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| CRITICAL DIFFERENCE INC. PROFESSIONAL FREEDOM THROUGH INDEPENDENCE 6/1/08 Issue LV 850-477-1234 Toll Free 866-CDI-NURSE |
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³http://www.pressganey.
com/files/nosocomial_infections_cost.
pdf
Next
Document what the average numbers
of falls per 100 patients were per
year, in your area. What was the
number of Nosocomial Infections?
How many pressure ulcers developed
last year? Most of these numbers
have already been tracked for you…
you bet, by the bean counters. Look
at your area’s patient satisfaction
numbers. All right, we are ready to
begin.
com/files/nosocomial_infections_cost.
Next
Document what the average numbers
of falls per 100 patients were per
year, in your area. What was the
number of Nosocomial Infections?
How many pressure ulcers developed
last year? Most of these numbers
have already been tracked for you…
you bet, by the bean counters. Look
at your area’s patient satisfaction
numbers. All right, we are ready to
begin.
Making A Difference
Every day, you make a difference in
your work place. Yet, it is pretty easy
to think you’re not appreciated. You
frequently work short handed. Most
shifts you are working without getting a
break to eat. Your back starts talking
to you 8 hours into a shift. The future
is wrought with deepening shortages.
More and more baby boomer nurses
long for the day they can retire. Cut
backs abound. Is there a way out of
this mess?
Surprisingly, yes, and it’s not
difficult, nor expensive, and there is
very little in the way of a learning
curve. It comes from realizing we now
work for a bunch of bean counters who
work for a bunch of bean counters who
answer to a bunch …well you get it.
Nurses don’t see the world the way
they do, and we suffer for it. We have
to show the hospital that care on your
unit saves them big money. Because
of those savings, your unit deserves
proportionately more staff, break
rooms stocked with soft drinks and
snack foods, and proper dinner
breaks, at the very least.
Let’s Get Started.
First, it helps to know where the money
losers are for a hospital. If you are
working in med/surg, the list is endless
but here are some big ones.
Patient satisfaction polls: if they are
lousy, you can kiss off any increase in
the unit’s budget.
Falls: the average patient fall costs
the hospital around $40,800 ¹.
Pressure sores: one of these guys will
extend a hospital stay like nobody’s
business and the hospital eats it. Cost
per ulcer: $23,000 locally ².
Noscomial Infections: an average
infection will set the hospital back
$13,973 ³ and under new guide lines, it’
s the hospitals expense.
Document a decrease in your unit’s
falls by one, avoid one pressure ulcer
and cut out one Nosocomial Infection…
why you just justified the hospital giving
your dept.one more FTE.
http://www.bedcheck.com/aged2.html
Every day, you make a difference in
your work place. Yet, it is pretty easy
to think you’re not appreciated. You
frequently work short handed. Most
shifts you are working without getting a
break to eat. Your back starts talking
to you 8 hours into a shift. The future
is wrought with deepening shortages.
More and more baby boomer nurses
long for the day they can retire. Cut
backs abound. Is there a way out of
this mess?
Surprisingly, yes, and it’s not
difficult, nor expensive, and there is
very little in the way of a learning
curve. It comes from realizing we now
work for a bunch of bean counters who
work for a bunch of bean counters who
answer to a bunch …well you get it.
Nurses don’t see the world the way
they do, and we suffer for it. We have
to show the hospital that care on your
unit saves them big money. Because
of those savings, your unit deserves
proportionately more staff, break
rooms stocked with soft drinks and
snack foods, and proper dinner
breaks, at the very least.
Let’s Get Started.
First, it helps to know where the money
losers are for a hospital. If you are
working in med/surg, the list is endless
but here are some big ones.
Patient satisfaction polls: if they are
lousy, you can kiss off any increase in
the unit’s budget.
Falls: the average patient fall costs
the hospital around $40,800 ¹.
Pressure sores: one of these guys will
extend a hospital stay like nobody’s
business and the hospital eats it. Cost
per ulcer: $23,000 locally ².
