Is patient acuity a proxy for patient characteristics of the AACN Synergy Model for Patient Care?
OBJECTIVE
To test the feasibility of using patient acuity indicators as proxy measures for the AACN Synergy Model for Patient Care patient characteristics.


METHODS
Secondary data analysis of a convenience sample of 481 patient ratings from adult and pediatric critical and noncritical medical surgical patients.


RESULTS
Combining dichotomous patient acuity indicators into multilevel categorical variables allowed evaluation of linear relationships between acuity and patient characteristics indicators. Of the 8 patient characteristics, only participation in care exhibited meaningful correlations with the acuity indicators. According to these findings, acuity indicators should not be substituted for the Synergy Model patient characteristics.
Brewer
Barbara B
BB
Clarion Health Partners, Indianapolis, IN, USA. bbrewe@jcl.com
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003422:Critical Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D006754:Hospital Restructuring / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D007196:Indiana; D007297:Inpatients / Q000145:classification*; D016294:Models, Nursing; D009096:Multi-Institutional Systems / Q000458:organization & administration; D020380:Needs Assessment / Q000458:organization & administration; D015401:Nursing Administration Research; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000458:organization & administration; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012956:Societies, Nursing; D014481:United States; D016526:Workload