METROPLEX NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Alycia Hooper 254-519-8200 June 18, 2008
For Immediate Release
Educator Represents Metroplex at National Conference
KILLEEN - When it comes to bridging the gap between patient care and nursing productivity, many are looking to Metroplex Adventist Hospital as the example. Through a collaboration of Metroplex and Welch Allyn (manufacturer of medical monitoring and other devices and instruments), a new standardized monitoring system has been developed to streamline patient care and nursing productivity, as reported by Judy Nicholson, RN, Med/Surg Clinical Nurse Educator and Cardiovascular Patient Educator, who recently returned from a national nursing conference in Chicago.
The National Critical Care Conference Sunrise Session, hosted by Welch Allyn, invited Nicholson to share Metroplex’s success story. “This was my second year in representing Metroplex at this conference,” she said. “It truly is amazing to see how we have advanced in the past 10 years.”
Nicholson said, in the beginning Metroplex Adventist Hospital did not have a flexible monitoring system. Seventy percent of the patients requiring monitoring were transferred two or more times during their hospital stay. The handoff from one stage to the next resulted in increased length of stay and costs, causing significant quality control problems.
“This procedure not only affected patient length of stay, but it also impacted the nurses’ productivity because each transfer lasted more than an hour,” Nicholson said.
“The new monitoring equipment is lightweight, portable and totally integrated,” Nicholson said. “Patient information is easily accessible for all staff. Currently we have 96 portable monitors with six central stations, one for each department that uses them. The staff in Department A, for example, can monitor the patients in Department B. This standardization of equipment and procedure has made it convenient for everyone and is cost and time-effective. The results are evident in the patient’s increased safety and satisfaction and the reduced stress on the nursing staff,” she said.
Aside from bridging the gap between patient care and nurse productivity, the new system has also helped Metroplex Adventist Hospital reduce unnecessary ICU admissions – which in turn increases the availability of ICU beds. In addition, there has been a lower readmission rate to the ICU and thus an improved flow of patients throughout their hospitalization. By standardizing the system of healthcare, Metroplex has also improved the overall quality of care provided.
“The ultimate goal is to promote optimal care of patients. The search for improvements in patient care is ongoing, and these are implemented in a timely fashion to assure we are providing the best – not only for our patients, but for the staff as well,” Nicholson added.
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