Acuity Adaptable Nursing Units in Oncology

Patient and family description of receiving care in acuity adaptable care model

“…Successful implementation of the model resulted in increased team building across a staff with varying experiences and education (Annonio et al., ). Disadvantages for nursing staff included time and cost for additional skill building, inability to predict specialty needs of patients and increased demands on flexibility (Drexler & Newman, ). Additional challenges included maintaining an appropriate caregiver mix, changing the work culture, building physician support for mixed care units, and changes in service line structures.…”

“…The acuity adaptable care model is defined as a universal bed model that maintains patients in the same room from admission to discharge while adapting staff, equipment and other resources according to the patient's level of acuity (Emaminia et al., ). Descriptions of universal care units, or acuity adaptable care models, began appearing in the literature in around the year 2000, and have included cardiac, oncology and urology, and renal transplant services (Annonio, Graham, & Ross, ; Bonuel & Cesario, ; Chindhy et al., ; Drexler & Newman, ). The acuity adaptable care model brings the required level of care to the patient instead of transferring the patient to a higher or specialty care unit thus minimizing the time to delivery of services and easing bottlenecks caused by unscheduled admissions and unpredictable changes in patient care demands.…”

“…In a rural hospital setting, the acuity adaptable model was associated with significant improvement in patient satisfaction for overall rating and willingness to recommend the hospital (Ramson, Dudjak, August-Brady, Stoltzfus, & Thomas, 2013). Advantages for nursing staff included increased knowledge and skill for managing a wider number of specialty care needs, flexibility in patient assignments, higher quality of care delivery, greater diversity among nurse staffing mix and increased job satisfaction (Drexler & Newman, 2011). Successful implementation of the model resulted in increased team building across a staff with varying experiences and education (Annonio et al, 2010).…”

“…Successful implementation of the model resulted in increased team building across a staff with varying experiences and education (Annonio et al, 2010). Disadvantages for nursing staff included time and cost for additional skill building, inability to predict specialty needs of patients and increased demands on flexibility (Drexler & Newman, 2011 (Ulrich et al, 2008). No information was found describing patient or family perceptions of the acuity adaptable care model.…”