Improvement of Communication and Coordination in the Spina Bifida Program at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin (CHW)

Bartelt, Tera

Saturday, 29 October 2011

Tera Bartelt, BSN, MS
Spina Bifida Program, Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
Holly H. Colby, RN, MS
IN

Learning Objective 1: The Learner will be able to describe strategies to engage a team to provide coordinated, and evidence based care for children with spina bifida.

Learning Objective 2: The Learner will be able to understand tools and methods utilized in the MCH leadership academy that promote leadership development to execute a project.

Background: The Spina Bifida (SB) Program has 27 team members representing four specialties: Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Urology and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. The program serves over 300 children and families. In addition to those clinics, providers see patients in various other ambulatory clinics as well as in the hospital. These multiple settings where providers interact with patients challenges organized communication and care coordination (CC) among team members.

Purpose: The purpose of this quality improvement project was to engage team members to collaborate and improve communication and CC strategies.

Methods: Several methods were used to measure outcomes: 1) A pre and post survey using a 4 point Likert scale addressing perceived communication and CC processes 2) Patient/family rounding to obtain satisfaction data, 3) Monthly team meetings aimed at promoting communication about patients and management, 4) Monthly email messaging to share information with team members.

Results: Pre survey had a 60% response rate. 88% felt that CC for patients with SB needed to improve and 25% felt that communication among providers was poor. Open ended questions offered suggestions to overcome perceived barriers and recommendations for improvement. Post survey results are pending. Qualitative parent reports provided feedback on improvement opportunities. Team meetings have been attended by various team members. The team established 2011 goals and outcome measures. Other results driven by intra-team collaboration include development of an interdisciplinary discharge form, standard order sets for bladder and bowel management, and pre-clinic telephone assessments to maximize time spent with patients in clinic.

Leadership Journey: Participation in the academy has given me the opportunity to learn and test a variety of tools and strategies to lead a team and grow as a leader. Having a mentor and faculty advisor has offered me invaluable support and has provided confidence, critique, focus and direction

See more of: Poster Session I - Maternal Child Health Leadership Academy Invited Posters
See more of: Invited Posters