Maintaining quality care during a nursing shortage using licensed practical nurses in acute care

Implications of an aging registered nurse workforce, coupled with an inadeq uate supply of new nurses, presented a unique challenge for the nurse execu tive in an acute care hospital. This article presents one possible solution : reintroduction of licensed practical nurses to the patient care setting. It describes a pilot project initiated to answer the following question: Is there a change in quality of patient care or staff satisfaction when the n ursing care delivery system adds a licensed practical nurse to the register ed nurse and patient care assistant care pairs? It also describes the drivi ng forces behind this practice change and presents focus group discussions, the implementation process, and conclusions and recommendations.