ABSTRACT
This article describes a quality improvement initiative, implemented by a patient education workgroup within a tertiary Magnet® facility. The project focused on the association between inadequate care transitions in patients with heart failure and subsequent costly readmissions. The teach-back initiative was piloted with patients hospitalized with heart failure, because of this population's high risk of readmission. Learning outcomes included documented improvements in patients' understanding of their disease and reduced readmission rates.
Subject(s)
Continuity of Patient Care/economics , Heart Failure/economics , Heart Failure/nursing , Patient Education as Topic/organization & administration , Patient Readmission/economics , Practice Patterns, Nurses'/organization & administration , Cost-Benefit Analysis , Humans , Nurse's Role , Patient Readmission/statistics & numerical data , Quality Improvement/economics , United StatesABSTRACT
Evidence-based medicine has been defined as "the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients" (Sackett et al., 1996). Evidence-based nursing takes the process one step further by integrating clinical expertise and the data obtained from performance improvement processes with clinical research. The challenge nursing then faces is to translate the evidence into practice. Although central line removal is a fairly common procedure, it is not benign. The authors noted an opportunity for improving central venous catheter (CVC) removal from the subclavian or internal jugular vein. Based upon previously recommended guidelines (Kim et al., 1998), the authors set out to determine the best practice related to CVC removal.
