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  Frequent Incentive Spirometer Use in Med-Surg unit

  Aya Ko and Trisha Saha

  Publication Date: 5-2026

  Incentive Spirometer use has shown to improve lung ventilation, prevent Pneumonia and other post op respiratory complications. The use of IS in inspiratory muscle training has been shown to maintain and increase inhaled lung volume. It is perceived that patients are not very compliant with performing IS post-operatively. Intermittent reassessment of patient performance after initial instruction is recommended.

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  Implementing Bedside Shift Report Amongst Clinical Nurses and Nursing Support Staff

  Olivia Anthony

  Publication Date: 5-2025

  Collaboration between nursing support staff (NSS) and clinical nurses (CNs) is crucial for the provision of safe, personalized, quality care (Beynon et al., 2021). Currently, CNs and NSS on the inpatient rehabilitation (IPR) unit are not required to formally give or receive report from each other.

  It is estimated that NSS provide 80%–90% of direct care to rehabilitation patients (Aloisio et al., 2021). Without a formal handoff process, there is a potential for missed communication of important clinical concerns. For instance, if a patient requires scheduled bladder scanning, has a strict intake and output protocol, or has a goal to sit in a chair for a certain length of time, NSS may or may not be aware until the CN can verbally review specific patient care needs with them, setting clear goals for each patient. The lack of a formal reporting process often results in NSS not receiving report from CNs for hours, pushing these essential conversations into later in the shift, and sometimes, if emergent issues arise, not at all (Potter et al., 2010).

  The aim of this quality improvement project was to explore the effectiveness of bedside shift report amongst clinical nurses and assigned nursing support staff to improve patient outcomes on the IPR Unit.

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  Promoting Bedside Shift Report to Improve Nursing Communication Scores

  Kathleen Bajorek, Heather Gutpell, and Danielle Saleh

  Publication Date: 5-2025

  • • Bedside shift report (BSSR) has many benefits including improvement in safety and quality, preventing medical errors/adverse events, and improved patient and family experience scores.
  • BSSR also improves accountability between nursing team members and improves nurse satisfaction.
  • Hospital staff know the organizational culture and workplace functioning. However, patients and family are strangers to the environment and may not understand the system.
  • Common barriers to BSSR include length of time to complete, perceived Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) violation, not wanting to disturb the patient, fear of change, and management of interacting with challenging families or patients.
  • On 8NE Cardiac Progressive Care Unit (CPCU), compliance of BSSR was not meeting industry standards. Audits found that staff members would complete report at the desk in the nurse’s station or outside the patient’s room door.
  • The 8NE Professional Nurse Council (PNC) and leadership teams coordinated together to brainstorm ways to increase compliance and comfort with BSSR.
  • 8NE has been identified as a power unit with great opportunity to improve the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scored question “Nurses explained things understandably”. The goal of this project was to improve this unit score with a goal of 83.8% to 84.8%
  • Nursing communication domain within the HCAHPS survey is the greatest influencer of the patient’s overall satisfaction score.

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  Implementing a Monthly Cardiac Mini-Lecture Series

  Kathleen Bajorek, Samantha Start, and David Godell

  Publication Date: 5-2025

  • Graduate nurses (GNs) transitioning to a new practice role may experience stress when caring for patients.
  • Nurses must have knowledge, and abilities to provide safe and independent care for their patients.
  • While GNs receive education as part of their corporate orientation structure it is global education that can be applied to all units
  • Both GNs and Registered Nurses (RNs) on the 8 North Cardiac Progressive Care Unit (CPCU) expressed interest in having a cardiac focused educational series.
  • The purpose of the lecture series is to provide evidence-based practice education to the end user GNs and RNs.

