Authors (including presenting author) :
Kwan WMG(1), Cheng KM(1), Leung PMQ(2), Mui HCJ(2), Lam MS(2), Chiu PL(2), Cheng LLA(2), Ling HF(3), Luk SYC(3)
Affiliation :
(1) Quality & Safety Division, (2) Nursing Services Division, (3) Administrative Services Division
New Territories West Cluster, Hospital Authority, Hong Kong SAR.
Introduction :
Transferal of patients from CPH/SLH to TMH/POH hospitals in NTWC for investigation and medical procedure are common. Both patients and care providers encountered different challenges in busy general ward settings. To enhance communication, coordination and collaboration for improving patient and staff safety, a taskforce was established to review the existing workflow and streamline the workflow.
Objectives :
1. To strengthen existing communication framework within NTWC for intra-hospital patient transfer between psychiatric and general wards 2. To coordinate the specific arrangement and render necessary support to wards by Nursing Services Division (NSD)
Methodology :
This project consists of various dimensions of initiatives which are summarized as follows: 1. Establish a taskforce with Quality and Safety Division (Q&S), NSD, CPH and Administrative Services Division
2. Review and streamline the existing workflow
3. Formulate a Risk Alert Checklist to fortify the communication 4. Delineate role of NSD in coordination such as:
- Assess the risk of CPH/SLH inpatients transferring to general hospital in advance for elective cases
- Liaise with the corresponding general wards to facilitate the medical team to reassess the need of transfer - Render specific support if necessary 5. Promulgate to clinical staff from different departments in various platforms
6. Seek comment and feedback from all stakeholders for refinement 7. Pursue senior management support and endorsement 8. Evaluate outcome in various perspectives, including the patient length of stay in general hospital, incident rate and staff feedback.
Result & Outcome :
With the collaboration among different parties, the enhanced workflow has been officially commenced on 1 June 2018. The benefits of this project included early identification of high-risk cases, rendering specific support to the frontline colleagues, shortening patient length of stay in general hospital and minimizing the unnecessary admission.
Furthermore, with coordination by NSD, communication on both sides and awareness of high-risk cases were fortified, which mitigates risks and potential incident before/after transfer and during the stay. This project illustrates how the inter-professional collaboration could lead to reduction of non-valued waste and improvement in quality and safety of healthcare process.
Co-location with:
