Photographer Roger Tully captured this image of nurses Micah Lawrence (left) and James Sizer assisting Dorothy Forsythe, a patient at Seton Northwest Hospital in Austin, Texas. Ms. Forsythe is wearing red "fall prevention" socks, part of a risk assessment protocol hospital staff introduced to reduce patient falls and injuries by identifying at-risk patients, just one of the many positive outcomes of the Transforming Care at the Bedside (TCAB) initiative.

Developed six years ago by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, TCAB is a national program to empower front-line nurses and other care team members to improve patient care, retain nurses, decrease costs, and achieve overall better clinical outcomes. Starting with three pilot hospitals, TCAB has been tested in about 160 institutions, and several hundred hospitals have now adopted the process. Tully says he took this photograph to show "how nurses and other medical staff can feel more empowered and productive if they're encouraged to bring their ideas to the table."

This issue of AJN comes with Transforming Care at the Bedside: Paving the Way for Change-a special supplement all about the TCAB initiative. To read the supplement online, go to http://www.tinyurl.com/TCABajn.

Alison Bulman

senior editorial coordinator