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  Early Movement Leads to Patient Improvement

  Lindsay Beard, Michelle Faetz, Kimberly Wesley, and Kristen Gawlik

  Publication Date: 5-2025

  As bedside nurses in the medical-surgical setting, we prioritize patient safety, strong critical thinking, and proper medication administration; but what about patient mobility? About 65% of older adults have a decline in their ability to ambulate or perform activities of daily living (ADL) post hospitalization (Pan, Y., Thiamwong, L., & Xie, R. (2023, January); which may lead to increased discharges to rehabilitation facilities and nursing homes as well as increased chances of hospital readmission.

  The mobility pilot is a nurse-driven initiative that encourages nurses to ambulate and mobilize their patients' multiple times a day. Any form of mobility has been shown to improve aerobic capacity and shorten length of stay significantly for medical patients compared to conventional care (Hook, M., Dailey, M.S., Singh, M., Shneuker, D., Mitchell, L., Milligan, K., … Kelly, L. (2024). Our goal on 8 Center is to decrease the number of discharges to rehabilitation facilities by keeping patients active during their hospital stay, with the goal to return home.

  To maintain and improve patient mobility, nurses must take an active role in the ambulation and movement of their patients. This includes utilizing the 6- clicks scores, an assessment tool derived from the Active Measure for PostAcute Care (AM-PAC) used to measure basic mobility, daily activity, and applied cognition to determine discharge disposition (Warren, M., Knecht, J., Verheijde, J., Tompkins, J. (2021) as well as implementing a mobility audit to keep track of which patients should be ambulating and how often. This quality improvement project aimed to show how nurses can reduce the amount of rehabilitation admissions by increasing ambulation and mobility, promoting patient autonomy, and preserving their ADL function.

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  Clinical Ladder Program: Participants and their Perspectives

  Sarah Berry

  Publication Date: 5-2025

  Our health system offers a Clinical Ladder (CL) Program for Registered Nurses (RNs) that provides professional development opportunities and recognizes their knowledge, skills, efforts to support education, mentoring of new staff transitioning into practice, shared governance, and our ANCC Magnet Program® goals.

  The program has been designed to encourage professional growth, improve the quality of care, and increase staff participation in activities that directly benefit each unit and site. The CL program has certain requirements and activities that must be completed within 12 months of signing a letter of intent (LOI) to complete the program. The ability to participate in the program is dependent on the RN’s manager’s approval.

  Our health system has a CL committee which is tasked with evaluating applications as well as reviewing and updating the program as needed. An assessment of participants in the CL program had not been done at the study hospital in the past 5 years.

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  Mitigating Workplace Violence in Healthcare: the impact of education

  Sarah Berry and Sara Zarr

  Publication Date: 5-2025

  Workplace violence (WPV) is any act or threat of physical violence, harassment, intimidation, or other threatening disruptive behavior that occurs at the work site (OSHA, 2012). In healthcare, WPV acts can range from verbal abuse to violent physical assaults. In 2018, the Joint Commission released a sentinel event alert to call attention to the prevalence of WPV in the healthcare industry and, in 2022, released WPV prevention standards guiding hospitals to implement organization-wide strategies to address the issue (The Joint Commission, 2021).

  Increasingly recognized as a hazard in the healthcare industry, many healthcare organizations have implemented multiple initiatives related to decreasing WPV, including zero-tolerance policies, WPV prevention programs, and training programs. Regarding the effectiveness of violence prevention training for nurses, research has found that these trainings lead to increased confidence and improved communication skills but are ineffective as standalone methods to reduce WPV (Jones, et al., 2023).

