July 2, 2015

Commitment to quality improvement

Linda Soubirous, MPA, director of patient care, medical service line, LLU Medical Center (third from left) and her colleagues were recognized for implementing a new, efficient way of improving patient care.
Pictured from left to right are Jan Kroetz, MN, chief nursing officer, LLU Medical Center; registered nurse Gina Jansen, educator for units 6100, 6200 and 6300; Soubirous; Terry Hansen, MPH, chief operating officer, LLU Medical Center; James Pappas, MD, chief patient safety officer; Beth Elwell, MBA, executive project director for Project NOWW; CEO Kerry Heinrich, JD; and Ken Mitchell, director of process improvement.

Loma Linda University Medical Center administrators in the hospital executive leadership group recently honored participants in a new program called SIBR — structured interdisciplinary bedside rounding. 

Linda Soubirous, MPA, director of patient care, medical service line, LLU Medical Center, and her colleagues were trained in the technique, which provides streamlined communication between night shift nurses and the incoming day shift, as well as physicians.

“Jim Pappas, MD, our chief patient safety officer, learned about this program from Jason Stein, MD, medical director of the hospitalist service at Emory University in Atlanta,” says Soubirous.

“Dr. Stein was invited to lecture here regarding SIBR and was subsequently retained as a consultant, providing extensive training to Loma Linda University Health physicians and employees.”

SIBR is a patient-centered technique designed to enhance interdisciplinary communication and care planning, all in four minutes or less per patient. This conversation starts outside the door of the patient’s room and continues at the bedside. 

“We have much more effective and streamlined information about our patients, thanks to this program,” Soubirous says. “Our nurses, who often have five patients at a time, now see a bigger picture regarding their patients.”

Kerry Heinrich, CEO of the medical center, congratulated Soubirous and her staff on a job well done. The SIBR program is set to be used on other units as well.

The program was implemented as part of the New Outstanding Ways to Work (NOWW) project instituted earlier this year.

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