When planning for safe and appropriate care of acutely ill patients in your progressive care unit (PCU), several regulatory sources provide helpful tools, guidelines, and requirements. For starters, you’ll want to refer to the minimum guidelines on staffing and care quality that your PCU must meet to receive funding for the care of Medicare and Medicaid Patients. Consult the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) (http://cms.hhs.gov) for these guidelines. All of the standards are also available in the Condition of Participation for Hospitals, detailed in the Code of Federal Regulations.

As described in Part 4 of this 6-part series exclusively endorsed by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN),1 consider technology’s improvements in quality and safety of care. You’ll also want to review organizational and system factors such as staffing, admission criteria, and your environment of care. Only eight states define “special care unit”: Arkansas, California,...

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