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  Advocating for Safe Airway Management for the Laryngectomy Patient

  Casey Brooks and Gabrielle Jaworowski

  Publication Date: 5-2025

  • Airway management in the hospital setting is essential for adequate oxygenation and ventilation.
  • Proper airway management involves the correct assessment, planning, and resources needed to provide care during an emergency.
  • Surgical airway management may results in patients with tracheostomy tubes or laryngectomy tubes. There are significant surgical differences between these two airways which impacts the bedside care provided to the patient.
  • After a tracheotomy, a tracheostomy tube is placed through a temporary or permanent incision in the neck to assist with ventilation. The upper airway (nose and mouth) remains anatomically connected allowing for normal breathing pattern (see Figure 1).
  • After a laryngectomy, the trachea is diverted to a stoma in the anterior neck. There is complete separation of the respiratory and digestive tracts following a partial or total laryngectomy. The breathing pattern for this patient is then permanently altered to only allow ventilation through the stoma (see Figure 1).
  • The staff on the Surgical Progressive Care Unit (SPCU) identified a knowledge gap when caring for patients following a total laryngectomy.
  • The staff also reported safety concerns involved in the emergency management of a patient with a laryngectomy versus a tracheostomy.
  • The purpose of this project was to close the knowledge gap and change safety standards surrounding the emergency care for these patients.

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  A Fall Prevention Intervention on a Women’s Health Gynecology Medical-Surgical Unit

  Eboni Brown, Lindsay Colby, and Patricia Delgado

  Publication Date: 5-2025

  • Patient falls can lead to severe injuries, longer hospital stays, and additional healthcare costs.
  • Trended data on 6S GYN/MED indicated falls were a consistent patient safety concern, highlighting an urgent need for enhanced fall preventive strategies.
  • A review of existing practices, literature1, 2 , and feedback from clinical staff indicated a need for further education for both nursing assistants and registered nurses.
  • The goal of this project was to improve fall prevention education to enhance patient safety and improve overall nursing care quality.

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  Increasing Sequential Compression Device Compliance

  Justin Buck and Vicki Rayburn

  Publication Date: 5-2025

  A venous thromboembolism (VTE) occurs when a blood clot forms in the vein. These typically form in the leg, which is referred to as deep vein thrombosis (DVT), or in the lungs, which is referred to as a pulmonary embolism (PE). A VTE is a critical complication following any surgical procedure, but those undergoing total hip and total knee arthroplasties are at an even higher risk due to decreased mobility. Sequential compression devices (SCDs) are used on these particularly high-risk patients to combat the development of these adverse outcomes. SCDs use intermittent compression to promote adequate blood flow through the legs and the feet and decrease swelling. Patient compliance with SCDs is not as high as recommended due to various factors, including discomfort, lack of education, and inadequate staff usage.

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  30-60-90 Day Check-In

  Diane Capoccia, Kimberly Rawley, and Elizabeth Smagala

  Publication Date: 5-2025

  Ineffective connection, communication and integration into unit culture with a new nurse may impact their future success on the unit. 4 East MICU was lead with an interim manager, after the resignation of two former Unit Managers over several years. During the process of introducing a new interim Manager, 4 East MICU had experienced high turnover of nurses within 1 year of being hired to the unit.

  The idea of 30-60-90-day check-ins while onboarding new employees was already in place, but not well established in the MICU. The collaborative efforts between the interim manager and the nurse educator, who had already established a relationship with the new employee weekly allowed for a teamoriented approach involving the unit leader, nurse educator and new nurse. Upon implementation, the new nurse would now formally meet with the Unit Manager and the Nurse Educator to gain insight and feedback on progress.

  While checking in with the employee may not prevent all employees from leaving, it can ensure the employee is learning, making progress, gaining practical experience, and are acclimating to the unit culture.

  The aim of the 30-60-90-day initiative was to supplement the unit educators already weekly check-ins and to decrease the number of nurse resignations within 1 year of hire in the MICU.

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  Improving Efficiency in Outpatient Blood Transfusions

  Maureen Cooper and Melanie Y. Miller

  Publication Date: 5-2025

  As the US population ages and delivery of care in outpatient settings is on the rise, ambulatory blood utilization is expected to increase (Menis, et. al, 2009). Outpatient blood transfusions are considered a viable option for patients who are stable, anemic, transfusion-dependent, or receiving ongoing treatment. Same day outpatient blood transfusion offers several benefits, including quality of life, reduced hospital stays, and minimized risks associated with longer hospitalizations, while also allowing patients to continue their daily routines.

