SHM Converge Scientific Abstract ePoster Gallery-Creating and Implementing Systemwide Standardized Hospitalist Note Templates

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Allina Health’s Division of Hospital Medicine launched a systemwide quality improvement project to standardize hospitalist note templates across 11 hospitals and about 280 hospitalists and advanced practice providers. Previously, many providers used customized electronic medical record templates, creating wide variation in documentation. This made chart review slower and less efficient for care transitions among clinicians, nurses, therapists, care managers, and consultants.<br /><br />The team’s goals were to improve provider efficiency, ensure consistent capture of key diagnoses, increase ease of use across sites, and reduce “note bloat” to improve clarity and patient care. A multidisciplinary committee was formed with input from hospitalist sites, telemedicine, information systems, and coding teams. The group developed standardized templates with a uniform layout and embedded functionality to track compliance with template use.<br /><br />Implementation occurred over six months, transitioning the entire system from variable notes to standardized templates. Nearly a year later, compliance reached close to 99%. Provider feedback was largely positive: in a survey of 114 hospitalists, 74.5% reported greater satisfaction with the new templates, 23.7% were neutral, and only 1.7% were dissatisfied. Regarding efficiency, 55.7% felt the standardized notes improved efficiency, 36.3% were neutral, and 7.9% felt efficiency worsened.<br /><br />The project was supported financially by the health system through a temporary incentive bonus tied to provider adoption and usage data. The authors note that these incentives are not intended to be permanent and that future plans will address their sunset. Overall, the standardized note templates appear to have improved consistency, usability, and satisfaction while supporting clearer and more efficient clinical communication.

Asset Subtitle

Love A. Patel

Meta Tag

Author List Becky Pierce, Christine Schmidt, Daniel Bullard, David Beddow, Douglas Berg, Duc Nguyen, Kris Drevlow, Love A. Patel, Mark Miller, Matthew Thielman, Michael Rudolph

Category Innovations

Concept Hospitalist Note Templates

Concept Standardization

Concept Transitional Care

Concept Provider Efficiency

Concept Compliance

Distinguished Non-Finalist

Presenter Organization Allina Health

Presenting Author Love A. Patel

Track Quality Improvement

Keywords

hospital medicine

standardized note templates

quality improvement

electronic medical record

documentation consistency

provider efficiency

hospitalist workflow

care transitions

template compliance

clinical communication

Hospitalist Note Templates

Standardization

Transitional Care

Provider Efficiency

Compliance