Implementing care protocols, also known as care pathways, is foundational to improving clinical quality. Good protocolsreflect evidence-based guidelines for care delivery, standardizing elements of care to ensure consistentoutcomes. They also support staff in delivering excellent specialty care.
Continue reading to learn the one critical mistake many organizations make when designing and implementing protocols—and how you can avoid it. For more tactics to build and support specialty lines, download our research report excerpt: 10 Tactics to Ensure Specialty Return on Investment, Part 2.
Many organizations make one critical mistake when designing and implementing protocols: they fail toobtain staff buy-in. Seeking staff input not only improves staff use of and compliance with the protocols, butalso can improve the protocols themselves, based on staff members’ extensive on-the-ground knowledge.
Case study: Fill downstream service gaps to reach new patients
Leaders at Sheltering Arms, an IRF in central Virginia, listened to therapist feedback that their protocols focused too much ondiagnosis. The leaders revised the protocols to target physical impairments common across their patientpopulation instead, building the iWalk and iReach clinical programs specializing in patients with gait andupper limb mobility, respectively. Together, the protocols and associated programs have achieved strongfunctional gains and driven physician referrals to Sheltering Arms.
As referrers become increasingly accountable for care delivered beyond their setting, they areidentifying post-acute partners who can influence downstream care results.
Comprehensive, cross-setting care is the motivation behind Sheltering Arms’ future evolution of theiWalk and iReach programs. While the protocols are currently used in the inpatient andoutpatient rehab services at Sheltering Arms, leaders plan to implement the protocols in the acute care setting bypartnering with their referral sources to establish a single, cohesive cross-continuum care plan forpatients with gait and upper limb mobility impairments.
Infographic: How to secure hospital partnerships
For more tactics to build and support specialty lines, download our research report excerpt: 10 Tactics to Ensure Returnon Specialty Investments, Part 2.
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