Medical Staff

Better communication can reduce LOS, costs

Hospitalist Leadership Connection, March 22, 2006

Improving communication between healthcare practitioners, patients, and families can help reduce intensive care unit (ICU) patients'

Researchers at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland are researching new communication interventions that show an overall cost reduction in care, according to an article published March 13 on www.news-medical.net.

The goal is to keep caregivers, patients, and families on the same page during a patient's stay in the ICU. The program now under study creates a "team" composed of family members, the physician or surgeon, an advanced practice nurse, a staff nurse, a social worker, and other members as needed. Meetings between caregivers, the patient, and family begin within 48 hours of a patient's admission and continue at regular intervals during the hospitalization.

Fifty-eight families are enrolled in the study, which is underway at University Hospitals of Cleveland and Cleveland's MetroHealth Medical Center.

To read the complete article, click here.

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