ALWAYS Making Patient Safety a Priority

Our CTICU at Lenox Hill Hospital reported six “never events” between January and June 2021: three pressure injuries, two falls and one occurrence of C-Diff. To address this problem, the nurses of our CSI team focused on implementing systematic nurse-led rounds to reduce patient harm using the acronym ALWAYS (Airway, Lines, Walking, Alarms, whY the lines & Skin). Our CSI team introduced the new approach to rounding during daily huddles. By incorporating an adaptable model of nurse-led rounds, we were able to standardize a safe environment in patient rooms, give impactful voices to nurses about patient safety and ultimately decrease never events 50% by the end of our project.