Evidence-Based Skin Champion Program Reduces Pressure Injuries in a Pediatric Hospital

Prevention of pressure injuries (PIs) in pediatric patients is an important nurse-sensitive quality goal. The PI rate at a large urban pediatric hospital triggered a call to action by the Chief Nursing Officer to establish a Hospital Acquired PI (HAPI) Task Force which identified the Skin Champion program as a key improvement strategy. The goals of the Skin Champion program are to lower the rate of HAPIs, empower front line care providers to implement evidence-based care bundles, achieve consistency of practice, and provide resource availability at the point of care. The implementation of the Skin Champion quality improvement program achieved an 85% reduction in severe harm and “reportable HAPI incidence, which is lower than the HAPI national average in pediatric patients (Solutions for Patient Safety, 2018), and an increase in nurse compliance with the HAPI prevention bundle. The HAPI incidence rate has remained near 0.05 per 1000 patient days

Strategies for Bridging Gaps between Diversity, Academics, and Community/Clinical Partnerships

The academic‐practice gap has been well documented for over four decades in the literature, and current literature suggests the viewpoints of academic and practice leaders remain divergent. Closing this gap will require a dedicated and coordinated response from both academia and the clinical practice institutions. Additionally, diversity in the Nursing field is essential because it provides opportunities to administer quality care to patients. Goals: The panelists will share their unique perspectives and offer Strategies for Bridging Gaps between Diversity, Academics, and Community/Clinical Partnerships

Interprofessional Learning Readiness: Health Policy Summit

Purpose: Interprofessional Education (IPE) and Health Policy are important components in health professional curricula. Students from business, communication sciences and disorders, dietetics, occupational therapy, nursing, and social work participated in an innovative IPE event working in an IPE group to apply discipline specific knowledge and propose solutions to the Medicaid Expansion gap in Virginia. Students presented their final proposals to legislators while advocating for issues important to their discipline. Methodology/Results: This study used the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) to examine student Teamwork and Collaboration, Professional Identity, and Roles and Responsibilities following participation in a Health Policy Summit. The results revealed a difference at baseline between health professions students and business students (N= 260) in their perception of teamwork and collaboration between groups. The themes of the question items found to be significant within the scale pre- and posttest were student perception of learning with other health-care/professional students, shared learning to help students understand their limitations, and welcoming opportunities to work with IPE students. Conclusion: This data indicates that there remains an opportunity to promote student perceptions of their abilities to participate in teamwork, collaborate significantly, and to understand the scope of their discipline specific knowledge and contributions to a team