Quadramed News
Welcome to the Quadramed Corner, where you’ll find Quadramed updates and tips.
This month, Sharon Donnelly, MBA, RN, Quadramed project manager, welcomes Dorothy Bradley, MSN, RN, and Christina Kennedy, RN, to the Quadramed team. Any member of the team can be contacted by emailing bwhquadramed@partners.org Please feel free to send questions, concerns or suggestions.
Background
In February 2010, Sharon Donnelly, MBA, RN, and Teresa Buchanan, MBA, RN, nursing project manager, began working with the ICU nursing directors, educators and staff to achieve greater Quadramed reliability and compliance. The ICU nursing directors recognized that confidence in the accuracy and completeness of acuity data was critical in order to better understand nursing workload and to support patient-focused staffing.
Some positive measurable outcomes of this process are:
- Improved classification reliability
Improved staff understanding of the importance of acuity in quantifying workload, resulting in high compliance and a reduction in unclassified hours
Increased confidence in the accuracy and validity of the data
Monitoring using a centralized team approach is providing staff with consistent education and feedback and nursing directors with detailed information about where to direct further educational efforts.
Next Steps
Roll out to intermediate care units and CWN will include:
- Six weeks of focused re-education of staff about Quadramed and appropriate use and application of the indicators and procedures
Monitoring conducted by the Quadramed team weekly for six weeks and then biweekly there after with direct feedback to the classifying nurse, educator and nursing director
Individual meetings with nursing directors to develop a thorough, in-depth understanding of acuity and workload for their cost centers
The Quadramed team is completing this process in the hematology/oncology areas and is seeing results similar to those achieved in the ICUs. The next phase of the re-education roll out is now beginning in Medicine and will be followed by Surgery, Cardiovascular and CWN.