Implementing Turn Teams and the Financial Impact
IMPLEMENTATION OF TURN TEAMS
Every year throughout the United States, more than 2.5 million patients develop pressure ulcers while under the direct care of providers, nursing, and other ancillary staff within a hospital, nursing home, and/or rehabilitation center (Yap, et. al.,). The pressure ulcers that patients develop can cause a great deal of pain for the patient and put them at a higher risk in developing infections. The types of patients who are at a higher risk are patients who are unable to mobilize on their own due to paralysis, patients who are intubated, contracted patients, and elderly patients. The centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) have become strict in allowing payment or additional money for facilities to care for these patients who acquire pressure ulcers while under their direct care (Rosenthal, 2007). Although pressure ulcer prevention within the healthcare setting is a challenging task, however, these types of injuries can be prevented for patients who are at risk.
Implemented this type of change will mean changing the way that employees think, the way that they work, also the culture of their network. This will also require them to take a better look at staffing mix along with the nurse/patient ratio that currently exists in their network. Some of the problem in any healthcare setting is that the employees are almost constantly working short so getting their work done the way that it truly should be done is near impossible. By adding turn teams into hospitals whose primary role will be to turn/and or reposition the patients every 2 hours as required will reduce the number of pressure ulcers and lesson the stress on the nurses knowing that their patients are being turned appropriately (Yap et al, 2017). This would also potentially reduce the cost of care given to the patient with a pressure ulcer for insurance companies, lesson the length of stay for these patients, and also reduce the cost of caring for these patients for the hospital by using less product and operating room time.
Communication should go out to all employees about the initiative as this is a key driver in success when implementing change (Burke, 2018). Education will be offered for all employees, not just the turn teams, so that there is a clear understanding as to why this is so imperative for patients and the network. A specialized handpicked team of four people which will include: one provider, one registered nurse, one case manager, and one member of the turn team to track the progress that is being made over the course of one year. The plan is to have one team for each hospital tracking this. We will also have one turn team maybe two, depending on the size of the hospital for each shift.
In the end, this will have a direct impact on how the network will care for their patients and the patient’s quality of life which is the most important point of this initiative. Implementing this would set an already great network apart from other hospitals regarding their effort in pressure injury reduction and would be a great tool in a tool box when it comes to marketing for our network.
Every year throughout the United States, more than 2.5 million patients develop pressure ulcers while under the direct care of providers, nursing, and other ancillary staff within a hospital, nursing home, and/or rehabilitation center (Yap, et. al.,). The pressure ulcers that patients develop can cause a great deal of pain for the patient and put them at a higher risk in developing infections. The types of patients who are at a higher risk are patients who are unable to mobilize on their own due to paralysis, patients who are intubated, contracted patients, and elderly patients. The centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) have become strict in allowing payment or additional money for facilities to care for these patients who acquire pressure ulcers while under their direct care (Rosenthal, 2007). Although pressure ulcer prevention within the healthcare setting is a challenging task, however, these types of injuries can be prevented for patients who are at risk.
Implemented this type of change will mean changing the way that employees think, the way that they work, also the culture of their network. This will also require them to take a better look at staffing mix along with the nurse/patient ratio that currently exists in their network. Some of the problem in any healthcare setting is that the employees are almost constantly working short so getting their work done the way that it truly should be done is near impossible. By adding turn teams into hospitals whose primary role will be to turn/and or reposition the patients every 2 hours as required will reduce the number of pressure ulcers and lesson the stress on the nurses knowing that their patients are being turned appropriately (Yap et al, 2017). This would also potentially reduce the cost of care given to the patient with a pressure ulcer for insurance companies, lesson the length of stay for these patients, and also reduce the cost of caring for these patients for the hospital by using less product and operating room time.
Communication should go out to all employees about the initiative as this is a key driver in success when implementing change (Burke, 2018). Education will be offered for all employees, not just the turn teams, so that there is a clear understanding as to why this is so imperative for patients and the network. A specialized handpicked team of four people which will include: one provider, one registered nurse, one case manager, and one member of the turn team to track the progress that is being made over the course of one year. The plan is to have one team for each hospital tracking this. We will also have one turn team maybe two, depending on the size of the hospital for each shift.
In the end, this will have a direct impact on how the network will care for their patients and the patient’s quality of life which is the most important point of this initiative. Implementing this would set an already great network apart from other hospitals regarding their effort in pressure injury reduction and would be a great tool in a tool box when it comes to marketing for our network.
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