In October 2010, a Special Interest Group (SIG) was initiated to support endocrine nursing practice at an urban medical facility. A SIG is a forum in which nurses involved in the care of patients within a specific specialty area have the opportunity to collaborate to further nursing practice, exchange ideas, and discuss standards of care to provide a consistent patient and family care experience.
SIGs enable the registered nurse to promote care within the specialty, bridging the challenges of ensuring standardized outpatient nursing care in an organization with multiple ambulatory sites. Patients and families receive a more integrated and uniform experience regardless of geographical location through the integration of evidence-based practice and the collaboration with peers. The primary objectives of the SIG include the following:
- •Develop a professional network within the SIG specialty areas to promote clinical efficiency and expertise in care delivery.
- •Investigate, create, and apply evidenced-based practice to elevate the standard of care.
- •Collaborate with members of the interdisciplinary team to provide the highest quality patient care experience.
- •Advocate for the needs of patients and families.
- •Standardize the care provided to patients and families across the ambulatory setting.
The outcomes and results were the establishment of an algorithm starting with the prescriber's orders and the prescribed medication to the actual process of medication shipment; informational packets for the patient prescribed Lupron and/or Testosterone, starting with what it is and ending with where more information about the condition would be found; discharge packets for the patient prescribed Lupron and/or Testosterone, starting with what to expect after getting medication and ending with how to reach us; and revised prescriber order forms to be filled out by the prescriber and processed by the nurse.
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© 2012 Published by Elsevier Inc.
