Transcript Hospital Name Intervention Focus

Rusk County Memorial Hospital
AIM Statement:
Our goal is to reduce our readmissions by 20% yet
this year by improving discharge instructions and
increasing understanding related to medication
compliance and to keep follow-up appointments.
Rusk County Memorial Hospital
TEST CYCLE
1. Med/Surg and Swing Bed
Units
2. DKAT (Discharge
Knowledge Assessment Tool)
PREDICTION
FINDING
Staff to be easily engaged
Would have initiative
champions
Staff found initiative
recommendations timeconsuming and not user
friendly. Need to scale
back and start small asked
2 RN’s to use tools and
make suggested changespick willing volunteers.
Decide what to adopt or
adapt or abandon.
Start early, before
discharge. Easy to
complete. Start August 1.
Presented to House Supervisors
and Charge Nurses on July 25
and to all
nursing staff at August Staff
meeting. “What does patient
understand?”
Discharge time hectic;
patients want to leave;
incomplete use of DKAT;
teach as you go---involve
family early.
2
Rusk County Memorial Hospital
TEST CYCLE
3. EMR Med/Surg Teaching
Documentation Form
revision Medications
-Diagnosis Teaching
-Lab Tests
-Imaging Tests
-Specimens Neededreason
-Follow-up-appts made
PREDICTION
Great use---checklist
reminder!
FINDING
Poor use---lack of
documentation---staff not
taking credit for what they
do! Post discharge calls to
all patients within 24-48
hours.
3
Rusk County Memorial Staff Safety Assessment
Staff feedback on readmissions What you learned from that
-or- action steps taken
1. What do you think are the most
common factors resulting in a patient
being readmitted?
25 Responses from nursing staff including
department Coordinators/
Managers/Directors
Readmission Factors:
Inadequate discharge instructions
Medication non-compliance
Need support at home
Poor knowledge comprehension
2. Please describe what you think we can
reasonably do to prevent or minimize
readmissions
Prevention Strategies:
Improve discharge instructions i.e.,
increased understanding Improve outside
support services access Keep follow-up
appointments---increase emphasis
importance at discharge
Family education
1
Rusk County Memorial Summary
SUMMARY: Based on our finding with our tests using tools for
documentation we “started over”. Restarted small by using 2
RN’s as nurse champions to use the tools and make
recommendations for improvements, adjustments, etc. to
make tools user friendly. We are currently monitoring use of
the DKAT and auditing the teaching documentation EMR
form. Follow-up phone calls have been very successful in
answering questions post-discharge and reminders for followup appointments