American Association of Critical-Care Nurses Selects Indianapolis Hospitals as Inaugural Participants In Nurse Leadership Program

ALISO VIEJO, Calif., June 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) has selected six Indianapolis hospitals as the initial participants to launch its hospital-based nurse leadership and innovation training program.

The hospitals are the first to be selected in the national rollout of AACN Clinical Scene Investigator (CSI) Academy. The program is designed to empower bedside nurses as clinician leaders and change agents whose initiatives measurably improve patient outcomes with bottom-line impact to the hospital.

As the only nursing excellence and leadership skill-building program that provides hospitals with both educational tools and grant funding, AACN CSI Academy represents a significant investment by AACN in the future of nursing.

"AACN CSI Academy offers tremendous potential benefits for nurses, patients and hospitals, from strengthening clinician confidence to preventing adverse events and shortening hospital stays," said Susan Lacey, PhD, RN, FAAN, who serves as director of the program. "The program is an important part of AACN's ongoing commitment to empowering direct care nurses and supporting their vital role in the transformation of healthcare."

Participating Indianapolis hospitals are:

* Franciscan St. Francis Health

* Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital

* Indiana University Health University Hospital

* Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health

* St. Vincent Hospital

* Wishard Health Services

Linda Q. Everett, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, executive vice president and chief nurse executive at Indiana University Health, said the program's goals and objectives align well with the vision, mission and objectives of nursing and patient care delivery at IU Health hospitals.

"Participation in AACN CSI Academy provides a state-of-the-art collaborative educational platform for direct care nurses to master change management competencies, lock in the process steps determined to be best practice and innovate around excellence," she said.

For the next 18 months, teams of up to four nurses from each hospital will work with CSI faculty, an internal mentor and their chief nursing officer to identify issues related to patient care and develop and implement unit-based projects resulting in quantifiable improvements in patient outcomes and decreases in hospital expenses. The program is conducted in the nurses' local community, and learning is integrated into their existing patient care responsibilities.

Darcy Burthay, RN, MSN, NEA-BC, chief operating officer and chief nursing officer at St. Vincent Hospital, noted AACN CSI Academy will likely strengthen the existing collaboration among Indianapolis hospitals and their shared focus on quality and patient safety. "Through this partnership, we have the ability to advance our goals for nursing care both at St. Vincent and throughout the community," she said. "Those closest to the patient are involved in the search for best practices and participate vigorously in the solutions to the issues impacting great patient outcomes."

Staff nurses from the participating Indianapolis hospitals will engage in hands-on training that enhances leadership, project management and social entrepreneurship skills, and will gain an understanding of the fiscal impact of nursing interventions. Upon completion, AACN CSI Academy participants will share their experiences and results online to extend the reach of the program and foster industry-wide nursing innovation.

Over the next three years, AACN will implement the program nationally as partner hospitals in other areas of the country are selected and will provide each participating hospital with a $10,000 grant to support its team's learning and project implementation.

AACN CSI Academy expands a successful pilot program originally developed by the Bi-State Nursing Innovation Center, Kansas City, Mo., with funding from Partners Investing in Nursing's Future, a partnership of the Northwest Health Foundation and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Significant funding in Kansas City was also provided by the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City and the REACH Foundation.

In the pilot program, initiatives developed by nurse participants resulted in substantial improvements in patient outcomes, including an 80 percent reduction in heel ulcers at one hospital and significant reductions in communication errors, medical errors and injury-causing falls at another. In total, the nurse-led projects saved $2.6 million across the seven hospitals participating in the program.

About the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses: Founded in 1969 and based in Aliso Viejo, Calif., the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) is the largest specialty nursing organization in the world. AACN joins together the interests of more than 500,000 acute and critical care nurses and claims more than 240 chapters worldwide. The organization's vision is to create a healthcare system driven by the needs of patients and their families in which acute and critical care nurses make their optimal contribution. www.aacn.org; facebook.com/aacnface; twitter.com/aacnme

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SOURCE American Association of Critical-Care Nurses