Context: Nurses are the primary hospital caregivers. Increasing the effi ciency and effectiveness of nursing care is essential to hospital function and the delivery of safe patient care.Objective: We undertook a time and motion study to document how nurses spend their time. The goal was to identify drivers of ineffi ciency in nursing work processes and nursing unit design.Design: Nurses from 36 medical-surgical units were invited to participate in research protocols designed to assess how nurses spend their time, nurse location and movement, and nurse physiologic response.Main Outcome Measures: Nurses' time was divided into categories of activities (nursing practice, unit-related functions, nonclinical activities, and waste) and locations (patient room, nurse station, on-unit, off-unit). Total distance traveled and energy expenditure were assessed. Distance traveled was evaluated across types of unit design.Results: A total of 767 nurses participated. More than threequarters of all reported time was devoted to nursing practice. Three subcategories accounted for most of nursing practice time: documentation (35.3%; 147.5 minutes), medication administration (17.2%; 72 minutes), and care coordination (20.6%; 86 minutes). Patient care activities accounted for 19.3% (81 minutes) of nursing practice time, and only 7.2% (31 minutes) of nursing practice time was considered to be used for patient assessment and reading of vital signs.Conclusion: The time and motion study identifi ed three main targets for improving the effi ciency of nursing care: documentation, medication administration, and care coordination. Changes in technology, work processes, and unit organization and design may allow for substantial improvements in the use of nurses' time and the safe delivery of care.

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This large case/control study of fall and non-fall patients, in an acute care tertiary facility, was designed to concurrently test the Hendrich Fall Risk Model. Cases and controls (355/780) were randomly enrolled and assessed for more than 600 risk factors (intrinsic/extrinsic). Standardized instruments were used for key physical attributes as well as clinician assessments. A risk factor model was developed through stepwise logistic regression. Two-way interactions among the risk factors were tested for significance. The best fitting model included 2 Log L chi square statistic as well as sensitivity and specificity values retrospectively. The result of the study is an easy to use validated Hendrich Fall Risk Model with eight assessment parameters for high-risk fall identification tested in acute care environments.

• Background Delayed transfers of patients between nursing units and lack of available beds are significant problems that increase costs and decrease quality of care and satisfaction among patients and staff.• Objective To test whether use of acuity-adaptable rooms helps solve problems with transfers of patients, satisfaction levels, and medical errors.• Methods A pre-post method was used to compare the effects of environmental design on various clinical and financial measures. Twelve outcome-based questions were formulated as the basis for inquiry. Two years of baseline data were collected before the unit moved and were compared with 3 years of data collected after the move.• Results Significant improvements in quality and operational cost occurred after the move, including a large reduction in clinician handoffs and transfers; reductions in medication error and patient fall indexes; improvements in predictive indicators of patients’ satisfaction; decrease in budgeted nursing hours per patient day and increased available nursing time for direct care without added cost; increase in patient days per bed, with a smaller bed base (number of beds per patient days). Some staff turnover occurred during the first year; turnover stabilized thereafter.• Conclusions Data in 5 key areas (flow of patients and hospital capacity, patients’ dissatisfaction, sentinel events, mean length of stay, and allocation of nursing productivity) appear to be sufficient to test the business case for future investment in partial or complete replication of this model with appropriate populations of patients.