Spread Kindness Not Germs

Project Topic:

Creating a healthy work environment through staffing model adjustments and meaningful recognition.

Hospital, City and State:

University Hospitals Tripoint Medical Center, Concord, Ohio

Unit:

Critical Care Unit (CCU)

CSI Participants:

• Kimberly Smith, RN
• Veronica Williams, BSN, RN

Project Goals/Objectives:

1. Increase Healthy Work Environment Assessment Tool (HWEAT) True Collaboration and Meaningful Recognition scores 30%
2. Decrease annual RN turnover 35%

Project Outcomes:

1. Improved HWEAT Meaningful Recognition score from 3.66 to 4.78 (30.6% increase)
2. Improved HWEAT True Collaboration score from 3.45 to 4.74 (37.3% increase)
3. Decreased RN turnover rate 72.7%
4. Improved staff morale
5. Decreased agency nurse contracts from 6 to 1
6. Improved HWEAT Aggregate Score and all other standards
7. Potential annual fiscal impact of $708,346

Project Overview:

In the beginning of the year 2023, our unit started with a staff of 31 Registered Nurses (RNs) and by the end of that year we only had 20, resulting in an RN turnover rate of 35.4%. This led to the focus of our project to decrease RN turnover. The AACN HWEAT survey was given to all staff in November 2023 and the data from this survey indicated that our unit lacked in the standards of Meaningful Recognition and True Collaboration.

Our goal for this project was to decrease the RN turnover within nine months. We wanted to improve HWEAT scores for the standards of Meaningful Recognition and True Collaboration to decrease RN turnover. To achieve this goal, we placed a recognition board in a high-traffic area of the unit. Each month the board would be decorated with a monthly theme to make it seem more fun and appealing to attract the attention of staff, patients and families. There would be a box containing that month's themed paper cutout with a “recognition pun” flier to also attract attention to the project. At the end of each month, the recognitions were collected from the board and each person who received recognition’s name was placed in a drawing for a prize.

After nine months, we repeated the HWEAT survey in which our Aggregate Score improved from 3.56 to 4.87, a 36.8% increase. HWEAT standard Meaningful Recognition improved from 3.66 to 4.78, a 30.6% increase, and the True Collaboration score improved 37.3% from 3.45 to 4.74. Not only did our HWEAT scores improve, but our RN turnover rate decreased 72.7% from 11 RN resignations in 2023 to three RN resignations as of October 2024. An unintended positive outcome of this project was a decrease in the number of agency nurse contracts, from six to one.