How Outpatient Wound Nurses Redesigned Their Work Environment During COVID-19

COVID-19 caused upheaval in health care and in how the wound clinic treated patients. In a poster presented this week at the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care (SAWC) Fall, nurses at Houston Methodist Willowbrook Wound Care Clinic detailed how they adapted to treat patients better and improve workflow.¹
 
One challenge the authors identified was the length of time patients waited to be seen. Specifically, issues included the impact of “unnecessarily long” wait times on patients and stronger patient safety measures necessary due to COVID. The nurses used weekly huddles and staff meetings to identify opportunities for shorter wait times and better staff engagement.
 
Among the changes the wound clinic implemented were decreasing duplicate charting areas, expanding clinic hours, eliminating the waiting room in the clinic, and discontinuing nurse 1-2-3 roles.
 
The poster found these measures increased patient satisfaction by 14% with scores in upward 90th percentile. Visit times for new patients, established patients and nurse visits improved by 44%, 50%, and 56% respectively, note the authors, who add that employee engagement increased. Employee engagement achieved a Tier 1 designation, the highest satisfaction level.
 
Reference
 
1. Bouchard J. Nurses involved in the redesign of the work environment in the outpatient wound clinic during COVID-19. Poster presented at the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care (SAWC) Fall, October 14–16, 2022.