Checking for pressure ulcers is the task of nurses and physicians, say hospitalists, and they agree that it has to be done at admission. “The patient’s entire skin needs to be checked,” says Dr. Manning, “and often it takes both the nurse and doctor to roll the patient and get a good look at their bottom or their back … especially if the patient might have come from a nursing home and has a chronic serious illness.”
Also important, he says, is to fully assess the type of decubitus skin situation or any skin problem and then to monitor the patient to prevent advancement. “Multidisciplinary rounds can help,” he says, “and collaborative communication is key.”
click for large version
When it comes to pediatric care, no one knows the patient like the parents.
8. Give the Patient and Family a Voice
“We fully embrace the involvement of the patient in the process of their care,” says Dr. Angood, who is also the co-director of the Joint Commission International Center for Patient Safety, for which patient and family involvement is a priority.
Giving patients and family members a voice is a fine idea, say our hospitalists, especially with children: No one knows a patient like their parents. As the H&HN article points out, anecdotal evidence is largely responsible for the belief that patient and family involvement helps reduce the likelihood for errors, and patient and family participation on safety committees can be a boon to advancing safety as well as satisfaction. But, says Dr. Alverson, “one has to keep in mind that parents have a perspective and not the only perspective on patient safety. I think a broad group of people has to sit down to address these issues.”
In the post-surgical setting, says Dr. Rauch, hospitalists make an invaluable contribution. “If surgeons don’t even come by to listen to the parents or see the child, it’s helpful to have that co-management of someone who’s used to listening to parents, who credits the parents for knowing their kids, and who will do the appropriate thing.” Dr. Angood, who is a past president of the Society of Critical Care Medicine, believes “that that patient-physician relationship is still going to be the driver for the majority of healthcare for some time yet.”
9. Reduce Catheter-Related Bloodstream Infections
“If it’s not required, we want every foreign body out,” says Dr. Manning. “We have to ask ourselves every day whether they are still required.”
The geriatric service at the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minn.) developed a daily mnemonic of A-B-C-D-E where B stands for binders. This, he says, “is a way for us to remind ourselves that any therapeutic foreign objects that are tethering the patient—and many of them are catheters—are of concern. We need to push the question [Is this still required?] to ourselves and then act on it.”
Dr. Alverson says, “There are certain infections [for which] we’re starting to move away from PICC [peripherally inserted central catheters] line management, and one way to mitigate that is to be on top of when you can actually discontinue the catheter.” For example, “in pediatrics, there are emerging data that with osteomyelitis you can have a shortened course of IV antibiotics and then switch to oral antibiotics. … That can reduce by half your PICC line duration. Being savvy about this is important.”
10. Reduce Heart Attack Death Rates
“There are about eight interventions for heart attacks that have increased survival,” says Dr. Manning. “So every hospital is working with these. We are using the all-or-none criteria, meaning that there are assurances [in place] that every patient will get all of them.”