Hospitals in pursuit of excellence

Nurses Are Key Innovation Partners in Health Care

Nurses have always been on the front lines at hospitals providing quality, compassionate care for patients. Now more than ever, nurses are also key innovation partners in the changing health care environment. For example, at Carolinas HealthCare System, a team led by nurses optimized the electronic health record process by reducing documentation, removing duplicate records and organizing the technology in a more user-friendly workflow. As a result, the health system eliminated 18 million clicks for nurses documenting within the EHR and returned more than 35,000 nursing hours back to patient care. For more information, contact Becky Fox, chief nursing informatics officer, at Becky.Fox@CarolinasHealthCare.org. At JPS Health Network, in Fort Worth, TX, nurses were key in selecting a centralized monitoring system that is portable and provides real-time video observation of patients and two-way communication. As a result, during the first seven months of 2016, inpatient fall rates decreased 13% with zero reported injuries, bedside sitter hours decreased 21%, and constant patient observation hours decreased 42%, allowing more patients to be monitored. For more information, contact Trudy Sanders, vice president, patient care services, at tsanders@jpshealth.org.

JPS Health Network led a breakout session at the American Organization of Nurse Executives 2017 annual meeting, March 30 - April 1, 2017, in Baltimore. More than 3,400 AONE members gathered to celebrate 50 years “of inspiring leaders.” The AHA values nurses and nurse leaders for their work and commitment across the health care continuum. And we applaud AONE, an affiliate of the AHA, for its leadership in the field for 50 years.