CSI Project

DOVES NEST

Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, Massachusetts)

CSI Summary

Available only to registered AACN.org users.

Summary

CSI Presentation

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Presentation

CSI Toolkit

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Toolkit

Added to Collection

Project Topic

Hand-off communication between units

Hospital Units

Labor and Delivery – Blake 14

Newborn Family Unit – Blake and Ellison 13

CSI Participants

Mary Parshley, BSN, RN
Suzanne Stanton, BSN, RNC

Project Goals/Objectives

  1. To improve teamwork and positive communication between units
  2. To decrease staff turnover
  3. To decrease incivility
  4. To increase staff satisfaction 15%

Project Outcomes

  1. Improved communication between units
  2. Decreased perceived incivility
  3. Strengthened relationships between the units and developed as a team

Project Overview

For over 20 years, there has been a misunderstanding of workflow and a misalignment of priorities between the labor and delivery and the postpartum/antepartum units at Massachusetts General Hospital. These differences increased with the roll out of our new computer system because there were several ways to document the same information. This lack of uniformity led to missed information, and magnified the communication issues that were already present. Nurses on the different units were not satisfied with handoffs from unit to unit and vocalized this frequently to both coworkers and management.

Based on this feedback, we decided to create a standardized handoff tool to minimize errors and miscommunication during handoff report. This resource was eagerly accepted by the labor and delivery nurses and well-received by some nursing staff on the postpartum floor thanks to the ease of writing the note. In addition to this handoff tool, we also reviewed policies to help increase the understanding of workflow on sisters units. We have not yet brought this project to any other units as it is very specific to obstetrics.

Permission to Reuse Materials
The materials associated with this AACN Clinical Scene Investigator (CSI) Academy project are the property of the participating hospital noted above, not AACN. Requests to use content contained in the CSI team’s summary, presentation or toolkit should be directed to the hospital. We suggest reaching out to the hospital’s Communications, Marketing or Nursing Education department for assistance.

Disclaimer
The AACN CSI Academy program supports change projects based on quality improvement methods. Although CSI teams seek to ensure linkage between their project and clinical/fiscal outcomes, data cannot be solely attributed to the project and are estimations of impact.