Pod Redesign Aids Communication, Work Efficiency
The General Medicine Improvement Team has been working on an innovative Service Excellence initiative to improve patient flow on Tower 14 by reducing congestion and making it easier for clinicians to find the work tools they need.
The team has designed a workspace with input from all disciplines to make obtaining forms and entering clinical information more accessible and convenient. With Tower 14 redesign nearing completion, the feedback from the staff has been positive. “The area is so much better organized and it provides an easier way to communicate with nurses because they are able to locate us at a central station,” said Susan Cox, MD, Emergency Medicine.
Each station is equipped with a flat screen computer monitor, and the hard drives have been mounted underneath the desk so providers have more space to write and work. Before the redesign, nurses, physicians, care coordinators and other care team members gathered medical forms and other tools such as patient addressograph cards from behind the nurse’s station. Now, traffic around the unit coordinator’s desk is reduced, as care providers turn to the new workstation for the tools they need. “It is very busy on the unit, so the workstations provide care team members with a space of their own,” said Patricia Brita Rossi RN, MS, nurse manager, 14AB.
Cynthia Lemay, RN, assistant nurse manager, said that feedback from staff indicates the changes help them to complete their work on the pods in a more efficient way. “They are able to have a more organized, better workspace in which to expedite their work on the floor,” she added.