Dear Nurse Colleague:BWH Nurse - For and about the Nursing Staff of Brigham and Women's HospitalDear Nurse Colleague:BWH Nurse - For and about the Nursing Staff of Brigham and Women's Hospital

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Dear Nurse Colleague:

BWH will soon be embarking on the next cycle of Service Excellence initiatives. Both 2004 projects speak to improvement within the patient care team and a satisfying patient experience.

As with all Service Excellence efforts, the 2004 projects will address highly visible tasks that are easily defined, measurable and sustainable over time. The 2004 efforts include Enhancing Referring Physician Communication and Enhancing Team Communication and Patient Flow.

The new projects mark the second phase of a five-year plan to differentiate BWH from other academic medical centers and community teaching hospitals. Once again, the selected projects challenge the status quo and are being led by BWH’s Center for Clinical Excellence.

The first initiative will strengthen the initial and follow-up communication between referring physicians and BWH specialists. This will be achieved by a comprehensive approach addressing areas of opportunity related to accessing appointments, requesting a consult and communication on patient progress once that patient is seen or admitted at BWH.

The second initiative, Enhancing Team Communication and Patient Flow, involves a three-prong approach to enhancing communication between all members of the care team and eliminating delays in patient flow—an approach in which Nursing will play a critical role. First, a group of general medicine and surgery residents will be brainstorming and testing ways to redesign components of existing work and educational processes, to maximize the overall educational experience. Second, service line teams in Oncology, General Medicine, and Thoracic Surgery will be designing and implementing new ways of rounding, communicating the care plan, anticipating discharges, and expediting discharge work. Third, a bed turnaround and patient transport design team will look at ways to improve these aspects of patient flow.

Teamwork on behalf of all care providers will again prove to be critical to ensure success. Just as we enjoy the desired results from the 2003 projects—Pre-surgical, Post-partum Obstetrics, Oncology Discharge and the Front end/Registration (Ideal Patient Experience)—we hope the same level of collaboration will be matched while carrying out the 2004 projects. I look forward to your full participation as you look to the direction set by nurse managers in the affected service lines and other hospital leaders.

In line with the dynamic culture inherent at BWH, the Service Excellence projects combat complacency—challenging us as nursing professionals to continually rethink and revise our current performance. Given the rapid changes within clinical practice, we must continue to evolve in this fashion.
We not only look forward to your involvement, but we will rely on your input, insight and expertise as these two projects begin in the coming months and continue indefinitely.

Sincerely,

Nancy Kruger, DNSc, RN
Vice President, Patient Care Services
Chief Nursing Officer