Improving Nurse-Physician Bedside Communication Using a Patient Experience Quality Improvement Pilot Project at an...

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Quality Improvement Science
• Patient Experience Research

Background:

• Patient experience significantly impacts healthcare outcomes, influencing adherence, clinical results, safety, and coordination.
• Positive patient experiences enhance hospital financial performance through loyalty, reputation, referrals, and reduced malpractice risk.
• Effective communication between nurses and physicians is a cornerstone of quality patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To implement and evaluate a quality improvement initiative aimed at enhancing nurse-physician communication.
• To assess the impact of improved communication on organizational outcomes, including patient experience scores and documentation.
• To identify effective strategies for improving interdisciplinary communication in hospital settings.

Main Methods:

• A multidisciplinary, retrospective quality improvement initiative was conducted across several hospital units.
• An innovative, staff-developed acronym, IMOMW (I'm on my way), was utilized to promote communication.
• Outcomes were measured by changes in electronic health record documentation, patient experience survey scores (Net Promoter Score), and communication metrics.

Main Results:

• Physician and nursing rounding documentation in Epic Systems increased by 13%.
• Recommend facility Net Promoter Scores for patient experience rose by 10.5%.
• Team communication between physicians and nurses improved by 13.4%, with specific gains in nursing (5.4%) and physician (5.3%) communication.

Conclusions:

• The IMOMW initiative successfully improved interdisciplinary nurse-physician communication.
• Enhanced communication correlated with significant improvements in electronic health record documentation and patient experience scores.
• Further research is needed to determine the sustainability of interventions improving nurse-physician communication and patient experience.