Background: High levels of interprofessional collaboration and communication have been shown to lead to better patient safety outcomes, improved patients’ satisfaction and quality of care, as well as higher job satisfaction for doctors and nurses alike. Yet, challenges to nurse-doctor collaborations exist. One way of improving interprofessional collaboration may be through structured co-teaching by nurses […]

Background: Joint leadership- modeled by physician-nurse dyad unit leaders has been a successful leadership structure at our organization for years. Advanced practice providers (APPs) have grown significantly in numbers over the past 10 years and have become critical members of our inpatient healthcare teams. They represent a stable and engaged workforce. In 2016, the nurse-physician […]

Background: Communication failures amongst interdisciplinary internal medicine (IM) teams occur often in the inpatient setting, which can inhibit mutual understanding of care plans, increase the potential for medical error, and contribute to patient dissatisfaction. Efforts to enhance interdisciplinary collaborative teamwork within inpatient IM teams highlighted a critical need to address concerns related to communication. Methods: […]

Background: Telemetry beyond 48 hours is indicated for a select patient population and when used inappropriately has risk. This includes increased cost of care, skin irritation, delirium contribution, and more likely to have false positives resulting in errors or extending length of stay.To encourage care that is truly necessary, free of harm, not duplicative, and […]

Background: Late afternoon hospital discharges contribute to admission delays, leading to occupancy increase and increased length of stay. However, prominent workplace barriers often exist towards improvement initiatives that target early discharge. Team members cite timing of rounds, absence of early discharge support resources, communication breakdowns, and increased daytime admission volume as barriers to change. Furthermore, […]

Background: As hospital length of stay has shortened from an average of 6.5 days in 2015 to 4.5 days in 2019 (1), there is increased urgency for providers to efficiently address inpatient needs and to shift diagnostic and therapeutic management to outpatient settings. Patients are faced with increased self-care burdens, often tasked to implement complex […]