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

Implications of an aging registered nurse workforce, coupled with an inadequate supply of new nurses, presented a unique challenge for the nurse executive 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 nursing care delivery system adds a licensed practical nurse to the registered nurse and patient care assistant care pairs? It also describes the driving forces behind this practice change and presents focus group discussions, the implementation process, and conclusions and recommendations.