Reexamining Overuse of Frequent Observation for New Admissions on Psychiatric Units to Increase Nurse/Patient Engagement
Date of Graduation
Winter 12-14-2018
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
<-- Please Select One -->
College/School
School of Nursing and Health Professions
First Advisor
Mary Seed
Abstract
People in California who suffer from mental health conditions are often admitted involuntarily to hospitals on 72 hour psychiatric evaluation holds if they are deemed imminently dangerous to themselves, or others, or are gravely disabled. Observational patient safety checks are performed and based on patient acuity and hospital standards. Variations exist among different clinical settings with regard to best practices and the patient subpopulations that may warrant less frequent safety checks. Nurses experience different levels of satisfaction with regard to frequency of safety checks because there is no national consensus on which subsets of patients may require them. A senior inpatient psychiatric nurse and clinical nurse leader (CNL) student led a practice improvement and education project over three months to decrease overuse of frequent observation in subsets of appropriate patients with the aim to increase nurse/patient engagement. Initial results indicated an inconsistent level of nurse’s readiness to change existing conventions, but fortunately, the findings also reflected a willingness to refocus their workflows on continuous improvement and a meaningful nurse/patient engagement that is needed for recovery.
Recommended Citation
Novela, Samuel, "Reexamining Overuse of Frequent Observation for New Admissions on Psychiatric Units to Increase Nurse/Patient Engagement" (2018). Master's Theses. 1115.
https://repository.usfca.edu/thes/1115
