Page 16 - 2016 Nursing Annual Report | Summa Health
P. 16
Exemplary Professional
Practice
STEP reduces
preventable readmission
rates, improves patient
satisfaction
Introduction Initiative
A patient’s care does not end at the transition from the The STEP program was implemented in January 2016 on
hospital to home. Often patients leave with instructions 7 West at the Summa Health System – Akron Campus, a
for follow up appointments with physicians, new medical medical-surgical unit with a high readmission rate due to
devices and a list of medications they need to take. These patients with multiple comorbidities. The team developed
instructions can sometimes be very confusing. When a printed After Hospital Care Plan to serve as a patient’s
they aren’t followed, the patient can end up back in the guide for when they transition to either home or a care
hospital for a preventable readmission. facility. It includes a concise, color-coded medication
calendar and addresses diet, activity level, the condition
Background that brought them to the hospital, and new medical
equipment or services. The last page is a calendar with the
In 2015, Summa Health assembled an interdisciplinary dates and locations of their follow up appointments.
team led by administrators, computer programmers,
nurses, physicians, pharmacists, psychologists, social “Studies have shown that if you schedule all the follow
workers, process engineers, respiratory therapists and up appointments for the patient, they’re much more
dieticians to identify stronger methods of patient care compliant in actually going, which makes a big impact on
transitions. The project team looked for barriers and then readmission rates,” said Evan Deighan, RN, Unit Director, 7
re-engineered roles and communication strategies. West. “The patient can take that calendar, hang it on their
fridge and know right away the date, time, location and
The Summa Transition Excellence Program or STEP was provider name of their follow-up appointment.”
the result of several months of discussions about how to
improve collaboration and the patient transition process. One major change was the additional pharmacy support
added to the care team.
Goal Statement
“Previously, the nurse would ask the patient for their
The goal of the STEP program is to reduce preventable home medication list and enter it into the electronic
readmissions to the hospital and to improve the patient health record. We essentially had to take the patient’s
experience. word that the list they were giving us was correct. The
STEP progress added an additional double-check,” said
Deighan.
16 Summa Health
