King Beth, Young-Xu Yinong, Lee William J, van Aalst Robertus, Shiner Brian, Mills Peter, Eickhoff Leah, Neily Julia
National Center for Patient Safety (Mss King and Neily and Dr Young-Xu, Mr Lee, and Drs Shiner and Mills) and Clinical Epidemiology Program (Dr Young-Xu and Mr van Aalst and Ms Eickhoff), Veterans Affairs Medical Center, White River Junction, Vermont; and Department of Psychiatry, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire (Drs Young-Xu and Shiner).
J Nurs Care Qual. 2018 Apr/Jun;33(2):123-127. doi: 10.1097/NCQ.0000000000000271.
The Veterans Health Administration implemented The Daily Plan (TDP) to improve patient safety. We compared length of stay and readmission between intervention and control units. Length of stay decreased for both groups. Readmission rates increased for controls (21.3%-25.0%, P = .02) and barely changed for TDP units (21.7%-22.5%, P = .37). Although there were no efficiency improvements, TDP's ultimate goal was safety. Not all patient safety actions improve efficiency; nonetheless, their value continues.
