- Effectiveness of Discharge Phone Calls on Postpartum Patients to Decrease 30-Day Readmission Rate: A Program Evaluation
- In the United States, childbirth represents a significant reason for hospitalizations among reproductive women. There is potential for postpartum complications that may require the mother to go back to the hospital for needed treatment after discharge. Early postpartum interventions have shown promise in reducing the rates of readmission. One such intervention is to conduct a discharge phone call to support the transition from frequent prenatal visits and hospital stay monitoring to home. The discharge phone calls present an opportunity to enhance patient education and care, which could potentially lower readmission rates. Early recognition and interventions have proven to improve overall morbidity and mortality for postpartum women. This program evaluation assessed whether implementing discharge phone calls within seven days would reduce the 30-day all-cause readmission rate among postpartum women aged 18 years and older at a tertiary care hospital.
- Evaluating the Impact of an Evidence-Based Tool on Healthcare Staff's Perception of Aggression in Patients with Dementia
- Aggressive behaviors in dementia care settings significantly impact staff perceptions, patient interactions, and overall safety. This quality improvement project examined whether structured communication training, combined with the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI), influenced healthcare staff’s perceptions of aggression in patients with dementia compared with no structured training or tool use. Guided by Jean Watson’s Theory of Human Caring and the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change, the project emphasized empathetic, patient-centered care and staff behavior change. A quasi-experimental pre-post design was implemented over six weeks in an acute care unit with a high population of dementia patients. Staff completed perception surveys before, during, and after the intervention to measure changes in confidence, recognition of behavioral triggers, and understanding of aggressive behaviors. Post-intervention results showed measurable improvement across all evaluation points. Staff reported increased confidence in managing aggression, greater recognition of behavioral triggers, and improved teamwork. Quantitative data demonstrated steady progress in confidence and perception scores, while qualitative feedback reflected calmer, more intentional communication during episodes of aggression. Conclusions supported all project hypotheses, confirming that integrating structured communication training with a behavioral assessment documentation tool enhanced staff preparedness, compassion, and safety in dementia care. Recommendations included continuing the CMAI and MESSAGE training as part of staff orientation and annual competencies to sustain progress. Expanding implementation to additional units and evaluating long-term sustainability would strengthen system-wide safety, collaboration, and quality improvement in the care of patients with dementia.
- Pre-Assigning Patient Education to Increase Nurse Compliance with Documentation
- Patient education has proven to decrease readmissions in the heart failure population; however, there are some issues with nurse compliance for various reasons. A quality improvement project completed in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU) aimed to determine if nurses would be more compliant with documenting disease-specific education topics on post-myocardial infarction patients if it was auto-populated in the electronic health record based on specific parameters.