Transforming Care at the Bedside (TCAB)

Across the country, doctors, nurses and other health care leaders are exploring ways to improve the quality of care provided in their communities. First introduced in 2001, Transforming Care at the Bedside – or TCAB – engages nurses and other frontline hospital workers in testing improvements that can lead to processes that are more consistent, safe and patient-centered. This in turn leads to a more fulfilled workforce. Since 2008, TCAB has been offered to hospitals through Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s (RWJF) signature effort to lift the overall quality of health care in targeted communities, while also reducing racial and ethnic disparities and providing models for national health reform. Teaming Aligning Forces for Quality with TCAB is bringing a new era in nursing to diverse regions.

Imagine this: during a hospital stay for a routine procedure or surgery you see pictures of your nurse, physician, physical therapist, nurses’ aides — everyone on your care team — on a white board across the room. And on your bedside table you find a small notebook called “Questions about My Care” that suggests good questions to ask your doctor when she visits. And on the day you leave the hospital the nurse gives you a write-up about your hospital visit — what they did to you while you were there and why, what the tests found, what comes next, and what it all means about your health status. It’s nothing technical; more of a story about your stay in the hospital that’s simple enough to explain to your family and friends.

Such personal touches may seem a far cry from standard hospital experiences, but these are real examples of changes in patient care being implemented by a handful of progressive hospitals that are part of a national initiative called Transforming Care at the Bedside (TCAB).