A 13-hospital pilot project by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement to increase the amount of time nurses spend with patients and reduce work inefficiencies has resulted in a dramatic reduction in nurse turnover--from an average of 15% to 5%, reports The Boston Globe. Called Transforming Care at the Bedside, the initiative guides hospitals on how to make practical improvements to nurses’ jobs, such as moving medications and supplies closer to patients. At the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, for example, nurses now use a spreadsheet to transfer patients at the end of a work shift instead of holding meetings, which often caused nurses to stay late. In one year, the hospital saved $80,000 in overtime on just two surgical units. At Prairie Lakes Healthcare System in Watertown, S.D., the nursing turnover was a staggering 65% before the hospital participated in the pilot program. Six years later, it’s 10% or lower. “Now, when we have an open position on this unit, we have 10 qualified applications for the job,” Jill Fuller, chief nursing officer at Prairie Lakes Healthcare, told the Globe. “The reputation of the unit has changed so much that people want to work here. That wasn’t the case six years ago.”
