4 minute read
A Message from Ric Cuming
Safety, patient-centered care, interdisciplinary relationships and professional outcomes of care
Exemplary Professional Practice is the heart and soul of nursing, the true essence of a Magnet organization. It integrates all the elements of a Magnet nursing practice: quality, safe care delivery — a partnership among patients, families, communities and other caregivers and experts; interprofessional activities; a culture of safety, caregiver support and ethics; and robust peer feedback. This component is more than the establishment of strong professional practice; it is what that professional practice can achieve when exemplary.
INTERPROFESSIONAL CARE
Tapping tech during Code Blue with CritiTrac
ChristianaCare’s award-winning CritiTrac iOS iPad application supports real-time documentation during a Code Blue emergency. Developed by ChristianaCare nurses, physicians and our Health & Technology Innovation Center, the app is standard equipment on ChristianaCare’s Code Blue resuscitation carts. It aims to reduce variability, better coordinate care delivery and improve data collection during Code Blue events.
SCOOP: Charting the path to better health outcomes
Oncology nurses had a large role in supporting a newly launched clinical pathway at ChristianaCare’s Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute. Called SCOOP (Supportive Care of Oncology Patients), the pathway includes an electronic nurse navigation checklist. Created with nurse input, the checklist captures dates for prescribed communication with patients, scheduled consults and reminders to assess additional or unmet needs throughout the course of treatment.
Launched in 2016, the pathway’s effectiveness through October 2018 was measured in 2019: patients on the pathway versus those not on it experienced fewer visits to the emergency department (34% vs. 54%), fewer hospital admissions (23% vs. 34%) and fewer readmissions (18% vs. 32%). Cost savings for pathway patients was estimated on average to be more than $1,500 per patient.
“The pathway has helped us to follow a formalized, standard process of care for our patients that starts when they first meet with their cancer care team. The result is better care management throughout their course of treatment with fewer adverse side effects that might otherwise send them back to the hospital.”
Supervising Nurse Navigator Karen Sites, BSN, RN, OCN, helped develop SCOOP nurse navigator checklist.
Healing begins with hope
ChristianaCare’s new Center for Hope and Healing at Wilmington Hospital supports some of our community’s most vulnerable members. The program helps improve patients’ medical and behavioral health while addressing social barriers — such as homelessness, hunger or addiction — that can undermine their success. Care Manager Naiyma Hawkins, MSN, RN, PCCN, is an important member of the seven-person Hope and Healing team. She helps patients access a specialized blend of behavioral health, community interventions and primary care so they can stabilize and manage complex medical and non-medical needs.
Setting up students for health and success
ChristianaCare nurses are instrumental in ChristianaCare’s school-based wellness centers, including our first elementary school center that opened in 2019 in Wilmington. A partnership with the Red Clay School District, the program is managed by ChristianaCare’s Kay McLean-Grant, MSN, APRN, CPNP, and brings nurse practitioners, social workers, dietitians and doctors into 20 New Castle County schools to serve more than 700 students from kindergarten through grade 12. Students receive treatment for minor injuries and illnesses during the school day and get immunizations and health screenings in coordination with their family doctor.
Wired wearables for heart health
Last year, ChristianaCare launched a new heart health program featuring wearable technology called the ReDS™ — Remote Dielectric Sensing — system, and our ChristianaCare HomeHealth nurses helped steer its success. Centered around noninvasive vests, the system detects early fluid accumulation in a patient’s lungs, which can occur before the patient feels any signs or symptoms of worsening heart failure.
Heart failure patients using the vests enrolled in a four-week pilot program at Christiana Hospital were monitored at home by ChristianaCare HomeHealth nurses and caregivers.
In total, 24 patients participated in this pilot partnership between CareVio, ChristianaCare’s a robust information technology-enabled network of care coordination support services, and ChristianaCare HomeHealth. After a successful pilot, the program is expanding to Wilmington Hospital.
Prior to the RedS™ system, patients had a readmission rate of 40%. While wearing the vests, the rate dropped to 11.6%.
New Patient and Visitor Guide charted by nurses
ChristianaCare has a new Patient and Visitor Guide that anticipates the needs of patients and their loved ones. Created with significant nurse involvement on both the publication’s steering committee and working group, the guide is intended as a companion to caregiver conversations with patients and visitors. It standardizes information caregivers extend to patients across all units. Designed to use ChristianaCare resources wisely and effectively, the guide streamlines important patient information into one core publication for an informed, comfortable stay.
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