Improving Stroke Discharge Instructions: Marian LaMonte, MD, MSN, FAAN
The chief of neurology at Ascension Saint Agnes discussed her team’s efforts to increase compliance in providing patient-specific stroke DCI.
“Many hospitals, it turns out, have a very difficult time ensuring that patient discharge instructions are specific to an individual patient's risk factors, rather than just general information about stroke that might not pertain directly to their own issues that they need to address for future health.”
A recent study improved hospital compliance with providing patient-specific stroke discharge instructions (DCI) through the implementation of simple educational and decision support interventions. Marian LaMonte, MD, MSN, FAAN, chief of neurology, Ascension Saint Agnes, presented the study that she and colleagues at the hospital conducted, at the 2021 American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Annual Meeting, April 17-22.
LaMonte and colleagues implemented an intervention bundle in the hospital’s electronic medical records (EMR) system that consisted of simple educational activities, reminders, and decision support tools. This intervention increased compliance with the use of stroke specific DCI by 38.6%, from 51.9% pre-intervention to 90.5% within 4 months of intervention. Improvements in compliance were seen in the teaching service from 60.0% to 90.5% and non-teaching service from 25.0% to 87.5%.
NeurologyLive spoke to LaMonte to learn more about the need for patient-specific stroke dedicated DCI. She also detailed the changes that her team implemented in the EMR.
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