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Inside best practice: Clinical nurse leaders improve patient care and quality

HCPro's Weekly Update on the ANCC Magnet Recognition Program®*, November 24, 2009

If your organization doesn't employ clinical nurse leaders (CNL), perhaps it's time it did.
Units with CNLs have been shown to have shorter lengths of stay and readmission rates; improvements in quality and patient safety, such as decreased falls and infection rates; and lower RN turnover.

In fact, these master's degree-prepared nurses have had such a positive effect on patient care and the healthcare environment that the Veterans Health Administration (VA) has committed to having a minimum of three CNLs at every one of its facilities by 2016.

"These individuals take the evidence that's out there in the literature and help to improve practice, as well as to evaluate patient outcomes," says James L. Harris, DSN, APRN-BC, MBA, CNL, FAAN, deputy CNO in the office of nursing services at the VA in Washington, DC. "CNLs are individuals who can coordinate care and break down barriers. They can eliminate fragmentation in healthcare."

Source: This excerpt is from the December issue of HCPro's Advisor to the ANCC Magnet Recognition Program®. Don't have a subscription? Take a look at the benefits of becoming a member of HCPro's Resource Center for the ANCC Magnet Recognition Program®.

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