Hospital Case Management – May 1, 2016
May 1, 2016
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Help patients and families as they struggle with end-of-life issues
More than 80% of patients say if they have a terminal illness, they don’t want to spend their last days in the hospital, according to the Dartmouth Atlas of Healthcare.
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Get in touch with your own feelings before talking to patients
Case managers have to be comfortable with end-of-life issues before they can have a meaningful conversation with patients and families.
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Find out patients’ goals before introducing the idea of hospice
Take a patient-centered approach when you talk with patients and family members about end-of-life options and find out what they need and want before making suggestions.
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Make sure patients, families are informed about hospice
When patients choose hospice care, case managers should prepare them and their families for what they are going to receive and what they won’t receive when the patient goes home.
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Indicators measure quality of hospice, palliative care providers
Two organizations of professionals who provide palliative and hospice care developed a series of indicators to gauge the quality of care that patients receive.
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Swing shift case managers facilitate discharges late in the day
Faced with patients who were ready for discharge but were staying overnight due to glitches and holdups, UCLA Health developed the position of swing shift case manager to facilitate discharges that occur late in the day.
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Hospital LOS confirmed to worsen hip fracture outcomes
Hospital length of stay has been thought to affect a patient’s odds of surviving a hip fracture, and investigators from the University of Rochester Medical Center Department of Orthopedics created a new research tool to determine just how much.
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ED nurses ID barriers to ethical end-of-life care
Emergency department nurses reported lack of space, time, and staff as challenges to providing good end-of-life care, according to a recent study.