universal protocol.This was felt to be directly related

to the ease of access of the software and ability

to do real-time charting in the operating room. A

decrease in postsurgical complication was also

noted.Continued evaluation and quality monitoring

will further determine sustained quality and practice

improvements.

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Keagan.

Riding the Wave to a New Personalized

Discharge

Poster Presentation

The Family Centered Care Unit (FCC-3) at Inova

Fairfax Hospital (IFH) experienced a sharp de-

cline in patient satisfaction and a few near-missed

and missed safety events in the third quarter of

2008. After reviewing all of the impacting factors, a

Discharge Coordinator Program (DCP) was created

to increase patient satisfaction and ensure patient

safety. The DCP uses a nurse whose main objec-

tives are to provide an individualized plan of care

for each patient, coordinate with the primary nurse

to reallocate patient assignment, and to check all

charts to ensure patient safety needs have been

addressed prior to discharge.

Every patient is given a teaching plan check list, and

they are instructed to pick topics that they feel are

relevant to their discharge that are reviewed with the

family. The Discharge Coordinator (DC) performs

postdischarge phone calls to gather timely feedback

for practice changes.The primary RN is able to utilize

her time with the patient more e¡ectively without in-

creasing the cost of manpower. Patients and families

are more satis¢ed when education is tailored to their

needs. In a unit with a high patient turnover rate,

the streamlined DCP promotes the e¡ectiveness of

patient learning and improves the e⁄ciency of work-

force management.

This discharge process has armed patients with a

plethora of relevant information that addresses their

individual learning needs. The double-checking

system ensures that no steps are missed in patient

safety. The postdischarge phone call provides in-

valuable data and has led to a re¢nement in team

safety rounding practices as well as alternate edu-

cation methods. After these phone calls, we

found that the Spanish speaking patients left the

hospital with several unanswered potentially dan-

gerous questions. This raised concerns, and a

Spanish speaking discharge class evolved. As the

program has matured, it has been standardized

and expanded to all FCC units to provide service

7 days/week for English and Spanish speaking

patients.

The DCP is useful to units with high patient turnover

rates. By e¡ective rearrangement of the nursing

workforce, this program allows nurses to spend

more time with their patients, ensures the quality of

patient care, and increases patient satisfaction and

patient safety. Returning patients have expressed

their appreciation for this change. Physicians have

embraced the DCP and seek the coordinators for

information. The wait for discharge clearance has

decreased, thereby decreasing length of stay and

spending of budgeted supplies. The preliminary

data show an improvement in patient satisfaction

survey results. The excellence ranking has risen

from the 66.6 to 81.3 percentile in two quarters since

inception.There have been no serious safety events

noted, and timely discharges have been observed.

The program is currently being piloted at another

Inova hospital on the postpartum unit and on two

other short-stay medical/surgical units.

Jennifer O. Effah, RN, BSN,

Family Centered Care, Inova

Fairfax Hopsital, Falls Church,

VA

Cynthia K. Dowd, RN, Family

Centered Care, Inova Fairfax

Hopsital, Falls Church, VA

Corinne Peterson, RN, BSN,

Family Centered Care, Inova

Fairfax Hospital, Falls Church,

VA

Patricia Schmehl, RN, MSN,

Inova Fairfax Hospital, Falls

Church, VA

ProfessionalIssues

S56 JOGNN, 39, S48-S84; 2010. DOI: 10.1111/j.1552-6909.2010.01121.x http://jognn.awhonn.org

I N N O V A T I V E P R O G R A M S

Proceedings of the 2010 AWHONN Annual Convention