Advancing Patient-Centered Care & Collaboration

Internal study reveals triple-digit improvement in satisfaction with standardized care planning processes

Baptist Health chose Elsevier Care Planning to standardize processes across facilities and optimize the coordination of evidence-based care. An internal study revealed a 225% post-implementation improvement in overall satisfaction with care planning. Deployment of the solution enabled the organization to elevate staff perceptions of care planning across four domains. Some highlights include:

• 132% increase in perceptions that care planning improves communication among interprofessional team members

• 72% increase in perceptions that care planning supports critical thinking to reflect the goals of patients and families

• 130% increase in perceptions that care planning incorporates best practices into care

Customer Profile

Headquartered in Louisville, Ky., Baptist Health offers more than 350 points of care across the states of Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, and Tennessee. The health system maintains approximately 2,700 beds across nine hospitals and realized 116,419 inpatients and 1.7 million outpatient visits in 2017. Notably, all hospitals have received either ANCC Magnet® or ANCC Pathway to Excellence® designations.

The Challenge: Extracting Greater Value from Care Planning Processes

Care planning is an integral component of interprofessional care delivery models and a necessary pathway to advancing patient-centered care. Like many health systems across the U.S., Baptist Health desired to elevate the use of care plans in its acute care settings and convey the benefits of these tools to patients and the interprofessional care team. A requirement of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, care planning was often viewed as simply a regulatory box to check rather than a valid tool for optimizing care delivery, according to Sarah Almon Hibbs, APRN, CNM, WHNP, clinical practice model site coordinator for Baptist Health.

Specifically, Baptist Health wanted to increase the value of the care planning process by aligning with the following goals and characteristics:

• Patient-specific goals

• Patient-centered

• Progress and outcomes-driven

• Interprofessional collaboration and optimal care coordination

To achieve this framework, Baptist Health first needed to overcome fragmented, paper-based approaches to care planning. Processes were driven by care plans that were printed and applied upon admission. While these tools were based on a standardized list of nursing problem statements and interventions, their application and use varied across the health system’s nine hospitals, and it was difficult to keep guidelines current with rapidly changing evidence.

The Solution: Elsevier Care Planning

Baptist Health chose Elsevier Care Planning to standardize care planning processes and promote greater transparency across its interprofessional teams. The highest-ranked care planning solution in KLAS®: Software & Services Report from 2017-2019, Care Planning combines the patient story, more than 600 evidenced-based clinical practice guidelines and standardized assessments into one patient-centered plan.

Tracy Phillips, CNP, RN, NE-BC, nurse researcher with Baptist Health, said that the Elsevier solutions were specifically chosen for their ability to integrate evidence-based practice at the point-of-care, drive greater collaboration and communication across care team members and improve patient-centered care. “It was our goal to elevate critical thinking and meaningful care around the patient to drive better outcomes and satisfaction with care,” she noted. “Elsevier allows us to move from a ‘task-oriented’ approach to care to a coordinated effort based on one patient, one team and one plan.” Elsevier Care Planning was integrated directly into Baptist Health’s EHR workflow. Today, care teams develop individual care plans that follow a rigorous evidence-based process and focus on preventing potential problems and omissions of care. The tool allows care teams to develop a shared “patient story” that reflects the goals and needs of the individual.

Changing Perceptions for the Better

Baptist Health conducted a quasi-experimental study related to implementation of the new care planning model to measure success with outlined goals. A pre- and post-implementation test design assessed clinician perceptions around four domains:

1. communication and collaboration;

2. critical thinking;

3. evidence-based practice; and

4. overall satisfaction.

Survey results revealed a remarkable 225% improvement in overall satisfaction with the new care plan model powered by Elsevier. Overall, Baptist Health saw improvement in perceptions across the other three domains, along with improved use of care plans and a 10% improvement in updating the care plan at least daily.

Study Design

The survey was administered via SurveyMonkey. Participants were invited by email to participate prior to implementation and again six months following.

Pre-CPM Survey

152 participants

• 88% registered nurse

• 3% PT/OT/SLP

• 3% respiratory therapy

Post-CPM Survey

117 participants

• 70% registered nurse

• 13% PT/OT/SLP

• 14% respiratory therapy