Try this multidisciplinary admission assessment tool
Everyday Innovations
Try this multidisciplinary admission assessment tool
At Baton Rouge (LA) General Medical Center, a team composed of all disciplines involved in hands-on patient care developed a new documentation system that promotes multidisciplinary collaboration in patient care, says Ginny Emerson, RN, MSN.
In the new admission assessment, more than just the usual demographic information and history is collected. Now, there is a section that uses a series of questions to trigger other disciplines to perform an initial assessment.
For instance, if a patient has recently developed an inability to swallow, speech therapy is triggered to perform an assessment. If the patient has dietary issues, the dietitian is triggered for an assessment and recommendations.
Disciplines included in the trigger page are: social services, respiratory care, diabetes center, clinical case manager, pastoral care, nutritional care, physical therapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy, and enterostomal therapy.
The patients have benefited from having a focused multidisciplinary assessment early in their hospital stay, Emerson says.
To read more about this idea and other everyday innovations, visit the Best Practice Network’s Web site at www.best4health.org. The Best Practice Network, a new organization devoted to promoting information sharing in health care by nurses, physicians, and other health care professionals, offers creative solutions to problems large and small. For more information on The Best Practice Network, send an e-mail message to [email protected] or call (800) 899-2226.
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