TAMC nurses improve patient experience
PRESQUE ISLE — The Aroostook Medical Center is beginning a process that will change the way its nursing staff interacts with patients on the floors.
Many inpatient units in the United States traditionally undergo shift changes every 12 hours. This means that patients normally have a separate staff taking care of them during the day than at night.
The communication handoff about patient care between day and night staff in most hospitals happens away from the patient in another room or at the nurses’ station. Staff looks over charts and discusses what has happened in the course of the day or night.
Shift change communication at TAMC will now happen at every patient’s bedside and will encourage patient inclusion and discussion. This allows the nurse to get the patient’s feedback on the care they’ve received and make immediate adjustments to continue their excellent care.
“One of the nice things about this new model of care we’re providing is that all staff will be handling the shift change this way, not just the nurses,” said Vilma Craig, manager of Critical Care Services and Medical/Surgical/Telemetry. “It will include our CNAs, nurses, and the house supervisors. Patients will have many opportunities to interact with staff and help us to provide them with the best possible care.”
“We are all really excited about how this will change the patient experience,” said Tracey Clark, RN. “We all choose careers in health care to interact with and help patients. This helps us do more of that.”
The decision to move to this model of care came from the staff on the floors. Through a nurse-led hospital initiative, frontline staff have worked together to improve work flow and patient care. Staff has held several brainstorming sessions which have led to process changes such as this.
“It has been wonderful to see the changes and growth at TAMC as a result of the staff empowerment initiatives we have in place,” said Lynn Turnbull, director of Patient Care Services. “Allowing patients to take an active role in their care is essential to improving their experience here.”
The goal of TAMC’s empowerment initiative and process changes is to ensure that staff is able to make changes that allow them to have the tools they need to provide excellent patient care to every patient. The changes currently made are decreasing work disruption and increasing work flow, and as more changes are made, staff are finding they have more and more time to spend with their patients.
