Improving postop transitional care with phone-based program

Editor's Note

A phone-based transitional care program after complex abdominal surgery has high patient engagement and can be implemented using existing hospital infrastructure, this study finds.

For the program, nurses met patients before hospital discharge and then contacted them within 24 to 72 hours to review:

• medication reconciliation
• any symptoms that would warrant direct contact between nurse and patient
• scheduling a follow up appointment
• ensuring the patient had the nurse’s contact information.

The nurses initiated phone calls every 3 to 4 days as needed. The program was completed once the patient and nurse mutually agreed that no further follow-up was needed, the patient had been discharged for 6 weeks, or the patient was readmitted within 30 days.

Of 212 patients enrolled in the study, 95% participated in the postdischarge protocol for at least one phone call, 72% ended the program after mutual agreement that no further follow-up was needed, and a small number refused further follow-up or were readmitted (17%).

A key finding was that 46% of patients were not taking their medications correctly, which was noted on the first phone call.

Poor-quality transitions of care from hospital to home contribute to high rates of readmission after complex abdominal surgery. The Coordinated Transitional Care (C-TraC) program improved readmission rates in medical patients, but evidence-based surgical transitional care protocols are lacking. This pilot study evaluated the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of an adapted surgical C-TraC protocol.

Join a distinguished panel of healthcare leaders as they explore the pivotal trends shaping perioperative strategy in 2025. Janet Stifter, PhD, RN, CPHQ, NE-BC, Vice President of Hospital Operations for Perioperative and Interventional Services, Rush University Medical Center, Dio Sumagaysay, RN, MS, Vice President, Perioperative & Multispecialty Procedural Services, OHSU, and Brian Dawson, MSN, RN, CNOR, CSSM, President and CEO of BD Perioperative and Healthcare Consulting, Former System Vice President of Perioperative Services, CommonSpirit Health, will offer an incisive analysis of 2024’s key lessons and share forward-looking strategies and predictions to drive innovation and success in the year ahead.

This dynamic discussion will challenge traditional approaches, highlight transformative advancements, and deliver actionable insights for navigating the evolving perioperative landscape.

Key Topics:

• Critical reflections on 2024: Insights into successes, setbacks, and operational changes that shaped 2024.
• Emerging trends: Predictions on clinical advancements and technological innovations, market shifts and workforce dynamics poised to impact perioperative operations in the coming years.
• Actionable insights: Strategic discussion on expectations for 2025 and approaches to improving patient outcomes while strengthening financial performance.

Speakers:

Dr. Janet Stifter, PhD, RN, CPHQ, NE-BC, serves as the Vice President of Hospital Operations for Perioperative and Interventional Services and Professional Nursing Practice at Rush University Medical Center (RUMC) in Chicago. She earned her PhD and Bachelor’s Degrees in Nursing from the University of Illinois Chicago and her Master’s Degree in Nursing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her doctoral research focused on the impact of nursing staffing, particularly relational nurse continuity, on the incidence of hospital-acquired safety events.

Dio Sumagaysay, RN, MS is the Vice President of Perioperative & Multi-Specialty Procedural Services for Oregon Health & Science University Hospital, Portland, Oregon. In his role, he collaborates with CNO’s and COO’s of system hospitals (OHSU Hillsboro Medical Center and Adventist Health Portland) in the delivery of surgical care and nursing practice, development and prioritization of the strategic plan, building relationships with key leaders and providers to advance the strategic goals of OHSU Health Systems.

Brian Dawson, MSN, RN, CNOR, CSSM is the President and CEO of BD Perioperative and Healthcare Consulting, LLC. He was the first Afro-American Male Nurse Corps Officer to Command a Naval Hospital, and earned his BS in Nursing from American University in Washington, DC. Upon graduation, he was commissioned as an Ensign in the US Navy Nurse Corps in 1983. Brian went on to serve in various positions, including SPD Manager, OR Department Head, and Director of Surgical Services at multiple facilities. In 1997, Brian graduated with honors from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, with an MS in Nursing Administration/Leadership. He then served as the COO of Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune, Marine Corps Base Jacksonville, NC, and as the CEO of the Navy’s largest overseas Medical Treatment Facility, U.S. Naval Hospital in Okinawa, Japan.

Rami Karjian is the Head of OR Business at LeanTaaS. He began his journey in healthcare with McKinsey & Co, working together with health systems to improve patient flow across different areas of their hospitals. After a few years in the US, he moved to Asia to lead the Firm’s Service Operations practice in the region.

After over a decade with McKinsey based in the US and Asia, working with clients across the globe, Rami wanted the challenge and learning of directly taking on a scaled operating role. He joined Flextronics, as President of their Global Services division (the leading high-tech repair and logistics company globally). In that role, he led a business of 15,000 employees with operations in 25 sites across the Americas, Europe, and Asia. In addition to driving a transformation of that $1B+ revenue business he also incubated and spun-out a supply-chain SaaS company.

Register now by completing the form below. Following the webinar, you will be able to take an evaluation and receive 1 CE.

