Recently, a group of nurses at The Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin were given an award.
This time, though, it wasn't an award for excellence by any one provider -- it was an award for what this group of nurses had done together. What had the done so impressively together? Well, they decreased pressure ulcers in the PICU by 65 percent.
There are a few things we found especially inspiring about these nurses' story:
A small group started the initiative -- and the whole hospital got on board.We've seen again and again that one provider, or a small group of providers can prove to have incredibly powerful pioneers. The award was for their peer to peer education model. They did not use our iClickCare technology for healthcare collaboration, but they did collaborate on care. Once success is seen in a pilot setting, it becomes much easier for that practice to spread across the institution. The interview also notes: “Support from the executive team was vital and the reason why the program was able to expand throughout the hospital, says Bennetts. Leaders also recognized the need for ongoing education to maintain compliance. ‘The top-down support was influential because they realized we can prevent these issues for all of our patients,’ she says.”
- This kind of collaboration usually decreases burnout.
A photograph accompanies the interview. The photograph shows 23 team members and they all look happy. Collaboration reduces burn out. Collaboration brings success. The experience of our wound care users has been the same. While they have participated after the wound has formed, they tell us of faster healing rates for the patient, less expensive personalized care, and savings from less transportation. And, they have less suffering from less stress. - A small change can have huge results.
This work, and the award, shows that a simple change in process can have big effects. Education magnifies these. So an insight from a single study, with fairly simple implementation, ended up decreasing a signficant negative outcome by 65%.
Congratulations to the participants in their success -- and thank you for being pioneers.
Read more stores of healthcare collaboration here:
Photo credit: Children's Hospital of Wisconsin's Pressure Ulcer Prevention Team poses with its Excellence in Skin Safety award from 3M