Using bedside whiteboard to improve patient-centered care for hospitalized patients in a resource-limited setting: A quality improvement report

Abstract

Abstract Background In our assessment, hospitalized patients have difficulty of identifying their assigned health-care providers because of frequent rotation of physicians, residents, and interns in a teaching hospital like Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital. In addition, patients are not routinely communicated about their daily plan of care and estimated date of discharge. As a solution to these problems, bedside whiteboards could be used with an ultimate goal of improving patient-centered care. Methods Pre-intervention survey was conducted on patients from selected medical wards of the hospital over 3 months (N = 52). Whiteboards were then used on newly admitted patients in the same medical wards, and a post-intervention survey was conducted on these patients over 3 months (N = 47). Responses to the Stanford’s Quality Improvement Team patients’ knowledge assessment and Press Ganey patient satisfaction questionnaires were used as the outcome measures. A pre-/post-intervention study design was used, and all statistical analyses were performed using SPSS Statistical Software 25. Results Most patients were literate, and use of whiteboards significantly increased the proportion of patients who knew their attending doctors and nurses (P < 0.001), daily plans of investigations and treatment options (P < 0.001), and their estimated discharge date (P < 0.001). Patients were also more satisfied with their treatment in all satisfaction assessment questionnaires with significantly higher mean Likert scores in the intervention group compared to the non-intervention group (P ≤ 0.001). Conclusion The findings of this quality improvement project show that bedside whiteboards are effective tools to improve patients’ awareness of their care team, daily care plans, and estimated date of discharge and increase their satisfaction.