Diagnosing and improving functioning in interdisciplinary health care teams.

Interdisciplinary teams play a key role in the delivery of health care. Team functioning can positively or negatively impact the effective and efficient delivery of health care services as well as the personal well-being of group members. Additionally, teams must be able and willing to work together to achieve team goals within a climate that reflects commitment to team goals, accountability, respect, and trust. Not surprisingly, dysfunctional team functioning can limit the success of interdisciplinary health care teams. The first step in improving dysfunctional team function is to conduct an analysis based on criteria necessary for team success, and this article provides meaningful criteria for doing such an analysis. These are the following: a common team goal, the ability and willingness to work together to achieve team goals, decision making, communication, and team member relationships. High-functioning interdisciplinary teams must exhibit features of good team function in all key domains. If a team functions well in some domains and needs to improve in others, targeted strategies are described that can be used to improve team functioning.

Development of a quality scoring tool to assess quality of discharge summaries.

INTRODUCTION: Timely, precise, and relevant communication between hospital-based clinicians and primary care physicians post-discharge (DC) ensures quality transitions, thereby reducing patient safety incidents and preventing readmission. At the present time there is limited knowledge of elements of quality or methods to score the quality criteria in the context of DC summaries. The Nova Scotia Health Authority, a provincial health system responsible for the delivery of services in a small Canadian province, embarked on a system-level approach to the standardization of DC summaries in an effort to improve quality and safety at care transitions from hospital to primary care. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A comprehensive literature review to retrieve items relevant to quality in DC summaries, retrospective audit of charts, a consensus development process, and, finally, validation of a scoring tool were conducted in order to develop a quality scoring tool for DC summaries. RESULTS: Relevant items were identified through the literature review and consensus development process. Corresponding definitions that were established assisted the development of the quality criteria, which were subsequently used to score the quality of DC summaries in our organization. CONCLUSION: The scoring tool developed through this work will be applied to help us gain a more in-depth understanding of quality in DC summaries and support the development of suitable education and quality processes in the health authority that can best support safe care transitions for patients.

Improving wait times to care for individuals with multimorbidities and complex conditions using value stream mapping.

BACKGROUND: Recognizing the significant impact of wait times for care for individuals with complex chronic conditions, we applied a LEAN methodology, namely - an adaptation of Value Stream Mapping (VSM) to meet the needs of people with multiple chronic conditions and to improve wait times without additional resources or funding. METHODS: Over an 18-month time period, staff applied a patient-centric approach that included LEAN methodology of VSM to improve wait times to care. Our framework of evaluation was grounded in the needs and perspectives of patients and individuals waiting to receive care. Patient centric views were obtained through surveys such as Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (PACIC) and process engineering based questions. In addition, LEAN methodology, VSM was added to identify non-value added processes contributing to wait times. RESULTS: The care team successfully reduced wait times to 2 months in 2014 with no wait times for care anticipated in 2015. Increased patient engagement and satisfaction are also outcomes of this innovative initiative. In addition, successful transformations and implementation have resulted in resource efficiencies without increase in costs. Patients have shown significant improvements in functional health following Integrated Chronic Care Service (ICCS) intervention. The methodology will be applied to other chronic disease management areas in Capital Health and the province. CONCLUSION: Wait times to care in the management of multimoribidities and other complex conditions can add a significant burden not only on the affected individuals but also on the healthcare system. In this study, a novel and modified LEAN methodology has been applied to embed the voice of the patient in care delivery processes and to reduce wait times to care in the management of complex chronic conditions.