New York City-based Mount Sinai Health System's thoractic surgical unit improved nurse communication by 4%, teamwork by 10% and responsiveness by 10% thanks to its nurse attending model.
The pilot program began in fall 2022 with the goal of addressing a critical gap, as many units had a large proportion of new registered nurses — some as many as 40% — with little onsite clinical training. The nurse attending model provides an opportunity for senior seasoned nurses, volunteering as nurse attendings, to participate in daily interdisciplinary rounds so that they can learn to support less-experienced nurses while fostering team collaboration, job satisfaction and improvement in nursing care outcomes.
Faculty members from partner universities are asked to provide oversight for two weeks of the 48-week academic year. The opportunity gives them access to clinical sites where they can gain a better understanding of experience needed for new nurses.
Roughly 120 nurses have gone through the nurse attending model, and Frances Cartwright, PhD, RN, vice president of nursing for Mount Sinai Health System oncology services, told Becker's surveys of those who participated revealed it promotes clinical thinking and boosts nurse confidence, competencies and interdisciplinary team engagement.
"Our nurses feel that their voices are heard, they feel engaged and it has helped with retention," Dr. Cartwright said. "Our Your Voice Counts survey found 93% of nurses said that they felt connected to the meaning of the work. We also scored higher than the national average in nurse communication, nurse engagement and in a culture of safety."
The program recently launched on a bone marrow transplant unit, and the system is reaching out to more universities for faculty support to expand to more units. It is expected to take at least two years to expand the program across the hospital and system, Dr. Cartwright said.
Some patient measures have also been improved after the pilot program launched in the thoractic surgical unit. The hospital-acquired pressure injury rate is down from 1.81 falls to 1.80 at Mount Sinai, and the falls with injury rate is down 46%.