CHH Recognized for Its Senior Services
Last updated: 06/30/2006
Cabell Huntington Hospital's Senior Services has been granted Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders (NICHE) status by the John A. Hartford Foundation Institute for Geriatric Nursing at New York University. NICHE status indicates that a facility has developed and implemented a series of programs and protocols aimed at improving the quality of care provided to older people.
Started in 1992, NICHE has evolved into a national geriatric nursing program comprising 197 active sites in 38 states as well as parts of Canada and the Netherlands. The goal of NICHE is to achieve systematic nursing change that will benefit hospitalized older patients. The vision of NICHE is for all patients 65 and over to be given sensitive and exemplary care.
NICHE does not prescribe how institutions should modify geriatric care; instead, it provides the materials and services necessary to stimulate and support the planning and implementation process. The focus of NICHE is on programs and protocols where nursing interventions have a substantive and positive impact on patient care.
In conjunction with a team of nationally recognized geriatric nursing leaders, NICHE has created a variety of "tools" to improve geriatric care. This approach was developed and field-tested by staff from New York University, The Epsilon Group and Education Development Center, Inc.
"We are proud to have been granted NICHE status," said Joy Pelfrey, director of Senior Services at Cabell Huntington Hospital. "Hospitals that are selected as NICHE sites report results such as greater patient satisfaction, decreased length of stay for elderly patients, reductions in readmission rates and reductions in costs associated with hospital care for the elderly."
For more information about Senior Services at Cabell Huntington Hospital, please call (304) 526-2695.