NASSAU UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER USES AHRQ RESOURCES TO IMPROVE COMMUNICATION WITH PATIENTS

Victor F. Politi, MD, FACP, FACEP      
President/CEO       

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 2, 2014

PRESS CONTACT:
Shelley Lotenberg
shelley@numc.edu
516-572-6055

Nassau University Medical Center Uses AHRQ Resources to Improve Communication with Patients

East Meadow, NY…………..Victor F. Politi, MD, FACP, FACEP, NuHealth’s President/CEO announces that the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) recently published a case study about patient satisfaction at the Nassau University Medical Center (NUMC). Drs. Amgad Makaryus, chair of cardiology and Venkatesh Sasthakonar, chief of bariatric surgery along with Kathy Skarka, RN, Chief Nursing Officer and Lorinda Bauer, RN, MBA, clinical director of cardiac services at NUMC, had participated in an HCAHPS improvement project using Team STEPPS as part of a fellowship with America’s Essential Hospitals.

“We are delighted that AHRQ has published the case study on patient satisfaction. NUMC is using TeamSTEPPS® (“Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety”) to improve communication between patients and their health care team. The hospital uses another AHRQ resource, the HCAHPS® (“Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems”) survey to ask patients how well the hospital medical staff communicates with them. Since the introduction of TeamSTEPPS, survey results have shown that communication with patients has steadily improved,” stated Dr. Politi.

TeamSTEPPS is an evidence-based system developed by AHRQ and the Department of Defense. It works to optimize patient outcomes by improving communication and teamwork skills among health care professionals.

“TeamSTEPPS offers tools and strategies that promote information sharing, such as having nurses participate in a briefing session at the start of the day to discuss each patient’s condition. Then they huddle midway through the day for updates as necessary, and debrief at the end of the shift,” explains Ms. Bauer. The TeamSTEPPS strategy of holding scheduled briefings during the day is being implemented in all patient care units of the hospital, following its success in the telemetry cardiac services unit in late 2011, notes Ms. Bauer.

“Improved communication promotes an improvement of team dynamics, which translates into better patient care,” explains Dr. Makaryus. “TeamSTEPPS has helped our medical staff be able to discuss each patient’s condition in a standardized manner so that communication remains open and consistent.” He continues, “Several physicians and nurses have told me it’s so much better and more efficient to have specific times set aside for discussion about each patient’s condition.”

Another TeamSTEPPS strategy being implemented throughout the hospital is having the nurse join the physician for the daily assessment of patients.

“The pairing of nurse and physician during patient rounds has led to more effective dialogue with patients,” says Ms. Skarka. “This TeamSTEPPS strategy is extremely beneficial in putting all of our medical staff on the ‘same page’ from the perspective of the patient. By being together, they will be communicating the same thing to the patient rather than conflicting messages.”

According to Dr. Makaryus, HCAHPS survey results show that patients’ views about physician and nurse communication are targeted to improve by 10 percentage points, to an estimated 75 percent overall average favorability rating, which will coincide with the hospital’s ongoing goal of implementing TeamSTEPPS hospital-wide.

“Our goal is to maintain the momentum, to keep our medical staff focused on improved processes with TeamSTEPPS, and to help them really understand the benefits that will result from it,” he says.

To read more about TeamSTEPPS, visit: http://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/education/curriculum-tools/teamstepps/index.html.

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NuHealth is a Long Island health care organization delivering essential medical care and disease and lifestyle management to everyone at every stage of life.  Also known as Nassau Health Care Corporation, NuHealth is a public benefit corporation managing the operations of Nassau Medical Center, A. Holly Patterson Extended Care and a network of Family Health Centers that bring primary and specialty care out into the community.  By emphasizing wellness, cultural sensitivity and collaborative efforts with the North Shore-LIJ Health System, NuHealth is working to make good care more affordable and easier to access.
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