3 Ways to Make Hospital Care More Age-Friendly
Jo Ann Endo, MSW, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), gives specific instructions in this IHI blog on ways to make hospital care for older adults safer, more effective, and more patient-centered.
The piece draws on lessons from Anne Arundel Medical Center. Lillian Banchero, MSN, RN, Senior Director, Patient Flow/Nursing Operations/Geriatrics says that the center is piloting "the 4Ms" framework:
- Understand and actively support
what matters to older adults;
- Discuss whether medications are
unnecessary or potentially harmful;
- Review mobility plans for each patient;
- Improve mentation by addressing problems like dementia, delirium, and depression.
The blog outlines three things that teams can do to make care in hospitals more age-friendly:
- Incorporate "the 4Ms" into nursing bedside shift reports: makes it easier to remember the most important patient information
- Prioritize daily exercise for older patients: group physical therapy found that patients progress faster
- Rethink whiteboards: for instance, to include "What Matters to You"
To read the blog, click here.
To learn more about the 4Ms and creating age-friendly health systems, click here.
