The program, designed by the acute care management and staffing solutions provider CEP America, requires attending physicians to alert the on-call anesthesiologist when a hip fracture patient presents in the emergency department. The anesthesiologist then assumes the role of care coordinator and consults with the orthopedic surgeon to determine appropriate pain management strategies, which sometimes involve the use of nerve blocks.
Since initiating the program, the hospital has reduced length of stay by 25 percent and saved the hospital more than $3,000 per hip fracture patient.
“Finding ways to better integrate the acute care team continues to challenge hospitals,” said Harrison Chow, MD, anesthesia project coordinator with CEP. “One of the best outcomes of this program is that departments involved have left their silos and merged into one cohesive team. This is a great program for the entire care team and most importantly, for our patients.”
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