Transcript Document

Medication reconciliation keeps patients safe
FEATURED TEAM
Infectious Disease/Oncology UBT
WHAT THEY DID
To reduce duplicate medications listed in patient records,
members of this team at the Cumberland Medical Office Building
in Atlanta started by manually cleaning up patient charts. Then
they instituted a new process for checking medications:
•Licensed practical nurses and medical assistants ask patients to
bring their medications to office visits.
•The MAs and LPNs review patient medications
and note on the member’s chart which ones the
patient is or is not taking.
•Providers confirm medications with the member and remove the
duplicate oncology medication from the patient’s record.
•An MA prints out the patient’s medications and gives the list to
the nurse practitioner who, in collaboration with the clinical
pharmacist, reviews it and removes expired medications.
Visit LMPartnership.org for ideas and tools for your team.
RESULTS
Percent of duplicate medications per
office visit
Assigning ownership of surgical instruments
saves thousands
FEATURED TEAM
Head and Neck Surgery
WHAT THEY DO
To reduce the number of surgical instruments lost before
and after surgeries, nurses in this Franklin Medical Office UBT in
Colorado now “own” a set instruments. They are responsible for
counting the instruments at the beginning and the end of the day,
similar to reconciling a cash box in
a retail environment.
RESULTS
The number of lost or broken instruments
Visit LMPartnership.org for ideas and tools for your team.
Communication among teams improves
mammogram rates
FEATURED TEAM
Adult Medicine
WHAT THEY DID
To reduce duplicate medications listed in patient records, The
members of this UBT at Shady Grove Medical Center in Rockville,
Md., worked with Primary Care and Radiology to resolve
scheduling conflicts that resulted in patients being turned away
from same-day mammogram appointments. The unit-based team:
•Created a working agreement with Radiology that spells out a
process for sharing schedule information so the best days and
times for same-day mammograms can be identified.
•Set clear boundaries. For example, the Adult Medicine unit
agreed not to send patients for mammograms after 3:45 p.m.,
when one radiology technician is trying to close out the day’s
appointments without incurring overtime.
Visit LMPartnership.org for ideas and tools for your team.
RESULTS
Mammogram screening rate