acuity system

[tiger]

anyone heard of the "GRASP ACUITY SYSTEM." they are just bringing it into our hospital and if i know our admin. it is not going to benefit the staff the way they make it sound. the idea is to rate each pt. on there needs for patient care hours. we, day shift rate each pt. for night shift and vise versa. we are an off site unit and have little support staff(no resp. ther., no i.v. team or lab, no transporters to take pts. to x-rays, no ekg techs, etc.). alot of the duties the nursing staff must perform are not listed on the computer so therefore cannot be added in on the acuity. another thing, it does list like subq injections--you type in how many per shift. but alot of things-like say dressing changes don't let you type in how many per shift. we have addressed management with this and are making a list of the things that need to be included. when the system was set up apparantley they only spoke to our new manager and the suck up charge nurse. the charge nurse actually tries to discourage nurses from putting down the correct rating to make it look like the pt. is lower acuity. she doesnt care what goes on on the floor--her duties won't change because of high or low acuity. she will not lift a finger to assist with the pt. care. just wondering if anyone had any experience with this.

[mc40421]

The hospital where I used to work did something very similar and it didn't benefit us at all! We actually ended up being worse off after it was done and the only difference it made was to the facility and the money they saved, so be careful! Hopefully it won't turn out the same for you.

[twells]

My first nursing unit used a patient acuity index. We gained additional NA on evenings and a RN on nights as part of the regular schedule after the first month. After that, it rarely made a difference in staffing.

[Bogiemax]

I know many of you have listed that either you were put off by staffing per acuity, or that it didn't help in the least. But, maybe you can help me? I work for a med-surg pediatric unit, it's also a specialized Neuro-surg/Rehab/Ortho unit. There are many new nurses to the floor, inculding charge nurses. A lot of them have no idea how to staff appropriately. They don't understand that staffing needs to account for patient care based on acuity. Otherwise, many nurses are left with either a heavier assignment or lighter. I've heard your comments in regards to acuity and a point system-and I'm intrigued. I want to know how it works. I think it would benefit our staffing ratios, and retention. I have a pretty good idea of what constitutes a higher acuity for our unit, but I'm clueless as to how to rate this acuity on a point system. If any of you have any resources or support I can rely on let me know, and thank you! [email protected]