Paper
Friday, July 13, 2007
This presentation is part of : Education Initiatives for EBN
The Making of High-Acuity Transplant Unit: A Transdisciplinary Collaboration
Alma Degracia, MBA, RN, CCRN1, Nena M. Bonuel, MSN, RN, CCRN2, and Katherine Walsh, DrPH, RN, MS, CNAA2. (1) Multi-Organ Transplant Unit, The Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX, USA, (2) Center for Professional Excellence, The Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX, USA
Learning Objective #1: 1. Discuss concept of high-acuity transplant unit.
Learning Objective #2: 2. Describe the strategies for successful implementation of a high-acuity transplant unit.

Evidence has shown that for a hospital to survive in today’s healthcare market, patient satisfaction will provide a competitive edge.  Currently, patients admitted to the hospital are faced with real world bottlenecks such as emergency room diversion, delayed admission to critical care, inappropriate admissions, inappropriate wait and transfer delays. Compounding the problem is the current high acuity of patients admitted, shortage of nurses, skill mix challenges and aging workforce.

To address this issue, a new innovative clinical practice is to keep patient in the same room from admission to discharge regardless of acuity. The High-Acuity Transplant Unit was conceived to improve patient satisfaction of kidney transplant patients. A transdisciplinary team composed of Associate Chief of Nursing, Nursing Director, Clinical Nurse Specialist, managers, clinical leader and a nurse educator was convened to develop strategy for successful implementation.  Benchmarking was sought with like institutions for evidence-based practices in the nation. The initiative was fully supported by hospital leadership. This educational activity will share the evidence-based strategies used to develop the High-Acuity Transplant Unit with an underlying goal of improving patient satisfaction. Strategies such as developing a kidney transplant nursing CORE curriculum, addressing the need for critical skills competency of the nursing staff, the logistics of the patient room, developing nurse-driven admission, discharge and transfer criteria of kidney transplant patients will be discussed.