Improving Discharge Procedures for Return Visits ED
Improving Discharge Procedures for Return Visits ED
Conclusion The purpose of this project is the implementation of a clinical intervention to ensure a reduction of unnecessary return visits to the emergency department. The problem is the healthcare providers are not providing high quality of discharge instructions to patients and it reflects as a poor quality of care. The findings in this project indicates that patients are returning to the ED unnecessarily due to the lack of resources provided by health care providers upon discharge. These providers are not explaining diagnosis entirely, treatment options, side effects and follow-up care resources to patients. On the other hand, many patients do not understand medical terminology and further education such as reinforcing is needed, others is language barrier issue because translation takes a lot of time. Many healthcare providers in the ED are in a fast pace and time is not enough for explanations which have led to poor quality of care. The issue is causing patients to return to ED due to poor outcomes in patient care. At the moment, it is evident several challenges are making it possible for many healthcare facilities to realize increased cases of unnecessary return visits. The purpose of this project is to address these issues by training healthcare providers on appropriate ways to discharge patients and also the implementation of a discharge checklist tool that will ensure that patients receive discharge instructions in their preferred language with all resources needed well explained in simple vocabulary to help patient to understand after care plan or treatments. Initially meant to be implemented at a standalone emergency department in Polk County in the state of Florida, the procession of this project has shifted significantly because of the Covid-19 pandemic that has affected healthcare facilities all over the country, and the world over. The facility has been forced to lay off most of its staff, while the percentage of ED visits has reduced by 80%. For these reasons, the project will be implemented in different ways without the use of patients and emergency room staff. The success of this method of implementation has already been proven as it is in use in New York. The discharge procedures are managed through an epic electronic medical record system. After being deployed as a Covid-19 responder for NYC H+H hospital system, I have been working with this discharge procedure which include preferred patient language materials, appointment for follow up with primary care, specialists and ambulatory free clinics or private clinics. Even though it is yet to be implemented in Florida, this project has been proven to work effectively and yield positive results such as higher rates of patient outcomes and satisfaction, higher quality care, and reduced rates of unnecessary return visits to the ED. This project will therefore improve the quality of care and will reduce unnecessary return visits to the emergency department.