  Outpatient transfusions allow patients to receive treatment at a time and location that is convenient for them, improving access to care and reducing the burden on patients and their families. Another benefit of offering outpatient transfusion is consistency of staff who are familiar with patient and procedure and not utilizing emergency center or inpatient beds for those who may have higher acuity or level of care beds.

  Outpatient transfusion patients are scheduled Monday-Saturday morning on 1S SSU. The unit is not a dedicated infusion center but is very efficient in caring for transfusion patients in addition to the outpatient surgical population.

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  Impact of Cluster Care Interventions on Patient Outcomes and Delirium in Adult Cardiac ICU Patients with Heart Failure Exacerbations

  Fotini Demetriou

  Publication Date: 5-2025

  Heart failure exacerbations, acute or chronic, in adult patients are a leading cause of ICU admissions, with delirium being a common and serious complication in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU). Delirium can lead to:

  • Worsening patient conditions
  • Increased recovery time
  • Longer hospital stays
  • Decreased long-term outcomes

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  Reducing False Staff Emergency Alarms in a Progressive Care Unit

  Elli Doty, Emma Tarnutzer, and Alexandria Taylor

  Publication Date: 5-2025

  Staff emergency alarms are imperative on a unit because they indicate the need for staff to immediately report to the needed room. Some emergencies can indicate a fall, a code, or a security threat. They are different than normal call lights in the way that they sound. The sound a staff emergency alarm produces is very loud and repetitive until more help can come to the situation. These alarms come to every phone logged into the unit so that even if you are on the opposite side of a unit, you know that there is a situation where staff is needed. Our floor is a “neurology” based floor where most of our patients are confused and may not be able to read or follow simple commands. With this, has come with an increase in false staff emergency alarms because patients may find this button on the wall and feel confused on what to do. Though this is true, we have found that even family members and staff members have frequently pressed the staff emergency alarm by mistake and creating false panic. This has created significant burnout between the staff, resulting in less staff coming to emergency alarms due to suspicion that it is fake. Our project is to simply put yellow sticky notes above the communication board in the rooms that read “STAFF ONLY”. The hope of this project was for patients, family members, and even staff members to take an extra moment before hitting the wrong button. In turn, the unit would experience less false emergency alarms so that nurses did not feel burnout when it comes to true emergencies.

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  Oncology Nurse Burnout

  Armani Garvin, Justin Mattson, and Maria Bowen

  Publication Date: 5-2025

  Over the past few years, the demand for nurses has significantly increased. The Hospitals were often at full capacity while also facing staffing shortages. During this time, many experienced nurses retired, and the pool of new nurse applicants was insufficient to fill the gaps. As a result, existing nursing staff were left to manage increasing workloads, contributing to a surge in nurse burnout and a rise in compassion fatigue especially within oncology units.

  Given these challenges, we believe that encouraging time off or vacation could serve as an effective intervention to support the mental health of oncology nurses.

  • In De la Fuente-Solana et al, multiple dimensions of burnout were assessed, low, medium, high. This study concludes that individual personality plays a key role in burnout. "Nurses are more likely to develop emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and feelings of little personal accomplishment if they present high levels of neuroticism and low one of friendliness and responsibility."
  • In Pang et al,, physicians and nurses in the oncology field were surveyed. "Both physicians (91.9%) and nurses (89.8%) rated increasing paid vacation as the most priority strategy to prevent burnout

  Among Oncology Nurses, how does taking vacation time off versus not taking time off impact their mental health?

