2011 Nursing Annual Report - FINAL.pub - South Shore Hospital

ImprovementsMaternity Streamlines WorkflowConscious of decreasing non‐value added actions,cabinets at each nurse’s station were organizedwith the most often used supplies to decrease theamount of time and distance staff had to travel toretrieve items. One Unit Coordinators spent timeevaluating the admission packet in order to decreaseduplication and remove inaccurate information.Now colleagues are ordering clean and neatcopies of information from the Print Shop for patients.This decreases the amount of time theyspend at the copy machine as well as the amountof printer paper usage.Birthing Unit Patients and FamiliesNow Involved in Discharge ProcessIn response to Press Ganey patient satisfactionresults, as well as the Coremotive project to improvepatient flow and decrease boarding in theBirthing Unit, the Maternity & Infant Unit is activelyworking to improve the discharge process.Discharge is now part of the white board educationand improved procedures have streamlined “day ofdischarge” activities. Patients and families are educatedon what to expect and anticipate on the dayof discharge. An improved favorites list of medicationsfor Med Reconciliation, and a decrease in thenumber of signatures required at discharge havecontributed to a more timely discharge process.Colleagues are actively engaged in the process andprogress is measured on a daily basis by monitoringhow many patients have discharged to homeby 11:00 am, 12 noon, and 1:00 pm. Progressgraphs are updated weekly.Optimizing Patient Flow in Birthing UnitLast year, we engaged the help of a consultinggroup, Coremotive, to assist South Shore Hospitalin optimizing patient flow though the Birthing Center,and to reduce the Caesarean section rate asappropriate. Through the effective use of methodologiessuch as Lean and Six Sigma, SSH will realizeimproved processes affecting Birthing Centeroperations, greater patient safety and satisfaction,greater staff satisfaction and sustainable cost savings.The main objectives of this initiative include:improved patient throughput (flow), improvedstaff productivity, improved procedure scheduling,and improved mechanisms to reduce C‐sectionrate. Preliminary results demonstrated a decreasedfrequency of boarding patients in the Birthing Unitafter delivery, a decreased length of stay for caesareandeliveries, a higher percentage of on‐timestarts for our 8 a.m. scheduled caesarean deliveriesand a decrease in our C‐section rate. In addition, afocus on nursing communication around preparationfor discharge and the discharge process resultedin increased patient satisfaction scores. Sixmonth results have shown a sustained 10% reductionof the C‐section rate, from a baseline of 42%down to 38%.53