Suburban’s Multidisciplinary Rounds (MDR) Committee was established with the sole purpose of including patients and their loved ones in the medical decision-making process. The committee is exploring how to best develop a plan of care for individual patients within a 10-minute time frame during morning rounds by involving patients and care partners, hospitalists, nurses, pharmacists, social workers and case managers. It is a tall order, but one that is considered of the utmost importance by all stakeholders.
Who is on the MDR Committee?
The committee includes hospital executives, hospitalists, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, case managers, and patient and family advisors who are members of the Patient and Family Advisory Council.
What is the goal of MDRs?
MDRs take place at the patient’s bedside every day to briefly discuss each patient’s progress and plan of care for the day. MDRs are most successful when they include the patient and care partner in the clinical team’s conversation to aid in an overall plan of care and timely and informed discharge.
How do MDRs meet their goal?
An MDR is a 10-minute bedside meeting with each patient designed to ensure everyone involved in the patient’s care is informed of the plan of care for the day. This requires a clear focus on the patient’s priorities by including the patient and care partner in the conversation. It is a snapshot of the patient’s progress, and includes nursing concerns, medication updates, a plan of care for the day and discharge timeline, if necessary. The MDR team begins rounds daily at 9:15 a.m. The physician introduces the members of the team to each patient and care partner and leads a conversation to ensure everyone is “on the same page” with the care plans. In-depth questions or concerns are addressed later in the day by the clinical team members and patient.
The MDR Committee maintains its focus on communication while working to improve consistency, quality and timeliness in these hospital room conversations. The committee works with Suburban Hospital’s Quality Management Office to meet these goals and makes sure expectations for the MDR teams are clear.
What is a measure of success for the MDR?
The MDR Committee focuses on the acute medical care unit, and intends to expand to other units once the MDR process is operating successfully and consistently. A successful MDR improves the patient and care partner experience by including them in plan of care updates and decisions.
As part of delivering patient- and family-centered care, MDRs go hand in hand with bedside shift reports. These reports include patients and their care partners in the discussion that takes place when nurses and patient care technicians who are finishing their shift brief the incoming nurses and technicians. The PFAC’s role in promoting bedside shift reports and helping train staff was highlighted in the 2020 Annual Report.
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