Guides provide information so nurses won’t have to
Updating and revising made easy
Question: "What type of information do you have in your patient care guide [admission packet/hospital resource booklet], and how and when do you distribute them? Is your guide kept in-house, for example, next to the patient’s bed, or given to the patient? What is your process of maintaining, updating, and checking the progress of those resource guides? Have you found them helpful, and do patients use them?"
Answer: New patients admitted to Winter Haven (FL) Hospital are given a patient orientation packet — and just to make sure no one slips through the cracks — volunteers from volunteer services visit Monday through Friday and check to see if an orientation packet is in the room. "If a patient doesn’t have a packet, the volunteer will give them one and then explain it to them," says Laurel Spooner, RN, BSN, education coordinator at Mid-Florida Medical Services in Winter Haven.
The orientation packet is a scaled-down version of a guide patients used to receive. The former piece had too much information and details, so the patients didn’t have time to review it all. The new packet has the closed-circuit TV schedule, local TV stations, phone numbers to hospital services, a copy of the Patients’ Bill of Rights, and basic information on advance directives.
Patients who want more detailed information will find it in the unit waiting rooms where a Plexiglas display case holds information on support groups, advance directives, organ donation, safety at home, taking medications at home, diabetes outpatient classes, and the consumer health library, among other things. The location makes it possible for anyone to obtain the information, not just the patients. Volunteer services keeps the cases stocked.
Larger booklets aren’t easily lost
A hospital resource booklet is given to patients upon admission at Methodist Hospital in Omaha, NE. The booklets contain basic information such as meal times, visiting hours, when to call the nurse, pastoral services, services for hearing-impaired and non-English-speaking patients, instructions on preparing to go home, and information about the room. "The back inside cover of the booklet contains a pocket where additional written material can be placed, such as A Patient’s Rights & Responsibilities’ and Guide to Advance Directives,’" says Mary Wolcott, RN, MSN, patient education coordinator at the hospital. The booklet is 8 ½ x 11 inches, a large size to help ensure that it isn’t lost in the patient’s room.
The design of a family handbook similar to the guides found in hotel rooms was recently completed at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. It will be kept in a wall-mounted case next to each patient bed and in key family waiting areas. "The handbook contains everything from maps and parking information to a hospital who’s who’ and neighborhood resources," explains Linda Kocent, RN, MSN, coordinator, patient and family education at Children’s Hospital
of Philadelphia.
Under the old method, families were given paper copies of the handbook either upon admission or at their first outpatient visit. However, the procedure did not work well, says Kocent. Either staff forgot to give them out or parents lost them.
Hotel style easy to update
A hotel-style guide also is being implemented at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta to replace the booklets that were given to families in the patient admission kit. While the contents still are being determined, the information will be printed in English on the front of the page and Spanish on the flip side. "The guides will be mounted in acrylic racks in each patient room and some mounted in outpatient areas, as well," says Kathy Ordelt, RN, patient and family education coordinator at the health care facility.
Vinyl patient guides with plastic-coated information cards that patients could easily flip through used to be kept in each hospital room at Grant/Riverside Methodist Hospitals in Columbus, OH. "The guide was very professional, washable, and the flip cards could be changed inexpensively," says BJ Hansen, BSN, patient education coordinator.
Because the vinyl guides were costly, the hospital changed to a 8 ½ x 11-inch brochure. About 40% of the patients are from out of town or the country, so the guides not only include information about the hospital, such as visitor’s parking areas and visiting hours, but information about nearby amenities, such as hotels.
The brochures are left in the rooms and when patients or family members take them home, they are replaced when the room is cleaned. Staff nurses are instructed to make patients aware of the brochures when they are admitted. "I think the brochures are very useful if the patients and families know about them. They want that information, and staff cannot always remember the details or have the time to provide it," says Hansen.
The one downside of printed brochures is that it is difficult to keep the information up to date. Although developed a year ago, health care changes so frequently that the guides already are outdated, says Hansen.
Loose sheets in book provide flexibility
Devising a system for review is important, says Wolcott. Therefore, at Methodist Hospital, the material in the resource booklet is very basic and doesn’t change often. The sheets that are placed in the pocket at the back of the book contain information that might need to be updated more often. This provides flexibility, making it easier to make necessary changes without a lot of expense.
An easy way to make revisions also was the goal at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. They accomplished that by making each department responsible for updating the cards that are inserted into plastic sleeves. For example, if cafeteria hours change, food service would submit the information. The cards are prepared and changed by the marketing department to keep them consistent and visually appealing. "We’re not sure who will actually take the old card out and put the new card in yet. We may use volunteer services, or perhaps managers will assign someone the task," says Ordelt.
Sources
For more information on the distribution and upkeep of patient care guides, contact:
• BJ Hansen, BSN, Patient Education Coordinator, Grant/Riverside Methodist Hospitals, 111 S. Grant Ave., Columbus, OH 43215. Telephone: (614) 566-5613. Fax: (614) 566-8067. E-mail: [email protected].
• Linda Kocent, RN, MSN, Coordinator, Patient & Family Education, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, 34th St. and Civic Center Blvd., Philadelphia, PA 19104. Telephone: (215) 590-3661. Fax: (215) 590-6093. E-mail: [email protected].
• Kathy Ordelt, RN, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, 1001 Johnson Ferry Road N.E., Atlanta, GA 30342. Telephone: (404) 929-8641. Fax: (404) 929-8690. E-mail: [email protected].
• Laurel Spooner, RN, BSN, Education Coordinator, 200 Ave. F N.E., Winter Haven, FL 33881. Telephone: (941) 293-1121, ext. 3336.
• Mary Wolcott, Patient Education Coordinator, Methodist Hospital, 8303 Dodge St., Omaha, NE 68114. Telephone: (402) 354-4301. Fax: (402) 354-3155. E-mail: [email protected].
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