Tag Archives: priority

Evidence based nursing, Professional Nursing, tjc, Uncategorized

Who ya gonna call? Myth Busters!!

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MYTH: There is no real payoff in engaging  patients and families.

FACT:  Health care organizations can reap many benefits fromMythBUSted
“activated” patients and families – those who have the knowledge, skills and confidence to manage their own care.

How does engaging patients help?   1) It may increase quality of life by reducing falls, helping patients learn to manage chronic conditions. 2) It can reduce Underuse or Overuse of health services. 3) It may increases reimbursement through improved HCAHPS scores.  And YOU may be more satisfied at work!

TWO EXAMPLES of positive results yielded from partnering with patients and families:
• One hospital that began involving patients and families in safety efforts after a highly publicized preventable death saw a culture shift that improved medication reconciliation and eliminated fatal medication errors during a 10-year period (Johnson & Abraham; Reinersten et al., 2008).
Satisfaction• A health system that began seeking input from patients and families decreased nurse turnover from 15 percent to 5 percent in three years and improved patient, staff and physician satisfaction (Johnson & Abraham).

WHAT CAN I DO TO ENGAGE PATIENTS?  Listen to your patients to identify their level of activation in their care as described, & communicate in ways that move them to the nextNURSEPatient level.

  • “At stage 1, people do not yet grasp that they must play an active role in their own
    health, they may still believe that they can just be a passive recipient of care….
  • At stage 2, people may lack the basic facts or have not connected the facts into a larger understanding about their health or recommended health regimens….
  • At stage 3, people have the key facts and are beginning to take action but may lack confidence and skill to support new behaviors….
  • At stage 4, people have adopted new behaviors but may not be able to maintain them in the face of life stress or health crises.”  [source: Hibbard et al. at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1955271/]

mythVStruth

FOR MORE INFO, check out the source of above:  Busting the Myths about Engaging Patients and Families in Patient Safetyquestion

CRITICAL THINKING: Think of a strategy that you ALREADY use or that you might start using to move patients up the stages of engagement in their own care. Be specific!

Evidence based nursing, nonrandom trials, Pain management, Pain script, Professional Nursing, reading research

Stand & Deliver: Evidence for Empathy in Action

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Patient Pain Satisfaction.  It’s a key outcome of RN empathy in action.CARE

Imagine that you are hospitalized and hurting.   During hourly rounds the RN reassures you with these words: “We are going to do everything that we can to help keep your pain under control. Your pain management is our number 1 priority. Given your [condition, history, diagnosis, status], we may not be able to keep your pain level at zero. However, we will work very hard with you to keep you as comfortable as possible.” (Alaloul et al, 2015, p. 323).

Study? In 2015 a set of researchers tested effectiveness of the above pain script using 2 similar medical-surgical units in an academic medical center—1 unit was an experimental unit & 1 was a control unit.  RNs rounded hourly on both units.  handsOn the experimental unit RNs stated the script to patients exactly as written and on room whiteboards posted the script, last pain med & pain scores.  Posters of the script were also posted on the unit.   In contrast, on the control unit RN communication and use of whiteboard were dependent on individual preferences.  Researchers measured effectiveness of the script by collecting HCAHPS scores 2 times before RNs began using the script (a baseline pretest) and then 5 times during and after RNs began using it (a posttest) on both units.

Results? On the experimental units significantly more patients reported that the team was doing everything they could to control pain and that the pain was well-controlled (p≤.05). And while experimental unit scores were trending up, control unit scores trended down. Other findings were that the RNs were satisfied with the script, and that RNs having a BSN or MSN had no effect.

Conclusions/Implications? “When nurses used clear and consistent communication with patients in pain, a positive effect was seen in patient satisfaction with pain management over time. This intervention was simple and effective. It could be replicated in a variety of health care organizations.” (p.321) [underline added]

Commentary: While an experiment would have created greater confidence that the script caused the improvements in patient satisfaction, an experiment would have been difficult or impossible.  Researchers could not randomly assign patients to experimental & control units.  Still, quasi-experimental research is relatively strong evidence, but it leaves the door open that something besides the script caused the improvements in HCAHPS scores.

questionCritical thinking? What would prevent you from adopting or adapting this script in your own personal practice tomorrow?  What are the barriers and facilitators to getting other RNs on your unit to adopt this script, including using whiteboards?  Are there any risks to using the script?  What are the risks to NOT using the script?

