Overcoming challenges with implementing the Get-To-Know-Me Board to humanize ICU care: a quality improvement project

Area of Science:

• Critical Care Medicine
• Patient-Centered Care
• Healthcare Quality Improvement

Background:

• Intensive care units (ICUs) often prioritize disease over patient individuality.
• The Get-To-Know-Me Board (GTKMB) was developed to promote person-centered care by highlighting patient attributes.
• Despite its value, GTKMB completion rates were low in the study institution.

Purpose of the Study:

• To improve and increase the utilization of the GTKMB in an ICU setting.
• To identify barriers hindering consistent GTKMB implementation.
• To inform strategies for sustainable integration of humanizing tools in critical care.

Main Methods:

• A quality improvement initiative was conducted involving multiple interventions.
• Interventions included reminders, checklists, visual magnets, and educational pamphlets.
• Stakeholder input guided the sequential testing of these measures.

Main Results:

• Sequential interventions yielded modest improvements in GTKMB completion rates.
• Reminders and checklists demonstrated the most significant positive impact.
• Key barriers identified were unclear ownership, suboptimal timing, and poor workflow integration.

Conclusions:

• Humanizing tools like the GTKMB show promise but face implementation challenges in ICUs.
• Sustainable adoption requires multidisciplinary engagement and seamless workflow integration.
• Further research is needed to establish clear patient outcome measures for such interventions and refine implementation methods.