New Nursing Care Model Puts Patients, Family in Centre of Care

 
New uniforms for nurses belong to
the care model © Al Hayashi

Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood has introduced a new nursing care model that takes a unique approach in caring for patients and their families.

The Magis Patient & Family Model makes patients and their families' partners in treatment with the goal of improving patients' physical and spiritual comforts, speeding healing and improving overall performance at the medical centre.

“Patient outcomes can be significantly improved by taking this kind of approach," said Paula Hindle, RN, MSN, MBA, vice president, chief nurse executive, Loyola. "We’ve tried to learn from the most successful practices and combine them with our own Magis values of care, concern, respect and cooperation. As a result, we’ve developed a program that is unique to Loyola with a new model that will touch nearly every aspect of our patient care.”

The new model increases the time nurses spend at each bedside, ensuring that patients and their families receive as much one-on-one attention and hands-on care as needed. The tower supports the new model by eliminating large, central nursing stations on patient floors and replacing them with smaller stations outside patient rooms. Nurses are able to hold small "hallway huddles" to confer about patients with complex conditions.

One of the most visible signs of the new model is the introduction of new uniforms for all nurses at Loyola. “We know that nurses like the flexibility of wearing different tops to work each day,” Ms. Hindle said. “But many of our patients have told us that they often don’t know which person in the room is a nurse and a standard look will help to take care of that issue.”

The Magis Patient- & Family-centred Model includes a wide range of practices, such as:

• Nurses are to make hourly rounds for pain, positioning and toileting.


• Nurses will be expected to ask probing questions to determine levels of pain and other symptoms.


• Nurses and physicians will be expected to follow the four Ps to reflect on each patient’s care: pause, ponder, plan and pray.


• Nurses will ask patients for their goals each day.

( Source: REHACARE.de )