Noscomial Infections: an average
infection will set the hospital back
$13,973 ³ and under new guide lines, it’
s the hospitals expense.
Document a decrease in your unit’s
falls by one, avoid one pressure ulcer
and cut out one Nosocomial Infection…
why you just justified the hospital giving
your dept.one more FTE.
http://www.bedcheck.com/aged2.html
(2 falls - $81,600, 2 infections –
$27,946, 1 pressure ulcer - $23,000).
Track your numbers on a board each
month. In no time flat, your area,
district, and department will start to
shine. These numbers now become
your leverage to get what you need.
Every hospital administrator wants a
floor where they can place a loved one.
Your area will be that area… the best
staffed by the most appreciated nurses
in the house and the most satisfied.
The first step to changing to Tenable
Care is with you; talk up the idea with
coworkers. Meet with your supervisor,
set up a meeting and draw up a pact
with each other as to what each has
agreed to do… hourly rounds, etc. Put
it in writing. Remember to discover what
the numbers are before you start so you
can document the difference you make.
Look to see where the savings you
made can be spent to improve your
area. Start a letter to administration,
leaving blanks where the dollar savings
amounts will go. Need a place to meet?
Our conference room is open to you.
Need advice on Tenable Care? Give us
a call. You make a difference every
day, but you won’t believe how much a
difference you can make when you have
enough help.
$27,946, 1 pressure ulcer - $23,000).
Track your numbers on a board each
month. In no time flat, your area,
district, and department will start to
shine. These numbers now become
your leverage to get what you need.
Every hospital administrator wants a
floor where they can place a loved one.
Your area will be that area… the best
staffed by the most appreciated nurses
in the house and the most satisfied.
The first step to changing to Tenable
Care is with you; talk up the idea with
coworkers. Meet with your supervisor,
set up a meeting and draw up a pact
with each other as to what each has
agreed to do… hourly rounds, etc. Put
it in writing. Remember to discover what
the numbers are before you start so you
can document the difference you make.
Look to see where the savings you
made can be spent to improve your
area. Start a letter to administration,
leaving blanks where the dollar savings
amounts will go. Need a place to meet?
Our conference room is open to you.
Need advice on Tenable Care? Give us
a call. You make a difference every
day, but you won’t believe how much a
difference you can make when you have
enough help.
Evidence Based Money.
Now it is time to mine those dollars.
We may not be able to calculate an
EBIDTA like the accountants, but no
one knows how to care for a patient
like a nurse. First, let’s tackle falls and
patient satisfaction. Both are
dramatically improved by doing nursing
rounds every hour. We can do that.
Next are pressure ulcers. Turn you
patient every hour and the number of
them slips to almost nil. We can do
that. Noscomial Infections are mostly a
matter of hand washing and common
sense. We can do that.
Get Sign On From Others
This is where the work is. You have to
develop this from within. You’re going
to have to get a group of nurses on 2
shifts to agree to switch to Tenable
Care. The problem may not be
pressure ulcers in your area, but in
every area of the hospital, something
is costing
patients, and the hospital, in some
way. If you find just one and bring
down the cost to justify that
desperately needed FTE, everyone
wins. Set a dollar savings goal
Now it is time to mine those dollars.
We may not be able to calculate an
EBIDTA like the accountants, but no
one knows how to care for a patient
like a nurse. First, let’s tackle falls and
patient satisfaction. Both are
dramatically improved by doing nursing
rounds every hour. We can do that.
Next are pressure ulcers. Turn you
patient every hour and the number of
them slips to almost nil. We can do
that. Noscomial Infections are mostly a
matter of hand washing and common
sense. We can do that.
Get Sign On From Others
This is where the work is. You have to
develop this from within. You’re going
to have to get a group of nurses on 2
shifts to agree to switch to Tenable
Care. The problem may not be
pressure ulcers in your area, but in
every area of the hospital, something
is costing
patients, and the hospital, in some
way. If you find just one and bring
down the cost to justify that
desperately needed FTE, everyone
wins. Set a dollar savings goal