Clinical Improvement
How Does the CHIC Scale Help with Clinical Improvement?
Improving healthcare is a complex and essential undertaking. Facilitating clinical improvement can be achieved through several means. However, intentional efforts for improvement likely include both specific and generalized plans. The CHIC Scale contributes to better healthcare outcomes, through improved interprofessional collaboration. While there are many ways this instrument can support efforts to improve clinical practice and outcomes, a few are introduced here.
The CHIC Scale offers clarity for the individual as well as the team and organization. This instrument particularly excels when groups of connected healthcare professionals seek clarity together. Improving aspects of healthcare delivery requires a systemic focus. Optimizing one area of the organization or process may produce unforeseen effects elsewhere. The six factors of the scale provide support for initiating related improvement initiatives, as well as offering data for projects already underway. Quality improvement, process improvement, risk management, and research professionals are encouraged to distribute and use the online assessment and paper format of the CHIC Scale free of charge. Special assessment links for departments or organizations are available by request. Additional support for expert analyses, reports, and consultation is also available from Pearson Innovation.
Patient Satisfaction
Most healthcare care organizations are regulated by several accreditation, regulatory, and other oversight agencies. The documentation required by such groups presents an opportunity to compare the values of such metrics and values from the CHIC Scale. For example, matching patient satisfaction scores to CHIC Scale scores offers an individual, departmental, or organizational view of how collaboration affects a wide range of clinical efforts and patient perceptions. Such insights support targeted action plans for many common topics such as “Overall Quality of Care” and “Staff Listening”. Regression analysis paired with CHIC Scale scores can yield powerful insights when used in combination with other measures already being collected.
Staffing Acuity Levels
The nursing staff is the backbone of inpatient care. Frequently interprofessional care is facilitated by those who have the most patient contact. However, not all patients receive the same amount of attention. In many hospitals, the ratio of nursing staffing to patients is based on the acuity of the care required. Low acuity units have higher patient-to-nurse ratios than intensive care units where the acuity is much higher. Determining these ratios can be a complex and iterative process. The CHIC Scale provides nursing administration with a reliable measure to determine how these ratios affect the staff providing patient care.
Patient Handoffs
Handoffs between shifts and departments are an indispensable part of patient-centered care. However, when these opportunities to collaborate are missed the potential harm to the patient increases. Comparing the CHIC Scale scores between departments like the Emergency Room and a General Medical Unit or between the day and night shifts of the same unit hold valuable clues to improve care transitions. Understanding how these handoffs fail provides security for patients and healthcare organizations tending to their care.
Readmission Rates
The quality of the patient discharge planning process has far-reaching effects including hospital readmission rates. Poor interprofessional collaboration leads to avoidable gaps in care planning. When used systemically, the CHIC Scale provides clarity to better facilitate the discharge planning process. By understanding how the expectation and capacity for collaboration vary across departments, professions, and even among shifts, clear steps can be taken to make improvements.