In this issue: High-quality nurse-physician communication during family-center rounds can help improve patient safety. Using quality improvement methods, a team implemented several interventions to improve communication and attendance during family-centered rounds, including a pre-rounds huddle, using of individualized alerts to bedside nurses to prepare them for rounds, and development of comprehensive summaries following rounds. Nurses’ attendance at family centered-rounds increased from 53% to 75%; their awareness of medical problems and the plan of care for the day increased from 70% to 87%.
Nurses play an integral role in end-of-life care planning. Authors developed a conceptual model for end-of-life care planning for nurses, based on a literature review among diverse countries, age groups, ethnographies, and residential statuses. The conceptual model includes 3 domains: (1) personal factors, (2) stakeholders, and (3) environmental and social factors. The domains are interrelated to each other, and directly related to end-of-life care planning. Implications for nursing education, practice, and research are provided.
Staci S. Reynolds, Editor