Nursing Care

Nurses are an important part of each patient’s care, They provide continuous care to patients: assessing the patient, answering questions, giving medications and treatments, and assisting with medical procedures.

Nurses have the responsibility to help patients understand the care they will receive and what the patients must do to cooperate in their care. They have the responsibility to explain to patients what they should and shouldn’t do as they go through treatment and recovery, and they must quickly respond to patients in need. They are a key part of any healthcare team, and the way they perform their jobs has a real impact on healthcare quality. Read about Our Commitment to Nursing Care (pdf) and learn about our high standards in caring for the needs of our patients.

Research has shown that some clinical quality measures are strongly related to good nursing care. In addition, patients know that a good relationship with a caring, knowledgeable and competent nurse can significantly improve the comfort and effectiveness of hospital care. See individual measures for more information.

Our nursing quality measures are (some fall under more than one category):

Staffing

• Hours Per Patient Day (All Nursing Staff)

Behavioral Health 

• Total nursing hours per patient day (Behavioral Health)
• RN nursing hours per patient day (Behavioral Health)
• Hospital employed RN nursing hours per patient day (Behavioral Health)
• Contractual RN nursing hours per patient day (Behavioral Health)
• RN turnover rate (Behavioral Health)
• Nursing vacancy (Behavioral Health)

Critical Care

• Total nursing hours per patient day (Critical Care)
• RN nursing hours per patient day (Critical Care)
• Percentage of nursing hours worked by hospital employed RNs (Critical Care)
• Percentage of nursing hours worked by contractual RNs (Critical Care)
• RN turnover rate (Critical Care)
• Nursing vacancy (Critical Care)

Infection

• Certified infection staff per 100 beds
• Infection staff per 100 beds

Medical-Surgical

• Total nursing hours per patient day (Medical-Surgical)
• RN nursing hours per patient day (Medical-Surgical)
• Percentage of nursing hours worked by hospital employed RNs (Medical-Surgical)
• Percentage of nursing hours worked by contractual RNs (Medical-Surgical)
• RN turnover rate (Medical-Surgical)
• Nursing vacancy (Medical-Surgical)

Mother-Baby

• Total nursing hours per patient day (Mother-Baby)
• RN nursing hours per patient day (Mother-Baby)
• Percentage of nursing hours worked by hospital employed RNs (Mother-Baby)
• Percentage of nursing hours worked by contractual RNs (Mother-Baby)
• RN turnover rate (Mother-Baby)
• Nursing vacancy (Mother-Baby)

Safe Care

• Bedsores (AHRQ)
• Bedsores (NDNQI)
• Measures of preventing bedsores (Leapfrog Group)
• Measures of preventing hospital injuries (Leapfrog Group)
• Nursing assessment of patient's skin
• Patient falls

Patient Satisfaction

• Nurses' encouragement of your participation in your baby's care when possible (bathing, feeding, temperature taking, Kangaroo Care) 
• Nurses' support of mother's efforts to breastfeed (if applicable) 
• Patient satisfaction with nurse communication