Faulkner 500 Making Strides
The Faulkner 500, a two-pronged plan to maximize bed utilization by admitting medically appropriate patients to Faulkner Hospital (FH) who otherwise would have gone to BWH, is showing early, incremental successes months after its launch. Thanks to efforts in the BWH Emergency Department and primary care physician practices, more than 50 general medical admissions have been directed to FH per month.
The BWPO launched the effort following an agreement between Harvard Vanguard and South Shore Hospital (SSH) that had the potential of pulling admissions from FH to SSH, said BWPO Primary Care Department Administrator Lisa Whittemore. Also, BWH inpatient census routinely leaves the hospital at or above capacity, and FH often has some availability with private rooms.
Allen L. Smith, MD, MS, chief medical officer of the BWPO, said the arrangement makes sense for patients with diagnoses such as simple pneumonia. “If we can effectively treat more patients at Faulkner, then it helps our entire system,” Smith said.
The BWH ED began applying Faulkner 500 criterion to admissions in August through direct and regular communication with Faulkner Nursing and house staff for medically appropriate admissions. Last month, the BWH ED and primary care practices sent more than 75 admissions to FH.
“This makes sense for the right patient at the right time and having them at the right place,” Whittemore said.
Mobile Computing for Physicians Pilot Begins in Tower
The Mobile Computing for Physicians pilot program is being phased in throughout the Tower and CWN to improve quality and efficiency and promote teamwork between physicians and nurses. This program will eventually provide one wireless computer on wheels to each Tower pod and CWN clinical area for use by physicians, residents and physician assistants. Previously, physicians on each pod had access to six desktop computers that they shared with nurses.
Physicians can use the new computers for eMAR, LMR and order-entry, as well as accessing Outlook e-mail and Web-based knowledge, such as Partners Handbook. “It’s everything they need to do their daily work,” Robert Goldszer, MD, MBA, associate chief medical officer, said. “They can take the computer on patient rounds, look up results and write orders while communicating with their patients and other members of our patient care teams.”
Sue Schade, chief information officer, said, “Providing mobile devices for physicians to access critical patient information online during their rounds makes their work more efficient and ensures they have information when they need it at the point of care.”
This new hardware was piloted on 3A, 7A, 11A and 12A. One month after the roll out, physicians completed surveys and praised the accessibility, speedy retrieval of data and streamlined patient care that the wireless computer provides. Currently there are 17 physician-dedicated computers on wheels, with more on the way by early summer. These are labeled for use by physicians and PAs.
This project benefits nurses as well. “It provides nurses with more efficiency because physicians now have a dedicated work space so there is less competition for the computers that nurses use,” said Nancy Hickey, RN, Nursing’s director of Personnel Resource Application. “It’s a win-win for everyone.”