Transforming Care at the Bedside (TCAB)
Eastern Maine Medical Center placed "Blue Feet" along the corridors of their TCAB pilot unit to help patients know how far they are walking. Patients are often asked to walk a specific distance a specified number of times each day as part of their treatment plan. The "Blue Feet" help patients know exactly how far they have walked. This is an easy and inexpensive intervention developed by the staff on EMMC TCAB unit.
St. Francis Hospital, a member of the Puget Sound Alliance, was featured in a case study examining its effort to reduce noise in its 3rd Floor Medical/Telemetry unit in conjunction with the AF4Q TCAB initiative. The study examines the process used by St. Francis to institute a “Culture of Quiet” in the unit, and the results of their efforts. The unit improved its “quietness at night” score from 39% in 2009 to 58% satisfaction by June 2011 on the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey (or HCAHPS, which is a national, standardized,...
“The beauty of TCAB is that quality becomes practical in the hands of the bedside nurses who are given the tools to conduct small tests of change, then adapt, adopt, or abandon those tests until an innovation becomes a new way of doing things,” according to Judy Warmuth, WHA vice president, workforce.
Wisconsin’s TCAB initiative launched March 23-25, 2011 with more than 130 participants representing 18 medical-surgical units from 16 hospitals. TCAB is a nurse-led hospital program that engages frontline staff to work together to identify, pilot, test and...
Across the country, doctors, nurses and other health care leaders are exploring ways to improve the quality of care provided in their communities. First introduced in 2001, Transforming Care at the Bedside – or TCAB – engages nurses and other frontline hospital workers in testing improvements that can lead to processes that are more reliable, safe and patient-centered. This in turn leads to improved teamwork and a more engaged workforce. Since 2008, TCAB has been offered to hospitals through Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) signature effort to lift the overall quality of health care in targeted communities, while also reducing racial and ethnic disparities and providing models for national health reform. Teaming Aligning Forces for Quality with TCAB is bringing a new era in nursing to diverse regions.
AF4Q TCAB Goals:
- Improve the quality, safety and reliability of patient care and reduce disparities in care.
- Increase the vitality and retention of frontline nurses.
- Improve the patient and family members’ experience of care.
- Improve the effectiveness of the entire care team.
Currently, AF4Q TCAB includes:
18 hospital teams participating in National AF4Q TCAB
23 hospital teams participating in Minnesota AF4Q TCAB – Cohort I
24 hospital teams participating in Minnesota AF4Q TCAB – Cohort II
11 hospital teams participating in Western New York AF4Q TCAB
18 hospital teams participating in Wisconsin AF4Q TCAB
13 hospital teams participating in Oregon AF4Q TCAB
11 hospital teams participating in New Mexico AF4Q TCAB
17 hospital teams participating in Maine AF4Q TCAB
Aligning Forces for Quality - Transforming Care at the Bedside