FY16 Data: Geography and Boarding Hours
Almost 80 percent of our Medicine patients are assigned to the home unit of their service thru February. FY16 data shows Emergency Department patients admitted to Medicine average an 11.7 hour wait time, corresponding to a current department rate of 90 percent occupancy.
Dr. Charles Locke, MD: Thayer Firm Aligned Discharge Pilot Study
Dr. Locke reported on the March 2016 Thayer Firm Aligned Discharge pilot. From Monday, March 21 to Sunday, March 27, Dr. Locke and the Thayer team focused on meeting the aligned discharge goal to safely discharge two patients each morning. Dr. Locke and his team met at 3 p.m. daily to identify patients for next morning discharge.
Dr. Locke’s and the Thayer team’s findings point out the challenges of safe discharge in our patient population. Many of the patients encountered during this pilot could not safely be discharged to home. Forty-four percent required either placement for continued medical care or referrals related to homelessness.
CPM and JHM Strategic Priorities: Communication Board Workgroup Report Out
A key Johns Hopkins Medicine strategic priority is to “engage patients and families in their care and assist in the coordination of care.” The collaborative efforts of the Communication Board Workgroup uncovered best practices and barriers to implementation of the communication board in the DOM.
Among the group’s findings was 2013 Stanford study stating white board use on a General Medicine Service improved patient knowledge, awareness and experience. The workgroup addressed the relationship of this tool and teamwork between staff and patients and the impact of use on multiple HCAHPS domains. They also found that communication board use supports two-way communication between the patient and families and their health care team and identifies target discharge date to help patients and their families better prepare.
The workgroup made recommendations to nursing and physician leadership at CPM for effective use of the communication board.
Thank you to all of our collaborative workgroups, presenter and attendees.
The next Collaborative Practice meeting will be Thursday, June 2 from 11-noon in the Tumulty Conference Room.
-Neysa Ernst, RN, MSN
Nurse Manager, Department of Medicine
Co-chair, 2016 CPM
