The program was funded by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN). Not only did these nurses learn a numerous of leadership and innovative techniques, but the hospitals also are expected to save almost $4.5 million yearly through their nurses new practices. The mantra of the leadership program, officially called the AACN Clinical Scene Investigator Academy, is to empower bedside nurses as leaders as well as overall improvers of patient care. It is also the only leadership program where the hospital receives the proper scholarly programming as well as numerous grant funds for the implementation of the program.

The AACN noticed several different successes highlighted by the nurses who experienced the 16-month class. Some of them include a decrease in catheter urinary tract infections, central line-associated bloodstream infections, tracheostomy tubes needed and average length of stay in the ICU, to name a few.

”[The academy] provides frontline nurses with the knowledge and tools for improving the quality and cost of care,” said Diana Mason, the president of the American Academy of Nursing, said in a statement. “It teaches nurses how to make the business case for specific approaches to improving patients’ experiences with care, improving clinical outcomes and reducing costs.”

Chief nursing officers in hospitals around the country are already noticing several aspects to the program and are intrigued by the benefits and costs of it. Thomas Smith, the CNO at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., has seen the impact of nurses who have completed the program. “The nurse-led initiatives developed by AACN CSI Academy participants are an outstanding example of how we can advance our work and practice environments to support improvements in patient care,” Smith said in a statement.

The New York team is the sixth contingent to participate in the program, as hospitals from Indiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas have all sent nurses to this month program. Hospitals around the Seattle area are also involved. A total of 200 nurses and 49 hospitals are participating.
AACN is also providing an online database with practices, innovations, references and other resources, allowing the spread of various techniques in order to spur innovative care in hospitals. With the spread of online resources, as well as the appraisal for the program by several officials, the AACN expects that the CSI Academy will become the primary resource for proper techniques to be utilized by nurses around the country, and internationally. AACN has invested more than $1 million in the project.

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