New York hospitals selected to participate in AACN's nurse leadership skill-building program

ALISO VIEJO, Calif., Oct. 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) selects seven New York hospitals to serve as the sixth and final cohort in the preliminary national rollout of its hospital-based nurse leadership and innovation training program.

AACN Clinical Scene Investigator (CSI) Academy is a hospital-based, team-oriented and hands-on educational experience designed to empower bedside nurses as clinician leaders and change agents whose initiatives measurably improve the quality of patient care and hospital bottom-line.

Participating hospitals in the New York City area are:

• Long Island Jewish Medical Center, New Hyde Park
• Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn
• New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center, New York City
• New York-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, New York City
• New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center , New York City
• NYU Langone Medical Center, New York City
• North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset

As the only nursing excellence and leadership skill-building program that provides hospitals with both educational programming and grant funds to support project implementation, AACN CSI Academy represents a substantial investment by AACN in the future of nursing. It also reflects AACN's high-level response to the Institute of Medicine's landmark "Future of Nursing" report, confirming the vital role nursing can and should play in the transformation of healthcare.

Health care leaders in New York are eager to introduce the program to local nurses, saying AACN CSI Academy supports the development of direct care nurses to improve overall nursing practice and individual patient outcomes.

"This program further develops the leadership skills of front-line clinical nurses and makes their contributions visible," said Thomas Smith, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, chief nursing officer and senior vice president at Brooklyn's Maimonides Medical Center, who helped bring AACN CSI Academy to New York. "As nurses, we're fundamentally focused on improving patient care and nursing practice."

Guiding the New York cohort through the CSI Academy program will be AACN past president Debbie Brinker, RN, MSN, CNS, clinical assistant professor and associate director of Undergraduate Programs and Academic Partnerships at Washington State University College of Nursing, Spokane, and former AACN national board member Marian Altman, RN, MS, CNS-BC, ANP, nurse clinician in the digestive health unit, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Health System, Richmond, and an adjunct faculty member in the VCU School of Nursing.

"AACN CSI Academy truly is transforming care by engaging and supporting staff nurses to be leaders," Altman said. "Good leadership. Good service. Best Outcomes. Financial sustainability. All are connected to promoting staff nurses to be leaders in designing and implementing evidence-based, cost-saving interventions which promote best practices and the healthiest work environments."

For the next 16 months, teams of up to four nurses from each New York hospital will work with CSI faculty, an internal mentor and a chief nursing officer to identify issues related to existing patient care responsibilities. Teams will then develop and implement unit-based projects, resulting in quantifiable improvements in patient outcomes and decreases in hospital expenses. In most cases, it is anticipated the projects will be implemented in other units at each hospital.

The AACN CSI Academy teams in New York join cohorts already in progress in Indiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas, for a combined total of 42 participating hospitals. Nurse participants in other regions are undertaking projects such as preventing ventilator-associated pneumonia, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, pressure ulcers, falls, delirium and unplanned extubation, and improving communication and teamwork.

In addition to benefiting participating hospitals, the program is intended to foster industry-wide nursing innovation through sharing of results and best practices via publications, presentations and online content. With that goal in mind, the initial cohort of nurses from Indianapolis-area hospitals will present their AACN CSI Academy project results to regional health care leaders in November. AACN will then share their presentations, tools and resources with the larger nursing community on its website.

During the program's three-year first phase, AACN will invest $1.25 million to fund implementation at partner hospitals across the country. This investment supports program administration and provides a $10,000 implementation grant to each participating hospital.

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 235 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.

American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, 101 Columbia, Aliso Viejo, CA 92656-4109;
Phone: (949) 362-2000; Fax: (949) 362-2020; www.aacn.org; facebook.com/aacnface; twitter.com/aacnme

SOURCE American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN)