Paper
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Leadership Development Through Practice Innovations: Rapid Cycle Pilot Projects Targeting Inpatient Fall Prevention
Nadine Frances Lendzion, MN, RN, CNRN, CWOCN, Nursing Administration, Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, Phoenix, AZ, USA, Anna Marie Hunsaker, RN, MS, Clinical and Patient Education, Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, Phoenix, AZ, USA, Teri Britt Pipe, PhD, RN, Nursing Research, Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, Phoenix, AZ, USA, and Marie I. Griffin, BSN, RN, CPHQ, Nursing Administration, Mayo Clinic Hospital, Phoenix, AZ, USA.
| Learning Objective #1: Describe strategies of developing leadership skills in staff nurses by optimizing their role as clinical expert and project liaison |
| Learning Objective #2: Explain how the innovation process was energized and facilitated by staff nurse leaders |
Purpose: This presentation will describe the leadership development strategies and outcomes associated with a rapid cycle innovation process designed to increase patient safety around the issue of fall prevention. A multidisciplinary process improvement team was formed, consisting of key personnel from nursing, medicine, and therapy services. The team's goal was reduction in the number of falls and the severity of injuries from falls among inpatients in a 220-bed hospital in the Southwestern U.S. Methods: While the process improvement team was administratively responsible for outcomes, nursing leadership at the unit level was essential to achieving patient safety goals related to fall prevention. The approach chosen by the team was rapid cycle pilot projects implemented concurrently on each unit, with each unit choosing a different innovation tailored to specific patient population served. The multiple rapid cycle innovation depended heavily on nursing staff involvement, thus nursing leadership at the unit level was crucial. Key nursing staff members volunteered or were identified on each unit. The staff nurse leaders served as liaisons between the process improvement team and the rest of the staff on the nursing unit. Their role was to ascertain the patient needs and care strategies most appropriate for their unit, then with staff and PI team input, to come up with innovative approaches to reducing falls and injuries from falls. Outcomes: Staff nurses were mentored by more seasoned advanced career nurses, and in turn the staff nurses served as content experts about patient care and thus helped the senior nurses understand the complexities of patient care from a different perspective. Leadership skills enhanced included teamwork, communication, committee dynamics, evaluating evidence-based approaches, and becoming change agents at the unit- and organizational levels. Lessons Learned: Rapid change and innovation can be used as an energizing force for leadership development among staff nurses.