TEAMWORK Nurses lead adaptation of digital patient tool WELLSTAR WINDY HILL AND KENNESTONE REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER New resource offers focused patient education to better prepare patients for knee and hip replacement surgery.
An innovative collaboration between orthopedic nurses at Windy Hill and Kennestone is achieving its ambitious goal—to improve the patient experience for Wellstar patients undergoing knee and hip replacement surgery. The nurses were motivated by the fact that joint patients receive a great deal of potentially confusing information from various sources. They hoped to streamline and focus that content. Amanda Hill, Windy Hill Total Joint RN Coordinator, was intrigued to learn about Care Companion, an interactive patient assistance tool available through Epic’s MyChart. Amanda reached out to her Kennestone counterpart, Rebekah Tumlin, with the idea of customizing the tool for Wellstar total knee and hip replacement patients. Their aim was to create a version that would provide pre-op support and minimize potential complications during recovery.
Amanda and Rebekah worked closely with the Epic team for over a year to develop the tool. The new Care Companion reinforces patient education topics, recommends actual tasks and invites the patient to complete surgery-specific questionnaires to help clinical staff assess a patient’s status and readiness. Certain responses are flagged, indicating that the patient may require follow-up communication from the nurse coordinator. Starting in January 2024, the MyChart Care Companion was completed and offered
to Kennestone and Windy Hill Total Knee Replacement patients. A hip care version was introduced in June. n
The new Care Companion reinforces patient education topics, recommends actual tasks and invites the patient to complete surgery-specific questionnaires that help clinical staff assess a patient’s status and readiness.
EXEMPLARY PRACTICE Total Joint Center aims higher WELLSTAR WINDY HILL ORTHOPEDIC & TOTAL JOINT CENTER
held monthly Total Joint Clinical Huddles to ensure a consistent pathway of care. After an intensive two-year application process, the
Center received Joint Commission for Advanced Certification. The team is continuing to aim higher and has total shoulder and total ankle replacement programs underway along with collaborations with Wellstar Kennestone Regional Medical Center on the digital tool MyChart Care Companion. n
The Wellstar Windy Hill Orthopedic & Total Joint Center, an outpatient surgery facility, opened in 2020. Since opening, the team has developed performance measures, candidate criteria guidelines, required education programs and
19 | 2024 NURSING REPORT
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