Change Management: Enhancing OB/GYN Care in a Florida Health System Case Study
System Information
A large South Florida public health system with community and regional facilities
TeamHealth Services Provided
The Challenge
The need for emergency physician support was vital to helping the labor and delivery unit at this South Florida hospital improve patient safety and quality of care for pregnant patients. They desired medical screening at the point of contact rather than the traditional model of nursing triage with remote physician input. They also sought to increase the level of care they provided to the community clinicians as well as provide inpatient clinical teaching and supervision for resident physicians. To achieve this, though, required thoughtful implementation, culture shift and trust-building with nursing staff, community-based obstetricians and hospital leadership.
Building a Partnership
To achieve these goals, the system turned to TeamHealth. In September 2019, the partnership began at an initial site, bringing another site on board in February 2020. Working closely with facility leadership, we were able to identify needed changes and create custom solutions that best suited the needs of the hospitals, staff and community. The team began gradually implementing clinical and operational changes with the following goals:
- Implement an OB-ED to improve patient safety and quality beyond “safety-net” care
- Support an OB/GYN residency program to train physicians while enhancing standards of care
- Integrate existing emergency medicine and hospitalist services with OB/GYN care
Change Management
Managing large-scale changes in any facility is difficult. With these multiple expansions of services and added programs, in addition to the strains of the COVID-19 pandemic, the team needed alignment and open communication to accomplish their shared goals.
Conclusion
The health system and TeamHealth have a long-standing relationship. This intuitive partnership allowed us to create a collaborative and team-oriented environment. These successes have bolstered quality patient care – helping us achieve our ultimate goal of providing our community excellent care.
“The changes we’ve implemented have been successful because we are focused on building. In every respect, this has been a true partnership from day one.” –Robert Hunter, MD, Associate Regional Medical Director, Facility Medical Director, OB/GYN Hospitalist Services
Results
- Maintained and advanced quality through substantial clinical and operational changes
- Expanded services to include OB-ED implementation and increased volume, with an increase from 50 OB-ED patients in September 2019 to 322 OB-ED patients in May 2022.
- Transformed team culture among OB/GYN hospitalists, nursing staff, residents and community physicians
- Integrated OB/GYN, hospitalist and emergency medicine care to improve patient flow, safety and throughput
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