Abstract T P263: Nursing Leadership Teach-Back Initiative Improves Stroke Patient Satisfaction Scores

Abstract

Introduction: The purpose of this project is to improve stroke patient and family knowledge of secondary stroke prevention and improve satisfaction scores at University Hospitals Comprehensive Stroke and Cerebrovascular Center (UHCSCC) using the Teach-Back process for patient education. The HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) Survey, the national, standardized publicly reported survey of patients’ perspective on hospital care, was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the project. Methods: Nursing leadership from the Stoke unit and the Neuroscience ICU developed a discharge Teach-Back checklist for stroke patients. The checklist included the following topics: Risk factors, Signs and Symptoms, EMS activation, Medications, Follow up, Diet, Smoking cessation, Medication compliance and Rehab plans or home care assistance. For a 6 month period on the day of discharge, one of the nursing leaders met with each patient and/or family to assess and reinforce their level of understanding on all of the topics on the checklist. The leader verified that the patient and family had viewed the stroke education video, had been given the appropriate written materials and answered any questions. Results: To assess the effectiveness of this initiative three questions on the HCAHPS survey were used: “How often did nurses explain things in a way you could understand?” “How often did the hospital staff tell you what the new medicine was for?” And “Did you get information in writing about what symptoms or health problems to look out for after you left the hospital?” The survey response “Always” increased from 73% to 82% for nursing explanations in an understandable manner and from 71% to 91% for staff explanations of new medications. The survey response “Yes’’ increased from 75% to 92% for staff explanations of symptoms or problem to look for. Conclusions: Publicly reporting of HCAHPS results creates incentives for the hospitals to improve quality of care. At UHCSCC stroke patient satisfaction scores improved with the Teach-Back project conducted by the nursing leadership team.