Page 6 - Kadlec Regional Medical Center | 2012 Community Report

Award-Winning RoadmAP
Guided by Planetree’s core elements, Kadlec has implemented a substantial number of
new initiatives and practices over the past eight years. Recently, Kadlec received the Spirit
of Planetree Award, recognizing the Medical Center’s innovation in the category of Patient
Information and Education. The honor recognized Kadlec’s “My Surgery Roadmap,” a folder
given to a patient in the surgeon’s office that explains every step of an upcoming procedure.
The Roadmap emerged from Kadlec’s effort to improve care for adults undergoing
elective surgery. A team made up of representatives from the Patient Advisory Council,
surgeons and office staff, anesthesia, clinical education, perioperative and postoperative
nursing, marketing and the executive team collaborated on the project.
That group physically walked through the entire process from surgeon’s office to hospital
admission and discharge, interviewing many patients and staff along the way. They quickly
realized that well-intended patient education was not always coordinated or particularly
helpful. “We saw that patients were overloaded with printed materials crammed with
medical jargon,” says Renee Sams, RN, a member of the team that developed the road map.
“They didn’t know what was really important or even what questions to ask.”
The Roadmap that grew out of this research is now referenced by staff at every step in a
patient’s surgical journey, prompting crucial dialogue and resulting in an improvement in
patient satisfaction.
“We believe that access
to understandable health
information can empower
individuals to participate
in their health.”