Implementation and Evaluation of an Ambulatory Care Nurse Clinical Advancement System

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY * The United States spends more than other highincome countries on health care, while continuing to lag behind in quality, access, life expectancy, and care coordination. * Patient populations and where they receive care is changing drastically, with volumes shifting from the inpat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNursing economic Vol. 36; no. 3; pp. 149 - 155
Main Authors Hossli, Susan M, Start, Rachel, Murphy, Marcia P
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Pitman Jannetti Publications, Inc 01.05.2018
Anthony J. Jannetti, Inc
Subjects
Ambulatory care
Analysis
Collaboration
Committees
Continuity of care
Education
Evidence-based nursing
Focus groups
Health care
Health care policy
Health promotion
Job descriptions
Leadership
Life expectancy
Management
Nurses
Nursing administration
Physical fitness
Practice
Primary care
Professional development
Professional practice
Quality
United States > US
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Summary:EXECUTIVE SUMMARY * The United States spends more than other highincome countries on health care, while continuing to lag behind in quality, access, life expectancy, and care coordination. * Patient populations and where they receive care is changing drastically, with volumes shifting from the inpatient, episode-centered model to an outpatient, health promotion centered model. * Ambulatory care nurses are uniquely positioned within the healthcare continuum to lead the transformation of care for diverse patient populations. * One strategy that enables the ambulatory care nurse to practice all dimensions of his or her specialty role is the development of a clinical advancement system (CAS). * CAS, or clinical ladders, are one strategy that can assist nurses in acquiring skills necessary to support excellent practice as well as improve quality patient care outcomes. Process A steering committee was established to redesign the role of professional nurses in the ambulatory care setting. Because this initiative represented a transformational change, key leaders across the system were included in the development and approval process. The panel ultimately decided a novice nurse would not have the knowledge, skills, and experience to practice ambulatory care independently within this system. [...]the panel recommended the three job descriptions be collapsed into two: The organization has seen positive outcomes through implementation of the CAS including ambulatory care nurse engagement, percentage of nationally certified ambulatory care nurses, and number of ambulatory care nurses participating in shared governance. Since implementation of the CAS, eight ambulatory care nurses advanced to Ambulatory RN3 and one acute care RN3 successfully transferred to an Ambulatory RN3 role.
ISSN:0746-1739
2995-4053