A new concept of inpatient care acuity-adaptable patient room decreases length of stay and cost - results of a pilot study

The acuity-adaptable patient room concept is an emerging care model where patient is cared for in the same room from admission through discharge regardless of the patient level of acuity. After implementation of the care cluster strategy to support the implementation of an acuity-adaptable patient room, a descriptive study was conducted looking at so whether there will be a decreased length of stay and cost on patient cared for in the acuity-adaptable patient room compared to patients cared for in a transitional care process. Result of the study showed decreased length of stay of kidney transplant patients from 9.6 (11.0) days (before acuity-adaptable patient room) to 4.1 (1.3) days (acuity-adaptable patient room). Not only that the acuity-adaptable patient room improves patient outcome and cost but with the nursing competency preparation to support the implementation of the acuity-adaptable patient room, a hybrid nurse was created who possessed both critical care and medical-surgical skills. This can be a potential trend in the professional nurse model to address the health care challenges we face today in terms of nursing shortage, abbreviated plan of care, and facility operation efficiency.