Early discharge supports recovery
By Helen De Vere, Programme Manager, Service
Improvement.
A new concept in Tauranga Hospital’s Health in
Ageing Ward supporting stroke patients to be
discharged early having rehab in their home is
proving successful.
What we’re found so far is that patients seem to progress much
faster at home as they undertake more activities and self-
rehabilitation when they are in their own environment. For example
one patient trebled the number of steps they were taking once they
had been discharged (from 1000 in the hospital to 3000 at home).
Globally research shows, getting older patients up and moving
has been shown to reduce falls, improve patient experience and
reduce length of stay by up to 1.5 days.
The Home to Assess project led by Service Improvement with the
Inpatient Rehabilitation Physiotherapy team has been underway
since June. Having good communication and coordination planning the
patient’s discharge between all services was also a key to this
project.
We wanted to test whether or not patients could receive the same
therapy at home as they could as an inpatient and whether there
would be any benefits to a patient receiving therapy at home. To date feedback from patients has been positive. The patients
really appreciate being back in the home environment much sooner
and sleeping in their own bed. And they seem to progress faster in
terms of their functional ability at home compared to in hospital
Three tests were arranged with three patients going home on
average two weeks earlier than planned with an estimated cost
saving of $16-thousand.
The first test was led by the Inpatient Physio team and provided
exactly the same quantity of rehabilitation intervention at home as
was planned on the ward.
Some commented that they’re doing more at home and sleeping
better.
The project team plans to continue testing this concept with more
stroke patients over the next six months.
Hospital Pharmacist
in winning team at
World Congress
Developing a care plan with three teammates
whose English is their second language, to
a tight deadline was one of the challenges
Tauranga Hospital Pharmacist Elliot Harris had
to overcome, competing at the International
Pharmacy Students Federation (IPSF) 2018
World Congress in Mendoza, Argentina in
August this year.
Elliot put his clinical skills to the test along with student
pharmacists from Denmark, the Netherlands, and Portugal and
together the team took first place.
Elliot started working at Tauranga Hospital this year after
a successful year’s internship with the BOPDHB Tauranga
Pharmacy team.
IPSF is the leading international advocacy organisation for
pharmacy and pharmaceutical science students. It promotes
improved public health through the provision of information,
education, and networking opportunities as well as a range of
publications and professional activities.
This year’s conference was the fourth for Elliot, but the first time
he’s been part of a competing team.
“Teams were either put forward by countries that had won
competitions previously or a mixture of nationalities who wanted to
give it a go,” says Elliot.
Tauranga Hospital Pharmacist Elliot Harris (second from left) with his winning
team, event organiser and actor at the (IPSF) 2018 World Congress in Argentina.
Elliot was approached by the Dutch delegate and asked to join the
team.
He says the team was given a briefing, covering the clinical
case (patient with acute lithium poisoning), history and relevant
bloodwork. They had 10 minutes to do a mock interview with an
actor filling the role of both clinician and patient.
From there, the team had to develop a care plan. “It was tricky
as I only speak English. We had to make a list of medicinal
recommendations and further investigations based on our findings."
With one computer, the nominated team member then formatted
the plan and it was handed in the following morning. The entire
exercise completed in 24 hours.
Tauranga Pharmacy team Manager Cindy Mortimer says we are all
so thrilled and proud of Elliot’s achievement, we have seen Elliot
grow from completing his internship under the guidance of the
clinical pharmacy team now practicing as a qualified pharmacist.
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