Medication Communication Cathy Patton, MA, RN Chris Tarver, MS, RN, CNS May 2, 2013

Med Communication Questions Before giving you any new medicine, how often did hospital staff tell you what the medicine was for? Before giving you any new medicine, how often did hospital staff describe possible side effects in a way you could understand?

HCAHPS Medication Communication Questions One of the lower scoring for many (all?) hospitals

History of Medication Communication Staff Education “Blitz” Education: June 2012

History: Med Pass Competency and Peer Review

Best Practices: Daily Med List Piloted on Med/Surg Oncology and Progressive Care Unit; each day new list is printed and old is discarded Worked with Clinical Informatics and I.T. During pilot, the nurses had to manually add a nursing order to create a daily task … Once housewide, it is now auto-generated order from the Nursing Admission Assessment

Automated Med List Order . . .

Generates Task to Chart Against . . .

Printing Saga Pilot Phase: Was a “demand print” meaning the nurses had to manually print out per patient Initial go-live: Printed out automatically at same time around 4pm (room # order), but it was too late for the unit clerks to organize by nurse assignment Current: Print job has been moved to between 2p to 3p – allows flexibility to organize and distribute for nurses to document

The Actual Form!! <<handout>>

Laminated Side Effects Cards Attached to all bedside computers and WOWs Developed by Pharmacy Developed from feedback from nurses requesting tool for side effects education <<handout>>

Added “Components” Side Effects recent add A LOT of work to program Not every med

Patients taking their own meds

Unintended Issue . . . Patient mistook the Daily Med List for the Discharge Meds

Outcomes/Lessons Learned Most patients; even more families, love it. Took a while for nurses to buy in Some forgot to throw away old lists, and they piled up in the room We have caught med rec errors Missing meds Wrong doses

Engaging the Patient Inspired by Magnet Conference Break Out Session “MEDS (Medications, Explanations, Dosages, Side Effects): A Successful Strategy to Improve HCAHPS Medication Scores” (C106) Presented by Rex Healthcare in Raleigh, NC Outlined a 10-step strategy

“Always Ask/Always Tell” Campaign Decals for the glass boards (white boards)

“MEDS” Acronym M = Medication E = Explanation D = Dosage S = Side Effects

HCAPHS Results

Sustaining Daily Complex Inpatient (non-MCH) MCH Vice Chief Reports Our 3 HCAHPS Focus Scores Nurse Communication Staff Responsiveness Medication Communication Reinforce During Bar Coding Go Live

Questions? Chris Tarver Chris.Tarver@elcaminohospital.org THANK YOU!!