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  Stroke Landing Zone in Emergency Department Time is Brain – Improving Door to CT and Door to Needle Time for the Stroke Patient

  Leigh Grzywacz, Ryan Reynolds, Lisa Schultz, Sara Chung, David Donaldson, and Kim Chapman-Hitchcock

  Publication Date: 5-2025

  Corewell Health Beaumont Troy emergency department is a Level II trauma center and primary stroke center with an annual volume in 2023 of 108,311 patient visits. The emergency department is unique regarding the EMS community that is served in the area. The hospital is located on the boarder of two large counties. On average 65 patients arrive to the emergency department from both counties daily by EMS. Stroke education in the community of signs and symptoms of a stroke and the importance of rapid evaluation has occurred over the last 10 years. Many patients have recognized signs and symptoms of a stroke, activated EMS, and have been treated in the emergency department at Troy.

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  Use of a Pain Scale Chart in Medical-Surgical Patients

  Maren Hanna, Maya Vulaj, and Jacob Moores

  Publication Date: 5-2025

  Pain is very subjective, and patients are oftentimes unable to assign a number to their pain due a to lack of understanding of the pain scale. Consequently, patients sometimes get underdosed or overdosed for their pain. On 7 Northeast, we currently ask patients to rate their pain on a scale of 1-10 without any chart or description as to what the numbers stand for in relation to pain. Many patients have verbalized their frustration on how to rate their pain because of their lack of understanding of the pain scale. Implementation of a pain chart in the room will help patients understand the severity of their pain and get medicated appropriately based on their reported score.

  A study conducted on an adult inpatient unit concluded a successful implementation of a pain scale. According to Hanson et al., “The goal of using the FPS (Functional Pain Scale) is to change pain management discussions from an intensity reduction to meeting goals of care, aligning expectations, and creating common language among patients and providers,” (2024). Patients do not always know how to rate their pain due to not having knowledge of the pain scale. They often do not get medicated correctly leading to more increased pain, anger, frustration, and a longer hospital stay due to unmanaged pain. The opposite can be said as well as some patients may be getting overmedicated with narcotics, leading to possible addiction

  In medical-surgical patients on 7 Northeast, would implementing a pain scale chart improve the accuracy of pain ratings during hospitalization?

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  Hammering it Out: developing a toolbox to orient inexperienced hemodialysis new hires

  Michael R. Jalaba, Maria B. Abuel, and Tarah Intocaso

  Publication Date: 5-2025

  To meet the care demands of patients with Chronic and Acute Renal Failure, the need for hemodialysis RNs continues to increase. Concerns about stressful work environment, long hours and staffing shortages often result in burnout and attrition (Enriquez et al 2025). Enhancement of shared governance and its potential for increasing work engagement may be helpful in addressing some of the more negative aspects of the Hemodialysis RN work experience.

  Recruitment of experienced nurses who do not have hemodialysis experience is one way to increase staffing. However, orientation can be lengthy. While the current Royal Oak unit orientation/competency checklist serves as documentation of completed computer modules and learned skills/concepts, our preceptors have stated that they need better tools. They shared that some of their past experiences at other sites with a training binder, including detailed daily/weekly lesson plans, objectives and content would help. In addition, although the unit doesn’t have enough turnover to allow for group new hire classes, preceptors requested some time to be away from the unit, in a quiet area, to review topics such as dialysis machine operation, vascular access management, and patient assessment/management of specific care to hemodialysis treatments

  CMS Conditions for Coverage state training must include key dialysis principles and procedures (initiation, monitoring and termination of treatment), documentation, vascular access care, possible complications such as hypotension, muscle cramps, headache, fever & chills, hemolysis, exsanguination and air embolism. Water treatment and dialysate preparation is also crucial as is infection control and patient safety (Payton, et al 2025).

  PICO Question: Will hemodialysis unit preceptors use of an orientation toolbox to train inexperienced hemodialysis RNs result in improved recruitment/retention and competency?

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  Code Blue Review: Increasing Knowledge of Code Blue Procedures for Staff

  Annabel Jefferies

  Publication Date: 5-2025

  In November 2024, we noticed significant confusion among staff members during a code, many of whom were experiencing just the first or second code of their career. Delayed action, lack of clarity surrounding task responsibility, and other errors were apparent. As a result of this experience, we believed the unit would greatly benefit from enhanced knowledge and training on handling codes to better prepare for future emergency situations.

