Rehab MATRIX: Impact of a Nursing-Led Acuity Algorithm on Patient Safety and Healthcare Quality (Rehab MATRIX)

To determine whether implementation of Rehab MATRIX will improve patient safety, patient satisfaction and nursing indices.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Nurse-Patient Relations; Satisfaction; Nurse's Role; Patient Fall
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Rehab MATRIX

Detailed Description

The provision of efficient and conscientious nursing care is at the forefront of health care quality. Unfortunately, a lack of objectivity in the assignment of patients to nurses can lead to inequalities of care. Such inequalities translate to poor patient outcomes and diminished patient satisfaction. Furthermore, staff attrition related to nursing fatigue increases the cost of care due to a reliance on supplemental nurses. Rehab MATRIX is a patient assignment tool that objectively categorizes patients undergoing inpatient rehabilitation based on nurse identified acuity variables.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 40
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Texas
    • Houston, Texas, United States, 77030
      • University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Rehabilitation Nursing Staff within Six Study Centers
• Patient hospitalized within the Rehabilitation Unit during the study period

Exclusion Criteria:

• Other Nursing Staff
• Patients hospitalized on non-rehabilitation units

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Rehab MATRIX; Rehab MATRIX is a patient assignment tool that objectively categorizes patients undergoing inpatient rehabilitation based on nurse identified acuity variables.	Other: Rehab MATRIX; Rehab MATRIX is a patient assignment tool that objectively categorizes patients undergoing inpatient rehabilitation based on nurse identified acuity variables.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Change in the number of falls per 1000 patient days (falls per 100 patient days is a standardized proportion)	Baseline, 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, 5 months, 6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Patient Satisfaction as assessed by the Press Ganey Survey		Baseline, 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, 5 months, 6 months
Change in Nursing Fatigue as assessed by number of unexcused nurse absences		Baseline, 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 4 months, 5 months, 6 months
Change in Nursing Satisfaction as assessed by a survey	Two weeks prior to Rehab MATRIX initiation, a six question pre-implementation survey will be distributed via Survey Monkey to the nursing staff, evaluating nurse perceptions of the traditional nursing assignment. Questions 1 to 4 will be measured on a Likert Scale of 1 to 5; 1 - strongly disagree, 2 - disagree, 3 - neutral, 4 - agree, 5 - strongly agree. At the end of the six month study period, a post-implementation Rehab MATRIX survey will be distributed at each center via Survey Monkey, examining the impact of Rehab MATRIX on workload equity, fairness, the role of seniority and overall satisfaction with the nurse assignment process.	Two weeks prior to initiation, 6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
• Collaborators: Memorial Hermann Texas Medical Center; Memorial Hermann Health System
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Nneka L Ifejika, MD MPH, The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Ifejika NL, Okpala MN, Moser HA, Watkins JN, Noser EA. Rehab MATRIX: Content Validity of a Nursing-Led Patient Assignment Algorithm. J Neurosci Nurs. 2019 Feb;51(1):33-36. doi: 10.1097/JNN.0000000000000418.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: July 1, 2016
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 1, 2017
• Study Completion (Actual): January 1, 2017

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 21, 2016
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 27, 2016
• First Posted (Estimate): August 1, 2016

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 18, 2020
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 16, 2020
• Last Verified: August 1, 2020

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: HSC-MS-16-0358

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No