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The Critical Care Resource Nurse Team (CCRNT) evolved from our traditional Rapid Response Team (RRT). The CCRNT is a unique paradigm created using the conceptual framework of the American Association of Critical Care Nursing Synergy Model for Patient Care. The goal of the CCRNT is to help align nurse competencies with patient needs. This team was seen as a much-needed strong clinical support by nursing leadership as large numbers of inexperienced new graduate registered nurses were hired and senior experienced nurses were leaving the workforce. The CCRNT supports 24/7 RRT, Code Blue, Code Stroke, Emergency Airway Response Team, Early Warning System, Medical Emergency Team, simulation team training, and bedside nurse support and mentoring. Coverage expanded from inpatient medical/surgical areas to all areas of the medical center and included hospital-wide initiatives. The focus for the CCRNT changed to a system-wide nursing and patient safety model to improve practice and intervene in near-miss events. This model improved communication between disciplines, provided critical surveillance of at-risk patients, supported patient safety with a significant decrease in patient mortality, and offered a 24/7 expert critical care nurse resource team for staff., (Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

A nurse residency program was designed to train a large group of new graduate nurses hired into multiple specialty areas. The program included a generalist 1 month 5 day/week clinical orientation followed by specialty clinical orientation with ongoing generalist education. Retention rate after 1 year was 91 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Practical and efficient neurologic assessment skills are vital for acute care nurses. During an acute neurologic event, the nurse needs a focused assessment of the pertinent history and symptom analysis and an immediate head-to-toe survey, eliciting any abnormal signs to identify and correctly report the medical problem. When a patient requires routine monitoring of neurologic signs, the nurse's role includes a neurologic assessment, collecting and assimilating that data, interpreting the patient problem, notifying the physician when appropriate, and documenting that data. This article presents an overview of a staff nurse's neurologic assessment, explains common neurologic tests performed at the bedside, identifies an efficient way to perform the assessment, and indicates what to include and document when "neuro signs" are ordered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]