title: A step ahead: strategies for excellence in critical care nursing practice.
abstract: The adult intensive care unit (ICU) at Baystate Medical Center is a 24-bed medical-surgical-trauma ICU that provides high-quality care to critically ill patients. Collaboration and expertise among the nursing staff, intensivists, and interdisciplinary colleagues have contributed to its development into a Beacon Award-winning unit. Its primary goal is reflected in the unit's mission: "Care for our patients is guided by knowledge, motivated by compassion, and performed in collaboration with others." Common interests, values, and purposes have created an environment of communication that supports the delivery of exceptional critical care to patients and their families.
authors.affiliation: Patient Care Services Division, Baystate Medical Center, Springfield, MA 01199, USA. amy.albano@bhs.org
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Albano
authors.forename: Sheila
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Elliott
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lusardi
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.forename: Diane
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Thomas
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001363:Awards and Prizes; D003142:Communication; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003422:Critical Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004509:Education, Nursing, Continuing / Q000458:organization & administration; D004645:Empathy; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D007857:Leadership; D008404:Massachusetts; D009042:Motivation; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000523:psychology; D015279:Organizational Culture; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D010687:Philosophy, Nursing; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems / Q000458:organization & administration; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012944:Social Support; D012956:Societies, Nursing; D015300:Ventilator Weaning / Q000451:nursing