2024 Nursing Annual Report

Nursing Support Services

Nursing Support Services is comprised of a variety of teams that work to support inpatient and outpatient care.

HOUSE SUPERVISORS/ONE STOP PLACEMENT CENTER: This is a team of highly skilled and experienced nurse leaders who support “the house” with staffing and patient placement needs 24/7. The staffing portion is led daily by one of the supervisors who runs reports, compares and contrasts inpatient department level staffing needs, and assigns nurses and support staff to the areas with greatest need on all shifts. The patient placement portion is supported by multiple house supervisors daily. They take calls from outside hospitals and other health care facilities requesting bed space and providers to provide inpatient care for medical and behavioral health patients that cannot be cared for in the current setting. Many of these patients need transport to COA, and the supervisors work with the COA CARE Flight Critical Care Transport Team to arrange for that transportation. WOCN: The Wound Ostomy & Continence Nurses are board certified in the treatment of patients with wounds, ostomies, and fecal or urinary incontinence. The CWOCNs provide consultation, care, and education to any inpatient or outpatient on the main campus in downtown Birmingham. They provide staff education to help maintain patients’ health, skin integrity, and mitigate hospital acquired skin injuries.

VASCULAR ACCESS TEAM: This team of nurses provides vascular access assessment and interventions for patients in both inpatient and outpatient settings. They assess site viability and place peripheral IVs, PICC lines, and midline catheters to patients who need intravenous access. With specialized training, this team receives VA-BC certification from AVA (Association for Vascular Access). SWAT: The Strategic Work Allocation Team of nurses is deployed throughout the hospital to assist other nurses and healthcare team members when they have emergent situations such as codes and rapid response (CHAT) calls. They assist with inserting peripheral IVs, critical transports from ICU to imaging or other procedural areas, and provide additional critical care support to nurses who have new admissions such as trauma patients requiring multiple nurses assessing and providing lifesaving interventions and many other types of critical nursing support. SIMON SEDATION TEAM: Three nurses make up the sedation team and provide procedural support for patients undergoing procedural sedation. These nurses work alongside critical care physicians to support the sedated patient throughout a variety of procedures. The nurses travel throughout the hospital and provide care in multiple settings including the specialty care clinics.