Decreasing the Frequency of Nursing Assessment for Medically Stable Hospitalized Patients

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a large Midwest tertiary care medical center had prolonged hospitalizations due to strained staffing and few options for post-acute care recovery. Patients deemed medically ready for discharge were receiving the same care interventions as all other hospitalized medical-surgical patients. The study objective was to appropriately match care assessment frequency for these patients with their individual needs by reducing the frequency of routine nursing assessments.

This quality improvement initiative reduced the frequency of nursing assessments, including routine monitoring of vital signs, to once daily for medically stable patients whose discharge was delayed.

During the 4-week pilot, 40 hospitalized patients were enrolled; 960 assessments were eliminated, and nurses were able to reallocate approximately 500 hours to other nursing tasks. No adverse outcomes were observed among patients who received once-daily assessment.

By decreasing nursing assessment frequency for hospitalized patients with discharge delays, nurses appropriately matched care interventions with the patient's needs.