- The Bellevue Hospital (TBH) is the first hospital in Northwest Ohio to receive a NICHE rating, which stands for Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders.
The Bellevue Hospital (TBH) has been designated as a NICHE Hospital for 2012-13, the only hospital in the Four-County Area and Northwest Ohio to currently hold such a designation.
NICHE stands for Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders, and it means TBH is designated as a senior-friendly hospital for those ages 65 and older. NICHE hospitals strive to give sensitive and exemplary care to those 65 and older, and to provide principles and tools to stimulate a change in the culture of hospitals and their care for older adults. The designation is awarded through The Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing at New York University College of Nursing.
“Even though NICHE is a nursing designated program, the hospital will expand and utilize the NICHE principles in every department, to assist us in communications with our older patients and promoting their well-being and safety,” said Janet Runner, Vice President for Patient Care Services at TBH.
“Our hospital is committed to high quality care for all patients and we look forward to continuing to educate ourselves and to grow our knowledge base to benefit all our patients and families,” added Runner.
NICHE hospitals use a Geriatric Resource Nurse (GRN) model is an educational and clinical intervention model that prepares staff nurses as the clinical resource person on geriatric issues to other nurses on their unit. GRNs are trained by geriatric advanced practice nurses to identify and address specific geriatric syndromes such as falls and confusion, and to implement care strategies that discourage the use of restrictive devices and promote patient mobility.
NICHE supports the implementation of a variety of best practices, including prevention and management of pain, pressure ulcers, adverse medication events, delirium, urinary incontinence, and fall prevention. NICHE helps nurses identify, interpret, and apply evidence-based practice to optimize both care outcomes and the patient/family experience. NICHE also promotes the idea that patients and their caregivers benefit from robust participation in decisions that affect their personal health outcomes. Involvement of the patient and family in the direction of care is critical to the program.
And, as part of the program, a number of resources are available for geriatric patients and caregivers to help with: nurse/family partnering strategies; community care options; self-care for family caregivers; discharge planning; medication use; dementia; work and care of older adult topics, and much more.
The care of older Americans is expected to escalate in the coming years, as the 78-million member baby boom generation born between 1946 and 1964 began turning 65 in 2011. And the number of people age 65 and older is expected to grow from 39 million in 2008 to 72 million in 2030.
The NICHE program is the largest national geriatric care program for hospitals. The program has been instituted in over 300 hospitals throughout North America. Additional information can be obtained at www.nicheprogram.org.