  Code blue events present challenges such as: forming teams, delegating responsibilities, decreased confidence in skills, limited knowledge of necessary roles, and poor communication (Walsh et al., 2021). A study by Hammontree and Kinderknecht (2022) addressed similar issues by implementing a mock code program to address gaps in knowledge and skill. In their study, many nurses reported having little experience in resuscitation, much like our unit staff. Another study developed a team-based CPR education plan, which included a document detailing the CPR process and specifying roles and tasks for each phase. This approach successfully improved teamwork and the quality of resuscitation (Xu et. al, 2022.)

  Inspired by these studies, we created an infographic summarizing the Corewell Health "Code Blue Review", a PowerPoint presentation outlining roles and responsibilities during a code blue. By increasing staff knowledge through a targeted code blue training review, we hoped to ensure that future code blue events will be handled in a more coordinated and efficient manner, ultimately improving patient safety.

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  Hypertension Follow Up Appointments for Postpartum Patients

  Audrey Kalasky, Kristen Maki, and Meghan Van den Boogaart

  Publication Date: 5-2025

  Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy are among the leading causes of maternal morbidity and mortality in the United States. The rate of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy has been increasing from approximately 500 cases per 10,000 deliveries in 1993 to 1021 cases per 10,000 deliveries in 2017. The Michigan Alliance for Innovation on Maternal Health (MI AIM) is dedicated to improving the culture of maternal safety by decreasing preventable severe maternal morbidity and mortality through the implementation of early recognition patient safety bundles. These evidence-based guidelines offer clinical and non-clinical staff resources aimed at improving clinical care processes and patient outcomes. The patient safety bundles help fully equip hospitals with actionable protocols, necessary equipment, staff education, and staff drills to prevent and adequately treat these severe maternal events.

  For this project, a mother-baby care Registered Nurse (MBC RN) took initiative to work with the education team to assist with design and implementation of evidence-based education to fellow nurses regarding patients making follow up appointments when hypertension is present/diagnosed/treated during their hospital stay (for delivery). This is a metric that MIAIM desires a level of 80% compliance for patients having follow up appointments on a 3 or 7 day basis, depending on their hypertension diagnosis with or without severe range blood pressure noted during their hospital stay. It has been shown that having these follow up appointments made prior to discharge can decrease poor outcomes or life altering outcomes, for these recently delivered people. Prior to the intervention, the maternal-child care areas were below meeting the metric. This being the driver for this education initiative coming from the nursing standpoint. Nurses are a major source for discharge education on the MBC unit. Hence, being alert to anticipated discharge day, having the patient call the office on a business day to make the follow up appointment before leaving, and educating patients can the importance of this follow up is an example of nursing empowerment.

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  Rebuilding the Nursing Team on a Medical Unit Part 2: Retention and Recognition

  Christina Maciborski, Sally Witt, and Monica Oliveira-Permaloff

  Publication Date: 5-2025

  • The 6 North West Medical Progressive Care Unit (6NW MPCU) faced significant staffing challenges after the height of the pandemic. Between April 2023 and April 2024, the unit leadership team used multifaceted strategies to address staffing challenges and successfully decreased the Functional Vacancy Rate from 70.4% to 40.2%.
  • Newly graduated nurses may experience “Transition Shock” as they leave the student nurse role and enter professional practice. Transition shock may be associated with feelings of doubt, loss, confusion, and disorientation2
  • The American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN) endorses 6 standards to promote healthy work environments which include: Skilled communication, true collaboration, effective decision making, appropriate staffing, meaningful recognition, and authentic leadership1
  • The aim of this project was to utilize a variety of creative and engaging approaches to address RN retention, and to maintain a decreased functional vacancy rate in the medical progressive care unit

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  White Noise: A Potential Intervention in Preventing Delirium

