Medication reconciliation keeps patients safe FEATURED TEAM Infectious Disease/Oncology UBT WHAT THEY DID To reduce duplicate medications listed in patient records, members of this team at the Cumberland Medical Office Building in Atlanta started by manually cleaning up patient charts. Then they instituted a new process for checking medications: Licensed practical nurses and medical assistants ask patients to bring their medications to office visits. The MAs and LPNs review patient medications and note on the member’s chart which ones the patient is or is not taking. Providers confirm medications with the member and remove the duplicate oncology medication from the patient’s record. An MA prints out the patient’s medications and gives the list to the nurse practitioner who, in collaboration with the clinical pharmacist, reviews it and removes expired medications. Visit LMPartnership.org for ideas and tools for your team. RESULTS Percent of duplicate medications per office visit

Assigning ownership of surgical instruments saves thousands FEATURED TEAM Head and Neck Surgery WHAT THEY DO To reduce the number of surgical instruments lost before and after surgeries, nurses in this Franklin Medical Office UBT in Colorado now “own” a set instruments. They are responsible for counting the instruments at the beginning and the end of the day, similar to reconciling a cash box in a retail environment. Visit LMPartnership.org for ideas and tools for your team. RESULTS The number of lost or broken instruments

Communication among teams improves mammogram rates FEATURED TEAM Adult Medicine WHAT THEY DID To reduce duplicate medications listed in patient records, The members of this UBT at Shady Grove Medical Center in Rockville, Md., worked with Primary Care and Radiology to resolve scheduling conflicts that resulted in patients being turned away from same-day mammogram appointments. The unit-based team: Created a working agreement with Radiology that spells out a process for sharing schedule information so the best days and times for same-day mammograms can be identified. Set clear boundaries. For example, the Adult Medicine unit agreed not to send patients for mammograms after 3:45 p.m., when one radiology technician is trying to close out the day’s appointments without incurring overtime. Visit LMPartnership.org for ideas and tools for your team. RESULTS Mammogram screening rate