Nursing at Abbott Northwestern Hospital

There are over 2,200 Registered Nurses who practice at Abbott Northwestern Hospital. Abbott Northwestern Hospital is proud to be Magnet Recognition Program® designated by the American Nurses Credentialing Center. As a recipient of the highest level of nursing recognition, Magnet designation recognizes Abbott Northwestern Hospital for its quality patient care, nursing excellence and innovations in professional nursing practice.

Built on the foundations of the individual relationships nurses establish with patients and families, the Nursing Professional Practice Model incorporates all of the components necessary for the delivery of exceptional nursing care and provides a visual representation of nursing practice at Abbott Northwestern Hospital.

Recent Contributions of Nurses

Nurses at Abbott Northwestern Hospital have made significant advancements to improve patient care and nursing practice. Here is a summary highlighting some of the innovations from the past two years:

Clinical Innovation and Advancement

• Agitation Protocol: An agitation protocol developed in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team for spread across every Allina adult mental health department and planning for spread to emergency departments. Goal: Reduce patient and staff injuries.
• Assessing Skin Injury Across the Spectrum of Skin Color (PIGMENT): Developed education and mnemonic PIGMENT for key aspects in assessing skin for individuals with darkly-pigmented skin. Goal: Detect and prevent skin injury in patients with darkly-pigmented skin.
• Birth Compass: Birth Compass partners with patients to honor their cultural, religious, and ethnic preferences in their pregnancy care with an electronic app. Goal: Improve safety and experience for new families.
• Code Shock / Shock Without Trauma: Implementation of a novel program bringing critical care services outside of the critical care units, supporting patients who are not responsive to initial rapid response intervention. Goal: Early detection and rescue of patients experiencing shock.
• Care Transitions – Early Identification of Discharge Disposition: Led system work for early identification of patient’s discharge needs and involvement of physical therapy and case management starting at admission for high-risk patients. Goal: Prevent deconditioning through increased physical activity.
• Hospital-Acquired Infections: Significant strides in reducing hospital-acquired infections related to central lines and urinary catheters. Goal: Reduce hospital acquired infections.
• Critical Care Peer Support Program: Developed a peer support program for nurses new to the critical care areas to improve nurse retention. Goal: Support and retain new nurses.
• Delirium Prevention: Created practices for sleep promotion and delirium prevention activities for RNs throughout Allina to order and implement independently. Goal: Promote sleep and improved cognition.
• Direct Peritoneal Resuscitation: Led work to guide care and improve earlier time to abdominal closure and reduce complications.
• Emergency Department (ED): Redesigned the triage and fast track process at West Health ED to improve patient throughput and expedite care. Goal: Reduce ED wait times.
• ICU Palliative and Ethics Consult Criteria: Developed consult criteria to palliative and ethics, resulting in decreased time to palliative consult and patients and families receiving necessary resources. Goal: Expedite support to patients and families during end of life.
• Postpartum Hemorrhage Prevention and Treatment: Multidisciplinary redesign of care to prevent and reduce postpartum hemorrhage. Goal: Reduce hemorrhage and bleeding after birth.
• Postpartum Hypertension Management: Updating treatment strategies for postpartum hypertension, based on national recommendations. The goal includes early intervention and management to decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease across the lifespan. Goal: Reduce high blood pressure in pregnancy.

Research Studies

• Non-ventilator Hospital Acquired Pneumonia: Oral care program delivered by nursing assistants to prevent hospital acquired pneumonia.
• Postpartum Hemorrhage Management: Implementation of a vacuum-induced hemorrhage management system and guideline for patients experiencing abnormal postpartum bleeding or postpartum hemorrhage.
• Deconditioning Prevention Protocol: Preventing patients from becoming weaker during their hospital stay.
• Evaluation of Lactate Levels in Maternal Peripartum Sepsis Assessment: Analyzed blood marker levels for infections in birthing mothers.
• Use of Half-Face Reusable Respirator in the Clinical Care Environment: Healthcare Worker Perceptions: Assessed employee feedback on half-face masks used during COVID-19.
• Comparison of Speech Recognition Levels amongst Respiratory Protection Devices: Evaluated speech and communication with different type of face masks.
• Health Care Worker Needs during and after the COVID-19 Pandemic: Creating a Recovery Plan: Explored the experience of health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Fall Risk Prediction in the Acute Rehab Setting: Looking at risk factors for falls in patients in acute rehab.

Publications

• The Problem With the PICO Question: Shiny Object Syndrome and the PURPOSE Statement Solution.
• Problem with PICO for Finding the Best Evidence: Fishing with the wrong bait and the SEARCH solution.
• Modifying Type of Insulin to Manage Steroid-Induced Hyperglycemia: A Case Report.
• Sharing Perspectives in African American Communities to Reduce Stroke Risk Through Community Listening Circles.
• Preventing Post-Operative Opioid Induced Respiratory Depression through Implementation of an Enhanced Monitoring Program.
• Effectiveness of a delirium prevention initiative on an inpatient neuroscience unit.
• Association of self-administered nitrous oxide for labor analgesia with maternal and neonatal process measures.
• Reducing delirium in hospitalized adults through a structured sleep promotion program.