Developing a standard of practice while undergoing a facility merger.

Abstract

While the three facilities that eventually became Centennial Medical Center in Nashville were in the process of merging, it became necessary to merge all of the nursing policies and procedures to establish one standard of practice. Many areas of nursing are not accountable to the vice president of nursing, yet she is responsible for nursing standards of care and practice. To bring it all together, the author formed a council of all the chairs of the manual revision process; this council condensed 35 manuals to 19 manuals, developed historical files on all active and inactive policies, developed a flow chart for new policy manual assignments, and developed one standard of practice for the medical center.