NORTHFIELD, Ill. (November 18, 2019)—To help identify and scale new evidence-based techniques to improve clinical outcomes around wound care, Advocate Aurora Health’s Post-Acute Division is advancing customized education through a collaboration with Medline for more than 400 nurses across Illinois and Wisconsin.
“The model is changing for the first time in 20 years to further align reimbursement with individual patient needs and outcomes,” says Katie Riley, RN, vice president, post-acute chief nursing officer for Advocate Aurora Health. “In this environment, our nurses can play a transformative role in the way we deliver quality patient care. That’s why we are working with Medline to find new ways to cultivate nurse empowerment so they can share best practices with their patients.”
With more than one-third of home care patients requiring treatments for wounds, it is important for nurses to not only have access to high-quality products, but to be able to teach patients and their families how best to provide good care when a nurse is not on site. The collaboration is challenging Medline to create educational resources that drive engagement and care standardization.
“The rise in patient acuity requires that home health organizations use a specialized approach to care in order to keep patients out of the hospital. What makes our relationship successful is we work hand-in-hand to create a tailored clinical plan that will have a meaningful impact on their outcomes,” says Jason Cravens, market sales director, Medline homecare division.
Advocate Aurora Health’s clinician training has grown from a simple task-based training model to a more interactive approach. Medline recently set up in-person clinical simulation presentations at several Illinois Advocate at Home offices to assess clinician knowledge and teach best practices for various wound care patient scenarios.
“This interactive teaching approach helps promote critical thinking skills. It helps us understand our nurses’ thought processes and gain insights into the challenges they may face. We take all this into consideration when designing ongoing education content for our team in order to augment their learning experience,” adds Riley.
As nurses share these best practices with their patients and family members, it will help reduce the risk of hospital readmissions and decrease the number of nursing visits per care episode.
See how Medline and Advocate Aurora Health are working together to improve patient outcomes through customized clinical education here.