  Samantha Madziar, Trevor Beerer, Alaina Beshi, Miranda Berishaj, Nicholas Elgert, Kayla Goisdzinski, Heba Karmo, Chloe Konopitski, Courtney Pichette, Jennifer Richard, and Randy Rofa

  Publication Date: 5-2025

  Delirium is a fluctuating mental status impairment that causes disrupted attention and confusion. Delirium can develop over a short period of time and is associated with increased length of hospital stay, mortality, and long-term cognitive impairments. The incidence of delirium in surgical intensive care patients is approximately 70%. CAM-ICU assessments are done every shift on 5E SICU to assess a patient’s risk for delirium. Care goals to reduce delirium emphasize good sleep hygiene. Our project looked at the effect of white noise on SICU patients sleep cycles and how the intervention effected delirium scores.

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  Implementation of RN and NA Checkpoints to Improve Patient Safety

  Dali Majeed, Kristine Heeger, Nancy Vedolich, Nancy Varghese, Rose Karthanal, Sonia San Mateo, Rachel Easton, Kathy Djuravcevic, Susan Abraham, Patricia Navarro-Evanick, Virgina Crile, Merlin Sinjo, Rebekah Arnold, and Nav Singh

  Publication Date: 5-2025

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  Skin-to-Skin Contact and Thermoregulation in Newborns

  Kristen Maki, Renna Sandas, Ashley Bader, and Sophie Formanek

  Publication Date: 5-2025

  Implementing skin-to-skin contact (SSC) post-delivery is essential for newborn temperature regulation. Newborns have a reduced capacity for generating heat, which leads to decreased temperatures. Implementing SSC allows heat to be transferred from mother to infant, therefore regulating newborn temperatures. This evidence-based project (EBP) focuses on initiating SSC to determine its effectiveness in maintaining temperatures above 36.5 degrees Celsius. The research question being: In newborn infants, does SSC compared to the absence of SSC improve thermoregulation?

  SSC is defined as placing a naked infant with a diaper and/or hat on its mother's bare skin, covered with a blanket (Moore-ER et al., 2016). Baby friendly hospitals recommend SSC post-delivery for at least one hour ("the golden hour") to prevent hypothermia, improve blood glucose, promote comfort, and reduce morbidity rates (Safari et al., 2018). Thermostability is the capacity to maintain a body temperature between 36.5 and 37.4 degrees Celsius (Lode-Kolz et al., 2023). SSC facilitates thermoregulation by activating the infant's sensory nerves and sending information to the central nervous system, which permits an increase in body temperature (Safari et al., 2018).

  Skin to skin contact not only benefits thermoregulation as a baby transitions to extrauterine life, but it can allow for better physiological adjustment and transition overall for the newborn. There have also been associations with decreased sudden unexplained incidences of newborn death and infant mortality. SSC also improves breastfeeding experiences and longevity, as well as birth satisfaction. Finally, there are many benefits to the mother including shorter 3rd stage of labor (birth to placenta delivery time), uterine contraction immediately after birth, and reduces postpartum hemorrhage incidence (Brimdyr et al., 2023).

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  Healing the Healer: A Pathway Forward in the Medical Observation Unit (MOU)

  Jasmine Marlow and Richard Werner

  Publication Date: 5-2025

  Nursing is a profession that encounters extensive demands, especially the Medical Observation Unit (MOU), where there is a high turnover rate of patients and nurses daily care for a wide variety of patient diagnoses. Burnout is a state of emotional and possible physical exhaustion because of the frequent stress that healthcare workers experience. The following presentation reflects on how nurses working on a fast-paced unit which has a high patient turnover rate leads to increased role expectations causing quicker burnout. Burnout can disrupt our nurse-patient relationships, aiding to decreased outcomes. By the end of this presentation, you will see what can help slow down or prevent nursing burnout on such a unit. Keeping our nurses’ minds and bodies healthy to fulfill the job, as an exceptional nurse, is a number one priority for our patients receiving care.