Want more info? See original reference – Alaloul, F., Williams, K., Myers, J., Jones, K.D., & Logsdon, M.C. (2015).Impact of a script-based communication intervention on patient satisfaction with pain management. Pain Management Nursing, 16(3), 321-327. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pmn.2014.08.008

Data, Evidence based nursing, Professional Nursing

Don’t Just Wish Upon Falling Stars: Take Evidence-based Action

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The Joint Commission (TJC) published, Preventing falls and fall-related injuries in health care facilities, a new Sentinel Alert #55 on September 28, 2015 at http://www.jointcommission.org/assets/1/18/SEA_55.pdf

What’s the problem? Falls with serious injuries are among the top 10 events reported to TJC.   Analysis of that data shows that contributing factors are related to:

  • Inadequate assessment
  • Communication failures
  • Lack of adherence to protocols and safety practices
  • Inadequate staff orientation, supervision, staffing levels or skill mix
  • Deficiencies in the physical environment
  • Lack of leadership (page 1)

What to do?   Here are TJC recommendationsAction Plan

  1. Raise awareness of falls resulting in injury
  2. Establish an interprofessional falls committee
  3. Use a reliable, valid risk assessment tool
  4. Use EBP
    1. Standardized handoff including risk for falls
    2. One-to-one, bedside education of patients (& families?)
  5. Conduct post-fall management, which includes: a post-fall huddle; a system of honest, transparent reporting; trending and analysis of falls which can inform improvement efforts; and reassess the patient (page 2)

questionCritical thinking:  How would you apply AHRQ toolkit: Preventing Falls in Hospitals to your unit.

Want more info?   For tools, resources, & more details on above, see Joint Commission (2015, September 28). Preventing falls and fall-related injuries in health care facilities, Sentinel Event Alert, Issue 55.  Retrieved from Joint http://www.jointcommission.org/assets/1/18/SEA_55.pdf

Evidence based nursing, Professional Nursing

It Takes a “Village”

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BEST patient care results from using the best evidence in practice using your clinical judgment and the preferences and values of patients & families. In shorthand this is called evidence-based practice (EBP).

Most of the time it takes more than one person to bring evidence into practice.   Maybe not really a whole village,….but definitely anyone  who will be affected by the change OR whose cooperation you need to make the change!

team

In the last blog, we considered how to identify a problem clearly by using the acronym PICO.   Here was our example:

  • P = Postoperative patients with ileus (Patient population & Problem)
  • I = Gum chewing postop (Intervention to try out)
  • C = NPO with gradual diet progression when bowel sounds start returning (Comparison intervention—maybe the current protocol or highly varied individual RN expertise)
  • O = Reduce time of postop ileus with sooner return to nutritious eating (Outcome—what you want to happen!)  (For more on PICO check out last week’s post: “You Got a Problem with That? Try PICO)

The next BIG question: “Is the problem you have identified a PRIORITY?”

priority

  • Some priorities are triggered by problems—for example, your observation that something is not working, or poor PI outcome data, or below benchmark HCAHPS scores.
  • Others are triggered by new knowledge—for example, you read an   article, new research has come out, or your professional organization has new standards.

Now what? You need to gather your “village,” even if it’s only 2 people!!   Let’s say postoperative ileus is a BIG, PRIORITY problem on your unit, and you saw a research article on how gum chewing reduces time of postop ileus. Your next question is, “Who do I need to help reduce ileus by trying out gum chewing?” Well…your manager would certainly want to know, and the surgeon. Other patient-care RNs on the unit are critical to its success, too. And maybe you could use some help in finding and critiquing articles/evidence.

team

NO need to go it alone in solving the issue! Find others who care about the problem. Invite them & anyone (stakeholders) who would need to know about the postop gum chewing. The team can be 2 people if you like; or a lot more.

  • If you have a unit-based council, then you already have a pre-made team!
  • If you need to find some teammates, consider some of these people: a respected clinician with lots of respect; a new graduate with lots of energy; someone who loves to read research; & others.

Critical Thinking: Think of a clinical problem on your unit. Write it out in PICO format and list the names of those who would be on your problem-solving “village” team.  Whose cooperation do you need?

Want to read more? Melnyk, B.M., Fineout-Overholt, E., Stillwell, S.B., Williamson, & K. (2009). Evidence-Based Practice: Step by Step: Igniting a Spirit of Inquiry, American Journal of Nursing, 109(11), 49-52, doi: 10.1097/01.NAJ.0000363354.53883.58