The Approach: Gain Traction, Results
Rather than forcing a one-size-fits-all process on every hospital site, Project BOOST provides individual hospitals with the capacity and experience necessary to implement processes that best fit their unique situation.
Project BOOST sites participate in a two-pronged program consisting of a yearlong, one-on-one mentorship with the leaders in the field. It begins with an intensive, two-day conference and the Project BOOST toolkit.
The toolkit includes printed materials and a new DVD for use by hospitalists and other care providers to facilitate communication with patients and caregivers during discharge.
New case studies published by SHM document some of the program’s earliest successes.
At Piedmont Hospital, a 481-bed acute-care hospital near Atlanta, the full implementation of Project BOOST in one hospital unit has improved many of its “vital signs” in comparison with units that have not implemented BOOST, including decreased length of stay and lower 30-day readmissions (see “Piedmont Hospital: Project BOOST unit vs. regular hospital units,” p. 6).
For St. Mary’s Medical Center, a 582-bed community teaching hospital in St. Louis, hospitalists implementing Project BOOST made a major difference in just three months:
Not only did the Project BOOST unit nearly halve 30-day readmissions (7% from 12%), but the program also increased patient satisfaction, to 68% from 52%.
BOOSTing into the Future
Project BOOST benefits haven’t been limited to program sites and their patients. New innovations from the mentored implementation program have led to resources that all hospitals can use.
SHM recently introduced a new DVD and curriculum package that teaches nurses and discharge planners to use the “teachback” method to communicate with patients during the discharge process. It helps ensure that patients fully understand their care plans and post-discharge instructions.
The teachback package is available at the SHM online store (www.hospitalmedicine.org
SHM has also launched a BOOST data center and a BOOST community site. The data center enables sites to enter, track, and benchmark key outcomes, which can then be evaluated against comparison units at their own hospitals, BOOST averages, and subsets of hospitals with similar characteristics. The BOOST community site facilitates the sharing of ideas and documents between BOOST hospitals.
New funding approaches will help Project BOOST to continue to reach more hospitals. Since its inception, third parties have provided financial resources for the program.
Now, SHM is offering a tuition-based model, open to hospitals nationwide, which is set to begin this fall.
SHM is accepting applications at www.hospitalmedicine.org/boost. TH
Brendon Shank is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia.
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