Transforming nursing assessment in acute hospitals (the ENCORE trial).

ENCORE is a health service intervention with a strong evidence base that has two components:

• Surveillance: A novel Core Plus specialty-specific assessment model with a ward re-design that supports this model and enhances multidisciplinary team communication.
• Intervention implementation: Structural support at ward-level to embed the service intervention with systems change strategies that enhance existing organisational routines and procedures.

The study is a multi-site cluster randomised controlled trial to test the effectiveness on patient, clinical staff and economic outcomes of reformed patient assessment practices in acute care hospitals. It aims to evaluate the impact of the ENCORE intervention on patient and staff outcomes and establish a benefit-to-cost ratio of the ENCORE intervention.

See ANZCTR for full trial details >