AUSTIN, Texas - (April 18,2008) - The Seton Family of Hospitals is one of 24 hospitals and health systems across the country and the only one in Texas being recognized for transforming how healthcare is delivered.
Health Workforce Solutions LLC (HWS) -- a California-based research firm focused on workforce issues in health care --launched a new website this week www.innovativecaremodels.com that features Seton's "Primary Care Team" model and 23 other promising models.
"We at Seton wanted to develop a model that would provide consistency and efficiency in our delivery of care. One important aspect of the model is that novice nurses have on-going mentoring from experienced nurses long after the orientation is over," said Joyce Batcheller, Chief Nursing Officer, Seton Family of Hospitals. "A healthy nursing work environment, patient satisfaction, physician satisfaction and patient safety are all interrelated and served as the major drivers in ultimately creating this now recognized best practice."
Seton's Primary Care Team model, currently practiced in all of Seton's medical-surgical and mother/baby nursing units, consists of a differentiated nursing practice team composed of an RN care manager, an RN or LVN provider and a clinical assistant. The primary care team shares the responsibility of providing care for an assigned group of patients.
The goal of the model is to provide professional nursing care through a process that promotes patient partnerships, maximizes the contributions of each member of the team, decreases work intensity, promotes an environment of collaboration as well as creates critical thinking and growth opportunities.
As a result, the Primary Care Team model has been correlated with decreasing mortality rates and reduction in the occurrence of pressure ulcers.
"Given the pressures in health care today, the need for new models of care delivery cannot be overstated," says David Cherner, Managing Partner of HWS. "We selected these 24 models to showcase on this site because they are truly sustainable and replicable and are having a material impact on cost, quality and patient satisfaction in both hospital and outpatient settings," he adds.
"The way health care is organized and delivered today is neither sustainable nor ideal - which is why we need to explore creative strategies for delivering care," says RWJF Senior Program Officer Sue Hassmiller, Ph.D., RN. "There are a lot of lessons to be learned from these 24 models, because of their effectiveness in leveraging nurses and other health care professionals to deliver services more efficiently and economically, resulting in better quality care in a variety of settings," she adds.
The Innovative Care Delivery Model site, funded with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, shares new ways hospitals and health systems around the country are curbing health costs, improving quality and safety, managing chronic disease, increasing patient satisfaction and accommodating nursing shortages.
"What makes these models stand apart is that they represent improvements over the existing system," says Bobbi Kimball, a nurse who is the principal investigator for the Innovative Care Delivery Model project. "All of these projects have embraced goals around improving cost, quality and satisfaction. These are the true leaders who understand that the future health care system will demand a new level of interdisciplinary teamwork, involve families and patients as active partners in care to a much greater extent, and will have to leverage nurses in new and expanded roles."
To learn more about these 24 projects and the Innovative Care Delivery Model project, visit www.innovativecaremodels.com