A new approach to postpartum rounds: patient-centered collaborative care improves efficiency

Area of Science:

• Obstetrics and Gynecology
• Healthcare Management
• Patient Care Coordination

Background:

• Traditional postpartum rounds were inefficient, with only 12% of patients discharged by 11:00 am.
• Initiated a patient-centered collaborative care (PCCC) initiative to enhance discharge efficiency, staff communication, and patient satisfaction.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of a PCCC initiative on improving clinical inefficiencies and timely postpartum discharge.
• To determine if a shift to PCCC rounds could optimize patient flow and care delivery.

Main Methods:

• An intervention study compared PCCC rounds with traditional postpartum rounds.
• Data collected from 305 patients (156 traditional, 149 PCCC) over 1 month before and 6 months after PCCC implementation.
• Statistical analyses included chi-squared test, Wilcoxon 2-sample test, and Pearson correlation coefficient.

Main Results:

• Discharge efficiency improved significantly with PCCC rounds; 20.8% of patients were discharged by 11:00 am compared to 11.5% with traditional rounds (P=0.03).
• Early Foley catheter removal was significantly associated with earlier discharge order placement (r=0.22, P=0.01) and discharge time (r=0.28, P=0.002).

Conclusions:

• Patient-centered collaborative care rounds effectively enhance the efficiency of postpartum care.
• PCCC implementation leads to more timely patient discharges from postpartum care.