Register now by completing the form below. Following the webinar, you will be able to take an evaluation and receive 1 CE

A High-Reliability Organization (HRO) is an organization that experiences fewer accidents or events of harm than otherwise anticipated, despite operating in a complicated and risky environment. Many healthcare organizations aspire to become HROs.

Periop teams play an essential role in advocating and implementing the HRO agenda. Applying HRO principles to daily functions in the operating room is a way to safeguard patient safety, even during moments of considerable change or disruption in the surgical suite.

This session offers a blueprint for periop staff desiring to integrate high reliability principles into their workflows. Our clinical nursing experts will review each of the five foundational principles of HROs. They’ll provide strategies and examples as to how each principle can be applied within the OR to impact care in a positive way.

Aileen R. Killen, RN, PhD, CPPS is the Director, Perioperative Excellence at LiveData. In her role, she collaborates with LiveData on strategies for adoption and utilization of PeriOp Manager, a surgical workflow solution. In addition to holding perioperative leadership positions in some of the country’s leading medical facilities, including New York University Medical Center, The Hospital for Special Surgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Aileen was also heavily involved in the patient safety arena as an AHA-NPSF Patient Safety Leadership Fellow, where she focused on designing operating rooms for patient and staff safety.

Jeffrey Oliver, Lt Col, Ret., CCNS, CNOR has over 30 years of nursing experience and has served in a variety of nursing roles throughout his career. He was commissioned in the United States Air Force in 1995. He was deployed three times during his twenty-five-year career. Jeff was assigned as faculty at the Uniformed Services University Graduate School of Nursing and served as the Perioperative Nursing Consultant to the Air Force Surgeon General before retiring from the Air Force in March 2021. Jeff then served as the Director of Surgical Services at a community hospital in South Carolina before joining LiveData as a Clinical Support Specialist.

Register now by completing the form below. Following the webinar, you will be able to take an evaluation and receive 1 CE

Now more than ever, it’s crucial for health systems to maximize utilization of their highest-value assets. Shrinking margins and staff scarcity have changed the way hospitals and ASCs look at their Operating Room block allocation. Wasted block time can threaten the financial viability of a department, and turning around an inefficient OR requires a purposeful, data-driven approach.

Leaders at Northwest Specialty Hospital identified the need for a Block Optimization solution, but their first partnership ended with disappointment and frustration. Rather than give up on the idea, they decided to try a new approach and were able to achieve their goals through meaningful collaboration.

In this webinar, we’ll speak to JJ Turbin, Executive Director of Finance, about what he learned from the experience and how he persevered to find a solution that fit Northwest’s needs.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the most impactful effects of predicting and tracking surgical block utilization
• Discuss the value of collaboration when adopting a block optimization solution
• Build an evaluation framework to measure success when implementing a new block management process

Speaker:

JJ Turbin is an Executive Director of Finance at Northwestern Specialty Hospital. With over 10 years of experience in healthcare finance, JJ currently serves as the Executive Director of Finance at Northwest Specialty Hospital, overseeing accounting, treasury, and accounts payable teams. He provides strategic financial leadership, focusing on month-end close processes, forecasting, and financial analysis to drive hospital performance.

His career includes roles as a Senior Financial Analyst, where he managed P&L analysis, contract negotiations, and profitability assessments, and as Quality Assurance Manager, where he led compliance and safety initiatives. He is passionate about leveraging data to optimize operations and improve patient care.

He holds an MBA in Healthcare Management and a Bachelor’s degree in Communications.

Register now by completing the form below. Following the webinar, you will be able to take an evaluation and receive 1 CE.

In this encore presentation of LiveData’s seminar at the OR Manager Conference, LiveData Clinical Support Specialist Jeffrey Oliver, Lt. Col, Ret., CCNS, CNOR, will explain how a medical center in the southeastern US increased their OR throughput after widespread pandemic slowdowns.

By deploying analytics-driven insights, the hospital found where workflow updates would most impact OR capacity. While the medical center was able to increase capacity to schedule more patients and eliminate wait times, this led to a new challenge: with over a dozen hospitals and ASCs nearby, local practices held out for visible scheduling improvements before filling the hospital’s newly-created capacity.

This condensed session will explain in detail how focusing on six metrics was the most effective way for the hospital to attract new cases, resulting in a 6% growth in case volume.

Learning objectives:

• Understand why six metrics had an outsized impact on OR capacity
• Identify practical analytic methods to track these six key indicators
• Summarize how a comprehensive OR scheduling policy and governance structure can address the six key metrics at an institutional and individual level

Speaker:

Jeffrey Oliver, Lt Col, Ret., is a Clinical Nurse Specialist (CCNS) and certified perioperative nurse (CNOR). He has over 30 years of nursing experience and has served in a variety of nursing roles throughout his career. He was commissioned in the United States Air Force in 1995. He was deployed three times during his twenty-five-year career. Jeff was assigned as faculty at the Uniformed Services University Graduate School of Nursing and served as the Perioperative Nursing Consultant to the Air Force Surgeon General before retiring from the Air Force in March 2021. Jeff then served as the Director of Surgical Services at a community hospital in South Carolina before joining LiveData as a Clinical Support Specialist.

