[cysmith66]

One of the greatest challenges I currently have as manager of a PICU is the nurses sense of increased acuity...which is true to some extent but they are perceiving the non-patient care tasks as such. Their workload has increased because of these tasks and the nurses are not taking care of their breaks. They are sacrificing their own needs in the name of patient care and looking for some recognition. I want to track the acuity to help them clarify extreme acuity to low so that they can feel less guilty about leaving the unit. I am considering the TISS...anyone else. I would also like to benchmark with others.

[janfrn]

In my last unit we used PRN Points to evaluate acuity. There were a lot of things done in the unit that weren't captured by this tool, and it was pretty limited. We were told that this tool was used in part to justify the number of staff we had on shift, and that if it reflected an ever-increasing acuity we would get an increase in our baseline staffing. What a crock! We could have a full house (8 beds), with all kids intubated, a septic kid with a bad burn, a kid on dialysis and another on multiple inotropes, a DKA with q hourly bloodwork and frequent drip changes, and they'd float our extra nurse. After several years they did away with the tool becasue it wasn't "working".

The unit where I work now has some kind of yardstick but I'm not privy to how it works or what the numbers mean. It sure doesn't help with staffing levels, let me assure you. Lots of breaks are missed in our unit too.

[gwenith]

We use Trendcare http://www.trendcare.com.au/

but it is Australian and adult focussed. However it is relatively easy to use and it might be adaptable