaire; 20/28 completed the survey. Examples of reported findings that occurred through the empowerment of the RN specialty leads, were as follows: Improvement of efficiency and completion of pulling equipment, instruments, and supplies. Improved communication throughout all phases of care, preop, intraop and post-op. Implications in perioperative nursing: Specialty teams can be used to focus on team consistency, an ever-important key to operating room communication and patient safety (“How to,” 2019). Specialty team leads’ collaboration throughout perioperative services decreases wasted time and materials, yielding a more efficient OR with more engaged staff.
References
1) How to build surgeon-specific teams (2019). Retrieved from https://www.aorn.org/about-aor... https://www.aorn.org/about-aor...
2) Teunissen, C., Burrell, B., Maskill, V. (2019). Effective surgical teams: An integrative literature review. SAGE Journals, 42, 1. https://doi.org/10.1177/019394...

Learning Objective:

  • After completing this learning activity, the participant will be able to assess innovations being used by other professionals in the specialty and evaluate the potential of implementing the improvements into practice.

  • Displaying 80 - 90 of 102
  • First
  • «
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • »
  • Last
Library Home |AAACN Website
Privacy Center

Copyright © 2025 American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing
Powered by Conexiant DXP
Privacy Policy Update: We value your privacy and want you to understand how your information is being used. To make sure you have current and accurate information about this sites privacy practices please visit the privacy center by clicking here.