October 14, 2008

Best Practice Example

Wayne Glowac

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/25/AR200808...

The old idea of the “Town Doctor” is back, but this time for a different reason: patient-centered care. For this small practice, organizing around the needs of the patient was doable. But what about larger organizations? Can entire hospitals make changes like this?

Not exactly. It can’t be done as quickly or by just one doctor. The key is to take one department at a time and make it a collaborative process. By sitting down with all of the staff, including physicians, in say the pediatric unit, all of the problems and challenges can be discussed as a group. Start with small changes and work your way up to larger, more long-term goals.

For example, one change that would directly impact patients is physician availability. The idea of keeping at least one provider on call for patients to reach 24/7 is already being used in large organizations in the form of “nurse hotlines.” It helps reduce costly ER visits and physicians can better address patients’ needs as they happen, creating a more manageable flow during regular hours. It works even better for larger providers because caregivers can take on-call shifts, instead of having to be available all the time.

While this idea is much easier to implement than for smaller practices, keeping patient-count down is not. But instead of turning patients away, creating programs that focus on prevention can help reduce the numbers slightly. Directing patients to health resources and educating them can potentially reduce the number of visits. Organizing a simple e-mail blast sent to patients on a monthly or weekly basis with health tips is a good place to start, and also helps promote the organization positively.

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