App enhances nurses' care coordination competency for critically ill patients

To improve the care coordination competency of nurses involved in the management of critically ill patients on life support, an electronic app—NCCCS—was developed by Associate Professor　Chie Takiguchi of Toho University and Professor Tomoko Inoue of International University of Health and Welfare.

The NCCCS app utilizes the scoring system referred to as the Nurses' Care Coordinate Competency Scale (NCCCS), developed by Dr. Takiguchi et al. in 2017, and it is currently being translated into Chinese, Italian, Polish, and Persian. This app offers immediate feedback to nurses caring for critically ill patients on life support based on their self-assessment of the frequency of their care coordination behaviors.

The NCCCS app was tested in the study and found to be highly effective in training when used by individuals who had certain years of critical care management experience but had low care coordination competencies.

While the significance of care coordination for appropriate critical care is recognized, there is a lack of established educational methods for nurses engaged in care coordination. The quality of care, especially concerning the success or failure of multidisciplinary care for critically ill patients on life support, has been demonstrated to be linked not only to survival rates but also to the development of physical, mental, and cognitive dysfunction in post-intensive care patients.

Dr. Takiguchi said, "Our NCCCS app will help nurses enhance their care coordination competencies

 in the management of critically ill patients. It offers a new strategy to improve the physical, mental, and cognitive outcomes of critically ill patients."

The research findings were published in the Japan Journal of Nursing Science on January 25, 2024.

Key Highlights

• The group that engaged in self-assessment and received feedback through the NCCCS app demonstrated an increase in the frequency of care coordination behaviors after one month, in contrast to the self-assessment group without feedback. Notably, the participants with less experience in managing critically ill patients did not exhibit a corresponding increase in the frequency of these behaviors.
• The group, whose NCCCS score was below the national average as of 2017 experienced an increased frequency of care coordination behaviors one month later, following feedback from the NCCCS app, compared to the group without feedback.
• The group receiving feedback on their self-assessment scores through the NCCCS app exhibited heightened attention, confidence, and interest in learning about care coordination, in contrast to the group without feedback. Additionally, they reported that the use of the NCCCS app fostered teamwork and enhanced the quality of care.
• The findings of this study may provide a new strategy for improving outcomes in critically ill patients on life support.

About Toho University

Toho University, with its focus on natural and life sciences, is dedicated to advancing education and research guided by the brand concept of "Connecting the Future with the Science of Life." The university provides a diverse array of academic fields and fosters an environment conducive to cutting-edge, up-to-date research spanning various disciplines.

Website: https://global.toho-u.ac.jp/

About Associate Professor Chie Takiguchi

Dr. Takiguchi is an academic researcher with extensive experience in critical care practice. From a nursing perspective, she is passionate about education, research, and building systems that not only save the lives of critically ill patients but also improve their long-term functional prognosis. More recently, her team has been working on the establishment of a continuous multidisciplinary care model for critically ill patients.