Ambulatory Updates and Reminders

1) Infusion Center hours have been expanded for greater access!

Dr. Sisson’s prior email:

Ambulatory Services is pleased to announce that effective Wednesday, June 1, 2016, the Osler 6 IV Infusion Center has expanded its hours to 7:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Osler 6 offers an alternative site of care for same-day patient treatment for urgent IV Hydration, IV Antibiotics, Blood Transfusion and/or other urgent infusions, in lieu of an Emergency Department Visit or Inpatient Admission.

The process is as follows to refer a patient to Osler 6 for Treatment:

1. Call 410-502-7944.  The Center opens at 7 a.m., with the first appointment at 7:30 a.m. All urgent referrals must be made by 5:30 p.m., with last appointment available at 6 p.m.
2. Caller must provide the center with following information at time of referral
   • Patient name/MRN/DOB
   • Ordering provider name/department/callback number for questions
   • Clinical condition information—
     • Patient diagnosis/ICD 10/reason for urgent visit
     • Will ongoing therapy need to be coordinated/scheduled beyond urgent referral (if yes, elaborate)
     • Provider to contact at completion of urgent visit for patient status update

3. Provider places order in EPIC for a FAM List Medication either in the patient’s current encounter or in a separate orders only encounter
4. (If patient in clinic)—referring clinic staff arranges transport to IV Infusion Center on Osler 6
5. Patient receives urgent treatment in the IV Infusion Center
6. When treatment is complete, registered nurse will provide status update to the provider to contact at completion of urgent visit for patient status update

2) Joint Commission survey -Requirement for documentation of “Learning Needs Assessment” and “Fall Risk Assessment”

• These were two areas cited by the recent Joint Commission as not being adequately documented. Ambulatory Services in JHOC has implemented a process to meet the required compliance goal of 90 percent over the next four months of monitoring.
• The CMAs in the ambulatory areas will be asking the questions to patients or their identified primary learner at intake (these are already embedded in EPIC).
• If patients answer “yes” to either of the fall risk questions, they should receive education on preventing falls at home on their after visit summary.

-Kim Peairs, Associate Vice Chair for Ambulatory Operations