Purpose Improvement Tools/Methods Limitations / Lessons Learned Results Process Improvement Improve Patient Satisfaction Fion Kung and Carmen Valdez, University of South Florida College of Nursing The purpose of this Quality Improvement Project is to improve patients satisfaction in the pain management and medication communication categories. Our plan is to educate the nursing staff about the importance of communicating the purpose of medications and its side effects to each patient. Also, we want to educate the nursing staff about constantly updating the whiteboard in each patient’s room with their pain medication. Issue According to HCAPS Hospital Survey (2014), many patients report that nurses are not communicating the indication of their medications and side effects. They also report that their pain management is not being addressed.  Only 50% of the patients know about the indications and side effects of the medications that they are taking.  Only 48% of patients state that their pain was addressed. Why implementation is necessary?  It’s important to address this issue because it affects the hospital’s reputation as well reimbursement.  According to Aiken et al., high patient satisfaction may increase recommendation of the hospital (2012).  Our idea is to educate nurses about ways to improve patient-nurse communication.  We will educate the nurses about the importance of explaining the indication of the medications that the patients are taking as well as the side effects and adverse effects. Also, we will educate nurses the importance of updating the whiteboards after each dose of pain medication.  According to Linn, Weert, Dijk, Horne & Smit (2014), communicating the indication of the medication and its side effects leads to higher patient satisfaction.  The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (2012) found that using the whiteboards to update patients about their pain medications resulted in higher patient satisfaction. In addition, patients felt that their pain management was a priority to the nurses. Some barriers that we might face are:  Involvement of everyone in the implementation Our goal is to get every nurse in the unit to participate in implementing these changes. Nurse techs may be educated about this implementation so that they don’t accidently erase the time that the patient is getting the next dose of pain medication.  Lack of consistency among the nursing staff For better results, this implementation needs to be carried out consistently. Florida Hospital of Tampa Plan: Our plan is to increase patient satisfaction in pain management and medication communication by the next survey quarter. Our goal is to increase the percentage in pain management from 48% to 75%. Also, we want to increase the percentage of medication communication from 50% to 75%. Do: In this project, we need everyone in the unit to be involved. This includes nurse leaders, nurse educators, charge nurses, RNs, LPNs, and nurse techs. We created a Quality Improvement Survey to evaluate how often nurses are communicating the medication indication and its side effects to patients. In the survey, we also asked how often nurses are using the whiteboards to keep patients updated about their pain medication. Study: Our survey revealed that not all nurses are updating the whiteboards with the pain medication in the patients’ rooms. Also, not all the nurses are communicating the indications and side effects of the medications to the patients. Acts: Nurses should be more consistent about updating the whiteboard of each patient after pain medication is given. In addition, nurses should be more consistent in explaining the indication of medications and its side effects to patients. References  Aiken, L., Sermeus, W., Heede, K., Sloane, D., Busse, R., Mckee, M.,... Lee, A. (2012). Patient safety, satisfaction, and quality of hospital care: cross sectional surveys of nurses and patients in 12 countries in Europe and the United States. BMJ:British Medical Journal, 344: 1717  Al-Abri, R & Al-Balushi, A. (2014). Patient Satisfaction Survey as a Tool Towards Quality Improvement. Oman Medical Journal, 29, (1): 3-7  Brigham and Women's Hospital. (2013). Improving Our Patient Satisfaction. Retrieved from aspx  CAHPS Hospital Survey. (2014). Retrieved from  Kheraj, R., Tewani, S., Ketwaroo, Gyanprakash., Leffler, D. (2012). Quality Improvement in Gastroenterology Clinical Practice. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 10(12):  Linn, A., Weert, J., Dijk, L., Horne, R., Smit, E. (2012). The values of nurses’ tailored communication when discussing medicines: Exploring the relationship between satisfaction, beliefs and adherence. Journal of Health Psychology, 19 (7), doi: /  Otani, K., Herrmann, P., Kurz, R. (2011). Improving patient satisfaction in hospital care settings. The Royal Society Medicine Journals, 24: , doi: /hsmr  Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (2012). Improving Patient Experience in the Inpatient Setting: A Case Study of Three Hospitals. Retrieved from wjf72585 Background Team Members  N urse leaders  Nurse Educators  Charge Nurses  Staff Nurses (RNs, LPNs)  Nurse Techs Measures  The results of this Quality Improvement project will be measured by using the Hospital Consumers Assessment of Healthcare Providers and System survey, also known as, Patient Satisfaction Survey.  We will use the Quality Improvement Survey to find out if nurses are explaining the indication and side effects of the medications that are given to the patients, as well as the use of the whiteboards to keep patients updated about their pain medication.