A senior nurse at UHL’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) has led a major improvement project to make in-hospital transfers safer and faster for patients.
Hanny Mohamed, Deputy Sister in ICU, completed the Quality Improvement (QI) fundamentals training, and used her skills to tackle delays in ‘step-down’ care, which is the process of moving patients from ICU on to less acute wards.
Before the project began, nearly half of ICU patients faced delays when ready to be discharged. These delays not only caused stress for patients adjusting to new environments but also led to inefficient use of nursing time.
Hanny investigated the problem by speaking with colleagues and studying how the ICU transfer process worked. Through this, she discovered that the main issue was a lack of a clear system for what to do once a patient was considered ready to ‘step down’.
Working closely with consultants and a multidisciplinary team, Hanny introduced several changes, including a bedside chart to guide colleagues, training, and improved patient admission packs. Thanks to Hanny’s work, four out of every five patients now meet the step-down standards before they are moved to their new ward.
Hanny said: “This QI project has been a valuable opportunity to drive improvements in the step-down process from ICU.
“By working collaboratively, we identified key inefficiencies and implemented practical solutions.”
Plans are now underway to share the project across the Critical Care East Midlands Network, with hopes that other units can benefit from the approach.
Hanny’s project is part of myQI: your care – our campaign that shines a light on the everyday improvements our teams are making across UHL for the benefit of our patients.
The myQI campaign shares stories from our teams who have spotted opportunities to make things better and acted on them – bringing real benefits to patients, as well as the colleagues who care for them.