title: Promoting innovative nursing practice during radical health system change.
abstract: Between 1995 and 1999, the United States veterans healthcare system underwent a radical transformation. The reinvention effort remains a work in progress, but the results have documented improved access to care, significantly higher service satisfaction, and substantially higher quality of care, while reducing per patient costs by 25%. Although turbulent at times, the changes instituted during this period created a dynamic milieu for nursing that has provided fertile ground for innovation and unprecedented opportunities to improve patient care.
authors.affiliation: The National Quality Forum, US Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC 20009, USA.
authors.forename: K W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Kizer
mesh_terms: D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000639:trends*; D018166:Health Care Reform; D006787:Hospitals, Veterans / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D015399:Nursing Research / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D009738:Nursing Service, Hospital / Q000639:trends*; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D014481:United States; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000639:trends*