Nursing Partnership

Cal State L.A.’s School of Nursing
chosen to work on prestigious program
to improve quality of patient care

Los Angeles, CA – The School of Nursing at California State University, Los Angeles has been selected as one of 14 schools of nursing nationwide to participate in Transforming Care at the Bedside (TCAB), a prestigious initiative making quality improvements on the front lines of hospital-based patient care.

Sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) in conjunction with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), TCAB links schools of nursing with major regional hospitals to create 14 strategic partnerships in communities across the country.

The partnership will help future nurses learn how to identify opportunities for quality improvements that could enhance patient care, and teach them how to advocate for their implementation. Nursing students will work with TCAB teams at Cedars-Sinai Health System to identify where change is needed, recommend and test potential solutions and determine if the innovations should be implemented. In so doing, the program provides a vital link between the classroom and the medical-surgical unit in the hospital; by helping nursing students understand how the time they spend working directly with patients affects the quality of care patients receive.

“We are delighted to be chosen to continue our collaboration with Cedars-Sinai Health System in this significant endeavor to enhance the quality and safety of patient care. We have partnered with Cedars-Sinai for more than 20 years recognizing the opportunity this medical center provides for our students to gain experience and knowledge, realizing they share our vision of excellence,” states Lorie Judson, R.N., Ph.D., undergraduate chair of Cal State L.A.’s School of Nursing. “The TCAB project will touch students at all levels of their career; our undergraduate nursing students, R.N. students returning for their degree and master’s level students preparing for advanced practice in education, administration and specialty areas.”

The guiding principal behind TCAB is the link between the quality of care patients receive and the work environment in which nurses function. By identifying and implementing improvements to the delivery of patient care, TCAB aims to enhance the quality of patient care, create more effective care teams, improve patient and staff satisfaction and improve staff retention.

“As the largest group of health professionals providing direct care to patients, nurses are in a unique position to affect the quality of care a patient receives in a hospital,” said Sue Hassmiller, R.N., Ph.D., F.A.A.N., senior program officer at RWJF. “This initiative engages nursing students in understanding how small changes in frontline procedures can dramatically affect quality of care, and empower them to take an active role in designing improvements throughout their careers. We’re delighted and honored to have Cal State L.A.’s School of Nursing join us in our mission.”

Working in cooperation with Cedars-Sinai Health System, Cal State L.A.’s School of Nursing will identify relevant curricula that promote TCAB principles, develop concrete learning modules and share lessons learned with other schools nationwide.

For more information about Cal State L.A.’s School of Nursing, visit /academic/hhs/nursing/. More information about the TCAB School of Nursing initiative and Transforming Care at the Bedside is available at http://www.ihi.org/IHI/Programs/TransformingCareAtTheBedside.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. For more than 30 years the Foundation has brought experience, commitment, and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime.

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is a not-for-profit organization leading the improvement of health care throughout the world. Founded in 1991 and based in Boston, MA, IHI is a catalyst for change, cultivating innovative concepts for improving patient care and implementing programs for putting those ideas into action. Thousands of health care providers, including many of the finest hospitals in the world, participate in IHI’s groundbreaking work.

Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 190,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds—reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to a unique university center for gifted students as young as 12. Programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include an NEH- and Rockefeller-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a growing forensic science program, to be housed in the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center now under construction. www.calstatela.edu