Improving Discharge Efficiency and Charge Containment on a Pediatric Acute Care Cardiology Unit.

BACKGROUND: Hospital discharge delays can negatively affect patient flow and hospital charges. Our primary aim was to increase the percentage of acute care cardiology patients discharged within 2 hours of meeting standardized medically ready (MedR) discharge criteria. Secondary aims were to reduce length of stay (LOS) and lower hospital charges. METHODS: A multidisciplinary team used quality improvement methods to implement and study MedR discharge criteria in our hospital electronic health record. The criteria were ordered on admission and modified on daily rounds. Bedside nurses documented the time when all MedR discharge criteria were met. A statistical process control chart measured interventions over time. Discharge before noon and 30-day readmissions were also tracked. Average LOS was examined, comparing the first 6 months of the intervention period to the last 6 months. Inpatient charges were reviewed for patients with >2 hours MedR discharge delay. RESULTS: The mean percentage of patients discharged within 2 hours of meeting MedR discharge criteria increased from 20% to 78% over 22 months, with more patients discharged before noon (19%-32%). Median LOS decreased from 11 days (interquartile range: 6-21) to 10 days (interquartile range: 5-19) (P = .047), whereas 30-day readmission remained stable at 16.3%. A total of 265 delayed MedR discharges beyond 2 hours occurred. The sum of inpatient charges from care provided after meeting MedR criteria was $332 038 (average $1253 per delayed discharge). CONCLUSIONS: Discharge timeliness in pediatric acute care cardiology patients can be improved by standardizing medical discharge criteria, which may shorten LOS and decrease medical charges.

Cardiorespiratory and Pulse Oximetry Monitoring in Hospitalized Children: A Delphi Process.

OBJECTIVES: Cardiorespiratory and pulse oximetry monitoring in children who are hospitalized should balance benefits of detecting deterioration with potential harms of alarm fatigue. We developed recommendations for monitoring outside the ICU on the basis of available evidence and expert opinion. METHODS: We conducted a comprehensive literature search for studies addressing the utility of cardiorespiratory and pulse oximetry monitoring in common pediatric conditions and drafted candidate monitoring recommendations based on our findings. We convened a panel of nominees from national professional organizations with diverse expertise: nursing, medicine, respiratory therapy, biomedical engineering, and family advocacy. Using the RAND/University of California, Los Angeles Appropriateness Method, panelists rated recommendations for appropriateness and necessity in 3 sequential rating sessions and a moderated meeting. RESULTS: The panel evaluated 56 recommendations for intermittent and continuous monitoring for children hospitalized outside the ICU with 7 common conditions (eg, asthma, croup) and/or receiving common therapies (eg, supplemental oxygen, intravenous opioids). The panel reached agreement on the appropriateness of monitoring recommendations for 55 of 56 indications and on necessity of monitoring for 52. For mild or moderate asthma, croup, pneumonia, and bronchiolitis, the panel recommended intermittent vital sign or oximetry measurement only. The panel recommended continuous monitoring for severe disease in each respiratory condition as well as for a new or increased dose of intravenous opiate or benzodiazepine. CONCLUSIONS: Expert panel members agreed that intermittent vital sign assessment, rather than continuous monitoring, is appropriate management for a set of specific conditions of mild or moderate severity that require hospitalization.

Time series evaluation of improvement interventions to reduce alarm notifications in a paediatric hospital.

BACKGROUND10: The Joint Commission identified inpatient alarm reduction as an opportunity to improve patient safety; enhance patient, family and nursing satisfaction; and optimise workflow. We used quality improvement (QI) methods to safely decrease non-actionable alarm notifications to bedside providers. METHODS: In a paediatric tertiary care centre, we convened a multidisciplinary team to address alarm notifications in our acute care cardiology unit. Alarm notification was defined as any alert to bedside providers for each patient-triggered monitor alarm. Our aim was to decrease alarm notifications per monitored bed per day by 60%. Plan-Do-Study-Act testing cycles included updating notification technology, establishing alarm logic and modifying bedside workflow processes, including silencing the volume on all bedside monitors. Our secondary outcome measure was nursing satisfaction. Balancing safety measures included floor to intensive care unit transfers and patient acuity level. RESULTS: At baseline, there was an average of 71 initial alarm notifications per monitored bed per day. Over a 3.5-year improvement period (2014-2017), the rate decreased by 68% to 22 initial alarm notifications per monitored bed per day. The proportion of initial to total alarm notifications remained stable, decreasing slightly from 51% to 40%. There was a significant improvement in subjective nursing satisfaction. At baseline, 32% of nurses agreed they were able to respond to alarms appropriately and quickly. Following interventions, agreement increased to 76% (p<0.001). We sustained these improvements over a year without a change in monitored balancing measures. CONCLUSION: We successfully reduced alarm notifications while preserving patient safety over a 4-year period in a complex paediatric patient population using technological advances and QI methodology. Continued efforts are needed to further optimise monitor use across paediatric hospital units.