Cabrini ED commenced a follow of phone call initiative for all their post ED discharge patients as a quality improvement and patient service initiative. The Liaison Nurse is a dedicated role for an ED nurse every day of the week. Each morning they contact all patients who have been discharged from the ED the previous day. If patients cannot be contacted directly by phone, an SMS inviting them to call the nurse back, or decline follow up because all is going well (via a return SMS message) is initiated. The ED has found the initiative has been well received by patients, promotes Cabrini’s aim of creating a caring community, and has also facilitated recall of patients should their clinical situation have changed since their discharge.The initiative won a Victorian Hospitals Innovation Award in 2016.
Benefits:
- Ability to help clarify any concerns the patient has with respect to their care or follow up
- Care ‘safety net’ post ED discharge for patients who deteriorate post discharge
- A mechanism to receive complements and sometimes concerns / complaints
- Extension of Cabrini’s vision of patient care
Issues:
- Difficulty contacting patients at times, current contact rate ~80%
Ratings
- Implementation: Moderate difficulty, mostly related to technology configuration
- Cost: Medium
- Change Management: Moderate
- Maintenance: Medium
Contact:
Dr Michael Ben Meir. Director Emergency Department
Location:
Cabrini Hospital Emergency Department is an urban private not for profit hospital with 25,000 ED attendances per annum and an admission rate of 50%
