Implementing a patient assessment framework in acute care
Intended for healthcare professionals
Art & Science Previous     Next

Implementing a patient assessment framework in acute care

Liz Lees Consultant nurse, Acute medicine, Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, Heartlands Hospital, Birmingham
Tara Hughes Critical care outreach practitioner, Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, Heartlands Hospital, Birmingham

This article describes the secondment of a critical care practitioner to an acute medicine unit. The aim was to develop the acute assessment skills of the unit’s nurses and to implement a new assessment framework. The secondment took place over four months from December 2007 to March 2008 at the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham. There were several stages to the project, commencing with exploration of existing practice and culminating with evaluation of the project’s effect on practice. A review of the multi-professional patient records was conducted six months after the conclusion of the secondment. This revealed that the assessment framework continued to be used in practice. The secondment demonstrated that supporting nurses to embrace new skills resulted in a change in practice. However, a permanent change cannot be assured unless practice is revisited and supported on a continual basis.

Nursing Standard. 24, 3, 35-43. doi: 10.7748/ns2009.09.24.3.35.c7270

Correspondence

liz.lees@heartofengland.nhs.uk

Peer review

This article has been subject to double blind peer review

Want to read more?

RCNi-Plus
Already have access? Log in

or

3-month trial offer for £5.25/month

Subscribe today and save 50% on your first three months
RCNi Plus users have full access to the following benefits:
  • Unlimited access to all 10 RCNi Journals
  • RCNi Learning featuring over 175 modules to easily earn CPD time
  • NMC-compliant RCNi Revalidation Portfolio to stay on track with your progress
  • Personalised newsletters tailored to your interests
  • A customisable dashboard with over 200 topics
Subscribe

Alternatively, you can purchase access to this article for the next seven days. Buy now


Are you a student? Our student subscription has content especially for you.
Find out more