SHM Converge Scientific Abstract ePoster Gallery-A Quantitative Analysis of Paging Records to Improve Interdisciplinary Communication on a Hospitalist Service.

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This retrospective quality improvement study examined paging records from a hospitalist service to determine whether a data-driven intervention could improve paging communication. The authors analyzed all eligible pages sent over two 7-day periods: before the intervention and three months after. Automatic pages, personal pages, admission pages, radiology pages, and consults were excluded.<br /><br />A total of 3,483 pages were included: 1,806 pre-intervention and 1,677 post-intervention. Pages were categorized by subject matter, including labs, medications, vital signs, diet, patient assessment/clinical change, pain, and other. Diet-related pages were the most common in both periods. After the intervention, the total number of pages decreased for all categories except pain, which increased from 3% to 7%.<br /><br />The study also assessed whether pages contained five essential communication elements: patient name and medical record number, sender’s name, callback number, priority level, and the clinical concern. Overall adherence to all five best-practice elements improved significantly from 15.2% before the intervention to 40% afterward. Specific improvements were seen in pages containing patient identifiers (49.3% to 70%), priority (31.6% to 51.9%), and concern (96.6% to 98.1%). Sender name and callback number were already high at baseline and did not change significantly.<br /><br />The intervention was guided by Lean Six Sigma methods and informed by the initial quantitative analysis. The results suggest that systematically studying paging patterns can identify communication gaps and support targeted quality improvement efforts. The authors conclude that rigorous analysis of paging records can effectively improve adherence to paging best practices and enhance interdisciplinary communication on hospitalist services.

Asset Subtitle

Stephen Biederman

Meta Tag

Author List Alison Wilkins, Emily Holt, Jennifer Batie, Mallory B. Manriquez, Nargiza Kurbanova, Stephen Biederman, Timothy R. Ford

Category Research

Concept Paging Record

Concept Clinical Page

Concept Quantitative Analysis

Concept Communication Pattern

Concept Patient Identifier

Distinguished Non-Finalist

Presenter Organization VCU Health System

Presenting Author Stephen Biederman

Track Communication

Keywords

paging communication

quality improvement

hospitalist service

Lean Six Sigma

retrospective study

best-practice adherence

clinical paging records

interdisciplinary communication

patient identifiers

communication intervention

Paging Record

Clinical Page

Quantitative Analysis

Communication Pattern

Patient Identifier