CNOS should use feedback from frontline nurses to provide new resources, says the CNE.
Bedside nurses are the backbone of the healthcare industry, and it is CNO's job to advocate for their needs and raise their voice.
This means giving frontline nurse leaders the resources they need to be efficient and effective.
HCA Healthcare has a nursing unit position called the Clinical Nurse Coordinator (CNC). This is similar to the nurse in charge. CNCs are a key leader, as CNC is the closest to the bedside that leads the team, according to Sammie Mosier, senior vice president and chief nurse executive at HCA.
“HCA is a very large company,” Mosie said.
Health System was able to bring together leaders from each department to serve as a shared governance council. One of them is the CNC Council, Mosier explained. In one of these council sessions, the CNC shared that what they needed is a way to get more information in real time in real time to help them make decisions.
Enter the CNC resource tool.
logistics
After CNCS made this request, Mosier said Health System's ITG partner, the nursing infrastructure team, was drawn in to start brainstorming what potential technologies look like. The metrics in this tool had to be operational focused on the unit level, but also provide a way for CNC to determine the health of the units and individual nurses.
“The goals we have in mind are nurses can use the tools actively and support nurses if they are lagging behind based on outcomes. “It's very important for our team for happiness.”
As implemented, this tool allows CNC to pull up apps on mobile phones to examine unit performance. They can see a flag indicating how many patients are in, how many patients are discharged from the hospital, the team schedule, whether the nurse needs help, or if there are any failed tasks or breaks.
More metrics include the medications completed, orders that nurses need to complete under the guidance of a doctor, and the frequency of critical sign checks. Additionally, the tool will flag if a patient is facing challenges with vital signs.
“We've expanded across the healthcare business (and) working on the healthcare health population,” Mossier said. “Whatever these clinical elements are, our team is working to identify the most important thing so that we can operate it.”
Impact on the future
According to Mosier, CNC Resource Tools are the most useful when it comes to new graduate school nurses. New nurses needed to get used to how things work in their health system, such as how to prioritize tasks and find schedules, and the new tools have helped CNCs actively support those nurses.
“It's really helped me with engagement and retention,” Mossier said.
HCA clinical support nurses are using this tool to round up new graduate nurses to make sure everything is going well.
“They see value, so they take advantage of the tools and that helps them decide where to prioritize their day,” Mosier said. “If you can use that real-time data to inform decisions, it really helps to make efficiency and helps you prioritize things in the right way.”
In the future, Mosier explained that she plans to continue to expand the location of the tools, starting with behavioral health and women's health. Patient care technicians have also expressed interest in using this tool.
“(We) look at that care team and expand it beyond just the nurse's workload,” Mossier said.
For CNOs looking to implement similar strategies, Mosier recommends prioritizing what nurses say they need and brainstorming the best ones on the frontline.
“We started small, but now we have great tools, but we can prioritize what (nurse) want. It makes sense and it's worth it.” “I don't want to move forward with a product that doesn't include their insight and voice.”
G Hatfield is the CNO editor for HealthLeaders.
