Orleans Healthy Living, October 2009
By: Monica Ryszytiwskyj
Coming together to improve your care
MMHCS introduces groundbreaking bedside care program
Medina Memorial Health Care System (MMHCS) was one of 16 hospitals nationwide to be selected by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to participate in a groundbreaking initiative called Transforming Care at the Bedside (TCAB).
The program was launched in February at a conference in Philadelphia, which key members of the TCAB team attended to learn about strategies used in other facilities to improve quality of care and to increase the time nurses are able to spend directly caring for patients.
The team, consisting of nurses and managers, returned from the kickoff enthusiastic about the upcoming changes they could make, and they quickly began empowering the nurses in the medical-surgical unit to make suggestions based on their experiences.
“We’re extremely fortunate to have been selected for this program—we worked hard for it, and it was a highly competitive process,” says Jim Sinner, president and CEO of MMHCS. “Not only are we being provided the resources to be innovative in our approach to improving patient care, but it’s entirely grant-funded. It’s a three-year program that will make a huge impact on how we deliver care and the experience patients have while they are with us.”
Saving time for patient care
Getting every level of staff actively involved is an important and unique facet of the program. Everyone within the medical-surgical unit—and in other departments that collaborate with the medical-surgical unit—is able to make meaningful contributions to the program.
After educating the department about the initiative, one of the first steps was to evaluate the physical environment and make it as conducive as possible to exceptional patient care. This included:
• Placing red stickers on items that hadn’t been used in several months, indicating that they could be disposed of to make work areas less cluttered.
• Redesigning the medication room to include a cubby for each patient with only the medication that he or she needs, so nurses can find medication as quickly and accurately as possible.
• Cleaning out and organizing utility and equipment rooms so nurses can find items quickly, allowing them more time for bedside care.
• Using walkie-talkies so nurses can communicate with each other instantaneously, rather than spending time tracking each other down. This has already prevented one patient’s falling.
• Designing customized carts so nurses can dispense medication more quickly without making multiple trips to the medication room.
Several other improvements have been made or are in the works. It is easy to see how changes that may seem small add up to make an enormous difference in how care is delivered.
It’s a team effort
“What’s really fascinating,” says Maria Pinti, director of performance improvement and infection control, “is that what we learn is being shared with other participating organizations—and vice versa. Every time we come back from a conference, we are armed with even more ideas for improvement. When all is said and done, our findings [and those of the other 15 participating organizations] will be in a textbook and shared with health care facilities around the world to continue improving patient care. We’re all very excited about the impact our work will have.”
As we make and sustain improvements in the medical-surgical unit, another objective is to bring them to other departments throughout the organization. “If these changes are making a difference in one department, imagine what they could do for the entire health care system,” Pinti says.
A kickoff event to introduce the initiative was held on Aug. 13 at Medina Memorial Hospital. In addition to the TCAB team, employees from other parts of MMHCS, community members, referring physicians and the press were in attendance. Guests enjoyed a variety of hors d’oeuvres and a cake, and nurses donned TCAB shirts in honor of the occasion. Brian Banas, vice president of patient care services, gave a short, informative presentation about the importance of the initiative and changes that have already been made, along with some that will be coming down the road.
Banas also made sure to recognize the people involved in the initiative and to show his appreciation for their hard work and dedication. “Recognition is always important,” he says, “but for this initiative in particular, it is absolutely necessary. Without their commitment and stellar performance, [successful changes] would be impossible.”
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