Today’s health care delivery system relies heavily on interhospital transfer of patients who require higher levels of care. Although numerous tools and algorithms have been used for the prehospital determination of mode of transport, no tool for the transfer of patients between hospitals has been widely accepted. Typically, the interfacility transport decision is left to the discretion of the referring provider, who may or may not be aware of the level of care provided or the means of transport available. A need exists to determine the appropriate level of care required to meet the needs of patients during transport. The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) Synergy Model for Patient Care is a patient-centered model that focuses on optimizing patient care by matching the characteristics of the patient with the competencies of the nurse. This model shows significant promise in providing the theoretical backing to guide the decision on the level of care necessary to complete interfacility transfers safely and effectively. This article describes a new tool inspired by the AACN Synergy Model for Patient Care to determine the appropriate level of care required for interfacility transport.
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1 February 2014
Articles|
February 01 2014
Adaptation of the AACN Synergy Model for Patient Care to Critical Care Transport
Scott Swickard, MSN, ACNP-C, CEN, CCRN, CFRN;
Scott Swickard is an acute care nurse practitioner and the clinical operations manager of the Critical Care Transport Department at the Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio. He is a DNP/PhD student at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.
Corresponding author: Scott Swickard, msn, Cleveland Clinic Critical Care Transport, 9500 Euclid Ave, E1-010, Cleveland, OH 44195 (e-mail: [email protected]).
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Wendy Swickard, RN, MSN, CEN, NE-BC;
Wendy Swickard, RN, MSN, CEN, NE-BC
Wendy Swickard is the clinical nurse manager of the emergency department at Akron General Medical Center’s Green campus in Uniontown, Ohio. She is a doctoral student at Waynesburg University in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania.
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Andrew Reimer, RN, PhD;
Andrew Reimer, RN, PhD
Andrew Reimer is an instructor at Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing and is currently a KL2 scholar within Case Western Reserve University’s Clinical Translational Science Collaborative. He is also a transport nurse and research manager for Cleveland Clinic’s critical care transport team.
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Deborah Lindell, RN, DNP, CNE;
Deborah Lindell, RN, DNP, CNE
Deborah Lindell teaches nursing theory at the MSN and DNP levels and advises DNP students in their scholarly projects at Case Western Reserve University. She also is coordinator of teaching strategies at QSEN Institute, Case Western Reserve University and is guest faculty at HOPE School of Nursing, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China, where she teaches MSN theory and advises master’s students’ in their research theses.
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Chris Winkelman, RN, PhD, CCRN, ACNP
Chris Winkelman, RN, PhD, CCRN, ACNP
Chris Winkelman is the program director for the adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioner program at Case Western Reserve University and practices in the trauma/critical care float pool at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio.
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Crit Care Nurse (2014) 34 (1): 16–28.
Citation
Scott Swickard, Wendy Swickard, Andrew Reimer, Deborah Lindell, Chris Winkelman; Adaptation of the AACN Synergy Model for Patient Care to Critical Care Transport. Crit Care Nurse 1 February 2014; 34 (1): 16–28. doi: https://doi.org/10.4037/ccn2014573
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