Improving Quality Of Care With An In-hospital Patient-centered Supplement
Jeffrey E. Silpe, MD, MS-HPEd, Gregg S. Landis, MD, Mihai Rosca, MD.
Northwell Health, Lake Success, NY, USA.
OBJECTIVES: In modern healthcare, hospitals and physicians focus on the quality of care they provide. With an emphasis on excellence, patient-centered approaches to in-hospital care have been instrumental in the improvement of quality metrics. Patient perceptions are fundamental to these quality measures as noted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). CMS goals include effective, safe, efficient, patient-centered, equitable, and timely care. The purpose of this study is to improve the in-hospital quality of care for vascular surgery patients using a patient-centered supplement. METHODS: A broad-based vascular surgery and an amputation-specific informational pamphlet were created to supplement the conversation between our patients and vascular surgeons regarding their care plan. The subject matter of these pamphlets were aligned with the CMS STAR metrics. The general pamphlet includes an introduction to the vascular team to allow patients to become familiar with the faces that they will see throughout their hospital stay and during outpatient follow-up. This is followed by an explanation of what vascular disease consists of and preventative medicine. Next, expectations during the peri-operative period, the goals of discharge planning, and post-hospital care are elucidated. The amputation-specific pamphlet focuses on the amputee while covering similar topics as the general pamphlet. This pamphlet also covers topics such as phantom pain management, prosthetic planning, physical therapy, and mental health support. These pamphlets are given to patients and explained by members of the vascular team.
RESULTS: Although in its early stages, there has already been an improvement in quality metrics within various categories as seen in hospital-administered surveys. Patients have repeatedly expressed their satisfaction with these pamphlets and how helpful they have been in making their hospital stay more understandable and less stressful.
CONCLUSIONS: Supplemental patient-centered informational pamphlets can be a helpful adjunct to verbal communication in the improvement of quality of care for vascular surgery in-hospital patients. The goals of these pamphlets align with the CMS goals and may serve as a useful resource for other vascular surgery departments. Further analysis of the quantitative improvement in quality metrics needs to be performed.
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