Acute Care for Elderly (ACE)
The Crestwood Acute Care for the Elderly (ACE) unit is a certified NICHE site.
What is NICHE?
The Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders (NICHE) program aims to improve care of older patients by improving approaches to some core clinical issues such as falls, restraint use, pain, skin breakdown and wounds, use of advance directives and family involvement in decision-making. Additionally, NICHE aims to make the physical and social environment friendlier to the older adult patient.
Hospital patients 65 years old and older face a variety of health risks specific to the elderly. Through the NICHE program, Crestwood Medical Center has undertaken a number of steps to recognize and prevent or treat these health problems. At Crestwood Medical Center, we have a core group of geriatric resource nurses who have received additional education and training specific to geriatric nursing.
As a NICHE certified unit, we expect to significantly advance our understanding of the needs of our older patients, provide additional education to our nurses to meet those needs and launch several new protocols to prevent the health care problems that can beset older people in the hospital.
In hospitals across the nation, NICHE has led to:
- Enhanced nursing knowledge and skills regarding the treatment of common geriatric syndromes
- Greater patient satisfaction
- Decreased length of stay for older adults
- Reductions in readmission rates
- Increases in the length of time between readmissions
Personal Approach to Your Care
At Crestwood Medical Center, we anticipate the patients' personal needs through our hourly rounding care. Members of our nursing team visit patient rooms each hour during the day and every two hours during the night. Staff members also focus on communicating effectively with patients during their stay. The nursing team wants to know them by name. The nursing team introduces themselves and they explain procedures and the plan of care. The staff members take a personal approach to patient care and want to help in any way they can, because they have the time!
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact our ACE clinical coordinator at (256) 429-5039.