Register now by completing the form below. Following the webinar, you will be able to take an evaluation and receive 1 CE.

In response to rising healthcare demands, hospitals seek to enhance service delivery without costly expansions. This presentation showcases WakeMed Health’s innovative approach to ensuring access and optimizing their capacity within their operating rooms and procedural rooms.

Dr. Charles Harr, CMO at WakeMed, will demonstrate the crucial role of physician and anesthesia leader involvement in optimizing both operating room and procedural area utilization. He will share insights on how they leveraged innovative capacity optimization technologies and transformation services in conjunction with their EHR systems, highlighting real-world benefits and cost savings achieved through these strategic improvements including:

• 11% increase in prime-time case minutes across their operating rooms
• 21% increase in prime-time case minutes within their procedural areas
• Reaching an system high in proactively released block minutes, increasing 13.5% year-over-year

Learn how WakeMed’s approach minimized waste, maximized high-value resources, and led to significant operational efficiencies and financial gains. This session offers a blueprint for healthcare organizations seeking to optimize their most valuable resources in today’s challenging environment.

Learning Objectives:

• Examine the role of physician and anesthesia leaders in implementing proactive access and capacity management strategies to optimize OR and procedural room utilization.
• Evaluate the benefits of integrating capacity management technologies and services with existing EHR systems to enhance hospital operational efficiency.
• Analyze how strategic improvements in capacity management can lead to substantial cost savings through minimized resource waste and maximized utilization of expensive equipment and procedural areas.

Speaker:

Charles D. Harr, MD, MBA
Rear Admiral, MC, SHCE (Ret.)
CMO / Executive Healthcare Strategist

Dr. Harr has more than 25 years of healthcare experience in commercial and military healthcare across various levels of care – including acute, ambulatory, sub-acute, behavioral and long-term – as well as payers. Dr. Harr is a savvy and dedicated healthcare executive committed to optimizing organizational performance, delivering leading-edge care, and generating exceptional, cost-effective results. He is an accomplished Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeon with a reputation as a leading physician in the field of minimally invasive robotic techniques. He established an exceptional program ranked #2 in volume in the Mid-Atlantic Region and #18 in the United States. Dr. Harr is an avid proponent of advances in medicine and healthcare. He has led numerous initiatives and innovative solutions that consistently improve quality of care and patient outcomes. As the lead clinical physician and skilled educator, he employed state-of-the-art innovations in healthcare and evidence-based practices to provide general surgery residents with outstanding thoracic surgical training at a nationally ranked healthcare facility. He is known as a results-focused and resourceful visionary who advocates lifelong learning.

Registration form

Register now by completing the form below. Following the webinar, you will be able to take an evaluation and receive 1 CE.

In an era of rapid technological advancement, surgical teams must leverage cutting-edge tools and practices to enhance patient care and operational efficiency while navigating the challenges of electronic health records. This webinar explores essential technologies for modern Oracle Health Cerner-based surgical teams, focusing on Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions and cybersecurity measures in healthcare settings.

We’ll examine how cloud-based SaaS platforms optimize surgical capacity, increase case volume, and boost surgeon and staff satisfaction in resource-constrained environments. The webinar will cover critical aspects of successful surgical scheduling, including planning, team communication, patient safety, and data management. Given the sensitive nature of medical information, we’ll also address the latest cybersecurity threats facing healthcare institutions and provide an overview of best practices for protecting patient data and maintaining HIPAA compliance. Key topics will include secure data storage, encryption methods, and staff training for cybersecurity awareness.

Learning Objectives

1. Identify and evaluate key technologies that dramatically increase the value delivered by Oracle Health Cerner by offloading key surgical workflows to a dedicated System of Engagement, focusing on the potential to increase case volumes, improve patient outcomes, and boost operational efficiency.
2. Analyze how an advanced System of Engagement complements electronic health records (EHRs) to boost accessibility, efficiency, security, and patient safety in surgical settings.
3. Recognize common cybersecurity threats in healthcare and implement effective strategies to protect patient data and maintain HIPAA compliance.

Speakers:

Michael Foster
Independent Healthcare IT Consultant
Mike Foster has worked in IT for 30 years and Healthcare IT for 20 years. His experience includes stints with multiple companies, including Perot Systems, Dell, NTT Data, and Tenet, as well as providing consulting for multiple companies in the healthcare space. Mike specializes in field service operations and has extensive knowledge of PACS/Radiology, EMR, and other specialty systems, including security systems, phones, and overall healthcare operations. Mike has completed large builds as an IT PM liaison, building a new 250,000-square-foot hospital and opening more than 40 physician clinics. Mike is well-versed in HIPAA. He is a FEMA HazMat Instructor and a CPI Certified Crisis Prevention Instructor. He is also a certified webmaster and holds an A+ CompTIA certification.

Matthew Churchill
Chief Operating Officer
LiveData
Matt brings LiveData a combined clinical and healthcare sales background that focuses on delivering solutions to meet each customer’s needs and preferences. Matt began his career as a licensed physical therapist, earning his B.S. in Physical Therapy from the University of Connecticut. He then transitioned into a successful sales career in both the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, winning several performance awards.

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