Tracking Patient Belongings to Decrease Cost

<p>A level II trauma center in Northern California reimbursed $21,313 in 2013 for lost patient belongings. Attempts were made to reveal what caused patient belongings loss. After surveying 28 RNs and 9 CNAs on a medical-surgical unit, interviewing other staff, and analyzing incident reports, a root cause analysis was constructed. Results indicated that nurses were not familiar with Epic, an electronic health record. Even though nurses received 20 hours of training to use Epic, the material covering belongings charting was optional. Education regarding belongings charting was implemented. Nurses were given a 5-10 minute tutorial regarding belongings charting and were evaluated afterwards. Nurses were also educated on good nursing practices regarding patient belongings, such as reviewing belongings with the transport staff, double-checking food trays and linen, and putting identification on patient equipment. Out of 25 RNs and 11 CNAs evaluated, 24 RNs and 11 CNAs found the presentation helpful. A patient belongings charting tutorial will be on the hospital intranet to provide nurses a quick review. Results showed that hospital-wide education regarding patient belongings is necessary. The patient belongings policies and procedures were updated to reflect implementation of the CNL project. A trend of 1 incident report, filed due to lost belongings, per 2 months for at least 6 months is the goal of this Clinical Nurse Leader project.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)

Level thesis:degree_level

Restricted Project/Capstone - USF access only

Year dc:date.available

2014

Author dc:creator

• Tu, Allan

Contributors dc:contributor

• Mary Seed
• Danijela Pavlic

• Lost Patient Belongings
• Patient Property
• HCAHPS
• Epic Education
• Patient Satisfaction
• Nursing

Repository record dc:identifier

https://repository.usfca.edu/capstone/72

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.usfca.edu:capstone-1076