CNOs must find ways to retain their remaining nurses while equipping them with the tools and support they need to meet rising demands.
Editor’s Note: Amy Martin, MSN, PNP, BSN is the Head of Standards, Hospital Patient Monitoring, at Philips.
Today’s nurses face a tough environment — from rising burnout and high turnover to a constant juggling act with data that comes at them from all directions.
Not only do these challenges add to daily stress, but they can also take valuable time away from direct patient care. A viable solution? Collecting high-quality patient data in a cohesive way, then providing it to nurses in a more thoughtful manner. In short, nurses need reliable data that helps them do their jobs and supports their workflows without slowing them down.
Fortunately, a handful of key strategies and innovations can help nursing leaders equip their teams with the insights needed to make quick, informed decisions and improve the quality of care. These solutions can help support job satisfaction among nurses and enable them to focus on what they do best — caring for patients.
Addressing patient care bottlenecks with data integration
CNOs face a pair of connected challenges within hospitals: The patient population is growing in volume and complexity, putting pressure on bed availability. At the same time, hospitals have fewer staff to deploy, with the nursing turnover rate approaching 20%. CNOs must find ways to retain their remaining nurses while equipping them with the tools and support they need to meet rising demands.
Partnering with other hospital leaders to implement appropriate technology infrastructure can help address both challenges – specifically, by enabling greater interoperability for systems and devices and by providing access to data that is truly actionable.
Right now, nurses must often reference several data sources across multiple devices to gain a complete picture of a patient’s condition, a time-consuming process that can also increase the risk of misinterpretation or other error.
Well-designed healthcare IT solutions and data frameworks can address these shortcomings, by accounting for clinicians’ workflows and making sure that comprehensive patient information is readily available in the systems nurses use most. The data must be presented in a clear, relevant way to quickly guide the next steps in care.
When data flows freely and effectively, nurses can potentially respond faster – supporting hospital bed turnover, patient safety and quality of care. Empowered to deliver impactful care and focus on patient outcomes, nurses are also likely to feel more satisfied at work.
Recognizing the need for critical data on the go
Even if health systems improve data aggregation and analysis, rigid distribution of information leaves nurses constantly on the move, rushing between bedside monitors and central stations. Not only do these transitions consume time, but they can also divert attention away from direct patient care.
To help ease the burden, as well as enhance efficiency and support patient outcomes, nurses need vital monitoring information at their fingertips – i.e., on the smartphones and other mobile devices many already carry.
One use case gaining traction? The central monitoring units (CMUs) that many leading health systems are implementing.
Inside these CMUs, specially trained monitor techs quickly validate red alarms before dispatching them. Techs also evaluate yellow alarms, sending just those deemed actionable. While some health systems send this information through older clinical communication tools, others have turned to handheld devices that can receive additional patient context and even provide the ability to act.
Not only do nurses gain confidence from the extra patient oversight provided by CMUs, but they can also benefit from getting needed information anywhere in the hospital. By helping prioritize the patients most in need of attention and making critical information readily available, CMUs give valuable time back to nurses and allow them to focus on intentional bedside care.
Supporting enhanced patient care with smart alarm management
For years, the healthcare industry has often followed a simple but mistaken notion: The more data, the better. To understand why that belief is problematic, consider the volume of alarms overwhelming nurses. A single patient can generate up to 350 alarms per day, with more than 85% of those alarms considered false or non-actionable.
This level of extraneous alarms is unsustainable, with nurses struggling to interpret which alerts require immediate attention and patient safety potentially jeopardized. It calls for making smart updates to alarm protocols and using data to identify critical areas for change.
By focusing on meaningful alarms, our goal is to reduce the cognitive load on nurses, support their response times for patient deteriorations and help reduce their feelings of burnout. We can also provide a more restful and healing environment for our patients, with an emphasis on patient safety. We owe it to both our nurses and patients to focus on more-informed alarm management.
Improving the healthcare system by empowering nurses
Nurses are truly the backbone of our healthcare system, often providing the first faces patients see when seeking care and continuing to play a vital role throughout the care experience. It’s essential to give them the tools and meaningful data necessary to ease their day-to-day responsibilities and help them deliver high-quality care. By equipping nurses with the right resources, we empower them to focus on providing the best possible care to their patients.
Editor's note: Care to share your view? HealthLeaders accepts original thought leadership articles from healthcare industry leaders in active executive roles at payer and provider organizations. These may include case studies, research, and guest editorials. We neither accept payment nor offer compensation for contributed content.
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