Health care organizations are increasinglyunder pressure to improve care quality, and executives are asking unit leaders to achieve strongperformance on a growing number of metrics.

But when confronted with so many competing priorities, nurse managers often struggle with knowing where to start and spreading themselves and their staff too thin. They need to know how to focus their time and energy on theactivities that will have the greatest impact.

We've created five tools to help managers narrow their lists of critical unit priorities,identify the biggest opportunities for improvement, and communicate those opportunities to staff.

5 tools for improving unit performance

Tool 1: Decide Where to Focus First

Pinpoint which of your unit's critical priorities to address first by answering seven "yes or no"questions.

• Calculation table

Tool 2: Get to the Root of Your Problem

Figure out why your unit is struggling with performance on a given metric and prioritize which problems to solve first.

Tool 3: Communicate Unit Priorities to Staff

Lead a series of conversations with your staff on top unit priorities, and help them understandwhy these priorities are important to your unit.

• Frontline Dashboard Template
• Unit Priority Discussion Guide

Tool 4: Isolate Staff Members' Best Ideas

Tap your team for unit improvement ideas and walk them through the process, from idea generation to idea triage, so you can hone in on staff members' strongest ideas.

• New Idea Form
• Idea Triage Sheet

Tool 5: Avoid Rolling Out Multiple Projects at Once

Ensure you and your staff dedicate the right amount of time and effort to each improvement initiative by scheduling and spacing out your improvement projects across the year.

• Unit Change Calendar

Download all tools