the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
Susan Rowley
1 posts
Re: Topic 6 DQ 1
There are several aspects to consider when developing and implementing a standardized patient handoff report sheet to be used for transferring patients from Labor and Delivery (L&D) and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). These include financial, quality, and clinical aspects. The only cost directly involved in developing the quality improvement project is printing the report sheets. The direct cost of implementing the quality improvement project includes compensation of bedside nursing staff to participate in the education of the project. Education can be included in staff meetings. However, some staff may be coming in on their off time to the staff meeting. Therfore, they will be paid for their time. There are indirect financial aspects to consider for this project. For example, by implementing this project, there will be a decrease in medical errors, which will decrease potential for law suits. When considering quality of care aspects of implementing this project, it is important to note that including nurses in evidence based practice increases the culture of performance improvement. Nurses need to understand that quality is directly impacted by improving care during paient handoff. Implementing this project will decrease the risk for missed medications, missed risk factors for sepsis, hyperbilirubinemia, hypoglycemia,and communicable diseases. Patients will have better outcomes due to more timely treatment because such risk factors will not be missed. Implementation of this project directly impacts the clinical aspect of care by making the nurse accountable for giving a thorough report when transferring the patient into the NICU from L&D. The standardized patient handoff report sheet will also help the nurse to give a thorough report so that nothing is missed. ReferenceGiomuso C., Jones L. et al (2014) A Successful Approach to Implementing Evidence Based Practice; Med-Surg Matters Jul/Aug 2014; 23 (4); 4-9 retreived from https://lopes.idm.oclc.org/login?
