Abstract TP68: Streamlining Innovation: A Stroke of Genius in Education
Background: A mandatory educational requirement for nurses and staff at designated stroke centers existed within a health system, but the process varied across sites. Staff selected their own educational content, leading to minimal engagement and irrelevant content. The transition of the electronic health record (EHR) to Within Defined Limits (WDL) further complicated documentation. To address these issues, the Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) and the Critical Care Nurse Professional Development Specialist (CC NPDS) collaborated with stakeholders to overhaul stroke education, nursing documentation, and patient care at two hospitals.
Purpose: The goal was to standardize and streamline stroke education and EHR documentation system-wide, enhance nursing knowledge and improve patient care and outcomes for stroke patients.
Methods: The NPDS and CNS conducted a current state analysis and gathered feedback about the need for meaningful education and streamlined processes. They developed and refined four core educational modules, incorporated into a back-to-the-basics campaign, and uploaded them to the online platform. They also created over 11 bundles of targeted education, ranging from 2 to 8 hours, specific to various specialties. The core modules were automatically assigned to units based on cost centers, aligning with annual education requirements. A Stroke Symposium in 2/2024, attended by over 100 participants, fulfilled annual stroke education requirements. Concurrently, the CNS worked with informatics to optimize EHR systems and update the Risk Factor activation process for individualization.
Results: EHR optimizations reduced missed documentation and improved rounding efficiency. The streamlined education process and updated documentation requirements led to a reduction in time spent on documentation and clicks in the EHR. Compliance with stroke documentation improved, as evidenced by randomized chart audits, and stroke identification increased across the health system. Feedback from nurses and unit leadership highlighted the new content's relevance and engagement.
Conclusions: The successful implementation of standardized stroke education and streamlined documentation has led to its expansion and continuous annual evaluation. The improvements have reduced documentation burdens, optimized the EHR, and allowed nurses to dedicate more time to patient care, enhancing patient outcomes through increased nurse confidence and competence in managing complex stroke cases.