Nurse-Driven Interprofessional Rounds: Improving Care Coordination and Length of Stay

BACKGROUND: Inpatient oncology units care for patients with some of the most complex medical conditions outside of the intensive care unit. These patients benefit from structured care coordination. Reduced ability to admit patients to oncology beds contributes to delays in specialty care. OBJECTIVES: This quality improvement initiative established nurse-driven interprofessional rounds (IPRs) to reduce length of stay (LOS), improve dis-charge time of day, and enhance care coordination, patient flow, and access to care in the community. METHODS: Care coordination during enhanced IPRs (eIPRs) included estimation of discharge dates, comparison of LOS to a standard geometric mean LOS, and discussion of clinical milestones and barriers to progression and discharge. Data analysis evaluated the effect of eIPRs on key outcomes. FINDINGS:Although LOS variance was reduced by 15.8% and 44.1% in all-unit and hematology -oncology discharges, respectively, the results were not significant. Discharges by 2 pm improved significantly for all-unit and hematology-oncology populations, respectively. Patient flow measured by accepted patient transfers requesting hematology -oncology services improved significantly.