Partnerships in intensive care unit (ICU): a new model of nursing care delivery

The purpose of this project was to explore an alternate nursing workforce model in major public hospital in Melbourne, Australia. Drivers for this project included improving patient care, facilitating access to intensive care (ICU) beds and managing the changing nursing workforce challenges.

Using an exploratory descriptive design completed over two stages, a nursing partnership model with Enrolled Nurses (ENs) and experienced ICU nurses was piloted over a nine month period from May 2006.

Overall the partnership model was not sustainable. The positive outcomes included an improved focus on standards of patient care, maintaining access to ICU beds, skill enhancement for participating nurses and a general acceptance by staff to pilot alternate models of care in ICU. The challenges identified included managing changing patient acuity and patient allocation, staff turnover, and barriers to effectively transitioning the appointed Enrolled Nurses into this ICU setting.

The resources and leadership required to implement the pilot were immense and the requirement did not lessen over time resulting in the pilot being unsustainable after nine months.