A partnership between Boston Medical Center and California-based Torrance Memorial Health System, has led to the creation of a discharge programme and after hospital care plan (AHCP) that promotes patient safety and reduces readmission rates and emergency department visits. The AHCP is designed to be visually attractive and easy to understand. It includes information for the patient about medication, future appointments, upcoming medical tests and a plan for activities to be completed by the patient in the month following discharge.
Before the patient is discharged, they are able to review the AHCP with a medical practitioner. In addition, a telephone call is made to the patient within 48 hours of discharge for reinforcement. In subsequent surveys, patients were asked to rate the quality of “instructions they were given about how to care for yourself at home”. Of those patients who received the new discharge treatment, 61% rated these instructions as ‘very good’. This compares with a figure of just 41% for those patients who experienced the standard discharge process. Brian Jack, Chief of Family Medicine at Boston Medical Center, said “Improving patient experience by helping them better understand how to care for themselves in the transition from hospital to home means that we're improving their overall quality of care while decreasing hospital readmission and decreasing the cost of care, which is our primary goal”. To those healthcare organisations who have used MSB to conduct their patient research, this latest 'discovery' will be old news. For almost a decade, MSB has conducted patient satisfaction research amongst NHS and private healthcare patients in more than 200 hospitals across the UK. Our research has repeatedly shown that a poor discharge process – including delays in providing medication and confusing advice about home care – has a significant impact on overall patient satisfaction scores. Working with our clients in the NHS and private healthcare sector, we have developed in-depth analysis of the discharge process and enabled hospitals to improve their overall patient experience scores and industry reputation. MSB is one of very few providers to be on both the NHS and PHIN lists of approved providers of patient satisfaction research. To find out more about MSB’s healthcare experience, please visit the Patient Experience and Healthcare pages on our new website.
1 Comment
Don Porter
28/7/2017 02:34:57 pm
The relationship between discharge and a follow up call is very powerful and makes a significant difference to the patient experience.
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