Article examines reducing unnecessary care

An article from the Lown Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, explores the potential for nurses to reduce unnecessary care. Acute care nurses can implement providers’ orders in an efficient and coordinated way and reframe conversations to achieve dignified end-of-life care for patients and families, instead of pushing overtreatment at the end of life. Nurse practitioners, who directly order tests and treatments, can be included in clinician efforts to reduce unnecessary care and promote value-based care. Unnecessary care also can contribute to burnout because nurses are expected to follow redundant care orders and address patient frustration over receiving repeat procedures. Conversely, nurses also may encounter patient ire when explaining to them that more care is not always better care. (Lown Institute article, 10/12/23)