Overall care of cardiac patients improves with use of pre-printed orders, coordination program

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Clinical Quality Improvement
• Cardiology

Background:

• Hospitals face pressure to improve performance on quality metrics.
• The Joint Commission core measures are critical for evaluating cardiac care.
• Legacy Health System sought to enhance patient outcomes for heart failure and acute myocardial infarction.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the impact of specific interventions on core measure performance.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of pre-printed orders and care coordination in cardiac care.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of a project encouraging physician use of pre-printed orders.
• Establishment of a cardiac care coordination program.
• Monitoring of Joint Commission core measure performance data.

Main Results:

• Significant increase in performance on Joint Commission core measures for heart failure.
• Significant increase in performance on Joint Commission core measures for acute myocardial infarction.
• Positive correlation between interventions and improved quality metrics.

Conclusions:

• Pre-printed orders and cardiac care coordination are effective strategies for improving cardiac care quality.
• These interventions can lead to significant gains in meeting established performance benchmarks.
• The Legacy Health System project demonstrates a successful model for quality improvement in cardiovascular services.