In today’s environment of cost containment, measurability and accountability the importance of outcome-based care is paramount. Identification of key nursing sensitive outcomes and continuous improvement principles are fundamental to quality client care. Within one home health organization the journey to Outcome Based Care (OBC) began in 1996 with the development and piloting of a framework and subsequently organization wide implementation in 2003. A central underpinning of OBC, was the importance of making clinical decisions based on evidence at the client-nurse interface. With over 1000 nurses, 26 locations, and the current workload issues confronting nurses, a number of challenges had to be addressed. Integration of OBC included identification of clinical indicators, education on data analysis, implementation of supportive structures and pilot testing of technology enabled point of care system.
The author will provide an overview of the OBC framework, share key milestones in the journey to implementation and provide some insights into the linkage between the OBC framework and a future electronic health record. The findings of a point of care technology pilot will be shared along with lessons learned and key strategies for moving forward with electronic health record in home health care. Feedback from nurses regarding the use of technology as an enabler will be shared. Conference participants with an interest in quality care, staff workload, nursing informatics and research will find this session of interest.
Biography
Cheryl Reid-Haughian RN, BHScN, MHScN, CCHN ( C )
As Director, Professional Practice with ParaMed Home Health Care, Cheryl’s work energies focus on identifying innovative and transformational approaches to deliver quality care for clients, maximize quality of work life for staff; enhance organizational strategic planning to respond to health system impacts and development of the clinical knowledge and capacity of staff.
