The Complexity Assessment and Monitoring to Ensure Optimal Outcomes (CAMEO) acuity tool is used in pediatric critical care to assess patient acuity and nurse workload. It focuses on the cognitive workload, or intellectual processing, that nurses require to care for patients, rather than only the physical tasks. It categorizes patients into levels of complexity (I through V) to help guide staffing decisions and patient assignments.
The CAMEO tool was developed by Jean Connor, PhD, RN, CPNP, FAAN, Patricia Hickey, PhD, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, and Christine LaGrasta, DNP, RN, CPNP-PC/AC, at Boston Children’s Hospital. They spent time at the bedside observing and documenting various tasks and cognitive processes involved in patient care. Unlike traditional acuity tools that primarily measure hands-on care, the CAMEO tool assesses the intellectual processing, decision-making and surveillance required for each patient.
“In observing the workload of our pediatric critical care nurses, there was much more that was happening at the bedside that wasn’t being accounted for,” Connor said. “They are responsible for assessing the situation, making a plan of care, determining possible interventions, then carrying out that plan of care and monitoring it over time.”
For more information about the CAMEO acuity tool, please contact Jean Connor at jean.connor@cardio.chboston.org.
In these videos, nurses from Boston Children’s Hospital explain how the tool assists nurses with three different roles: nurse leader, charge nurse and direct care nurse.