"It's a really big deal for us," Joanne Iritani, Maui Memorial's regional chief nurse executive, told The Maui News.

The American Organization of Nurse Executives and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently selected Maui Memorial – the only health-care facility in the state – as one of 68 hospitals to participate in a program called "Transforming Care at the Bedside." The program brings no additional costs for the hospital or its patients.

At its core, the program applies ideas from nurses on how to best care for their patients and analyzes how effective such initiatives are on overall care. The foundation awarded $1 million to the American Organization of Nurse Executives, which works on the program with selected hospitals nationwide.

"Transforming Care at the Bedside" was launched in 2003 by the foundation and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. The national program is designed to improve the quality and safety of patient care and increase retention of nurses.

Before Maui Memorial applied to participate in the project, it first sought input from the hospital's nurses, looking for ideas on how it could best participate in the two-year project.

About 50 nurses assigned to Haleakala South were tapped to represent Maui Memorial in the project. Haleakala South is a telemetry unit that oversees patients on heart monitors and those in need of progressive care.

Details have not yet been worked out on exactly what the nurses will be doing under the national program. Possibilities include increasing patient satisfaction, improving staff morale and gauging whether a patient's care has been improved.

Iritani said the Haleakala South unit was selected for the program because its nursing managers and staff have shown success in the past with implementing change in their unit. Iritani was also looking for a staff with creativity and initiative.

Participating hospitals will be taught the basic principles of the "Transforming Care at the Bedside" innovation process. The American Organization of Nurse Executives will provide a set of practical, easy-to-use tools to help hospitals redesign procedures and improve patient care.

Maui Memorial's Haleakala South nursing managers are looking forward to being able to measure improved patient care.

"What's unique here is the methodology and being able to have a chance to analyze data, to see what we can improve on," she said. The information collected by Haleakala South staff could be helpful to all of Maui Memorial's nurses. "Whatever we learn and what fits will be applied to other parts of the hospital," Iritani said.