Holy Spirit improves patient communication with updated whiteboards
When ongoing conversations with patients and family members revealed the need to simplify the hospital communication boards that hang in general inpatient rooms, the Patient Experience team at Holy Spirit Medical Center took action.
Kevin Williard, nurse operations manager, Nursing Education, polled patients and family members to determine what they wanted to see on the boards. “They wanted something simple that they could use to communicate the things that are really important to them,” he said.
Williard got to work on an updated design. The result is a patient-focused tool that highlights what they need to know about their care – in large, easy-to-read letters – with a section, up front and center, titled, “Most Important Thing to Me.”
“We use this, especially during the morning shift change, so the oncoming nurse knows the patient has something important to them,” Williard said, citing examples such as a patient’s wish to successfully undergo a heart catheter procedure or calling a patient’s home to make sure someone let the dog out of the house. “It might be unrelated to medical care, but we are still asking that question.”
The whiteboards also serve a crucial role in keeping track of patient belongings, such as glasses, hearing aids and dentures, and help patients understand what the next steps are in their care.
“Most patients really want to know what they need to do to go home; what they need to think about for discharge,” he said. “Simply put, the whiteboards are for patients to use for the details that are really important to them.”
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