Project Aims to Retain Nurses, Improve Patient Safety and Outcomes
With an ongoing nursing shortage, a major transformation in the nursing work environment is needed so that healthcare facilities can continue to provide safe, effective quality care to patients. To help address this issue, the New Jersey Hospital Association's Institute for Quality and Patient Safety, in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has launched a major three-year initiative, Transforming Care at the Bedside, that will train and support nurses so they can spend more time with their patients while increasing job satisfaction.
"Because of the nursing shortage projections and the changing demographics of our society, we must change the environment in which nurses work to increase retention and decrease turnover," said Aline Holmes, MSN, RN, director of the NJHA Institute for Quality and Patient Safety.
"We need to increase the amount of time nurses spend providing direct patient care and investigate ways to keep our more experienced nurses in the workforce longer while helping them to maintain their enthusiasm and passion caring for others. This project is the transforming innovation for improving the work environment in which professional nurses practice," said Holmes.
To help nurses achieve these goals, the TCAB initiative will: