Standardizing Communications Improves Use of Palliative Care in Patients With Stroke

Abstract

Patients who have sustained a severe stroke have immediate palliative care needs, and poor communication is a gap in quality that increases length of stay (LOS) and costs, which decreases efficient resource utilization. To standardize communication between families and treatment teams in the intensive care unit (ICU) and demonstrate improvement in LOS and costs, a communication bundle was prospectively implemented in 22 patients and compared against a retrospective control arm of 22 patients. The intervention group demonstrated significant improvement in median ICU and hospital LOS and ICU costs. Standardizing communication significantly improved resource utilization in severe stroke patients.