PROBLEM

Patients who need to spend time in a post-acute care facility are often in medically complex situations which require specialized care. In these cases, timely and relevant patient information is imperative, especially patients with infectious diseases. Kindred Health Services has developed an antimicrobial stewardship program to provide best-in-class care to these vulnerable patients. Kindred looked for a solution to fill the information gaps, and also help them better coordinate with the infectious disease physicians to ensure their patients were managed effectively, while providing protections to other patients and community at large.

SOLUTION

The lead pharmacist of Kindred’s Infectious Diseases initiative uses CareWeb to help bridge the gap between the care the patient received in the hospital and the care they receive at their facility. Often the patient brings with them information on paper, but Kindred uses CareWeb to complete the information patients bring and take away the burden from the patient. CareWeb helps informs Kindred which infectious disease physician is providing ongoing care to the patient, what cultures have been done and what medicines they are on and other pertinent medical history. All of this information is available ahead, or at, the time of the patient arriving at the facility.Kindred also uses CareWeb to help them determine the most accurate stop date of antibiotics for a patient with an infectious disease. The length of time that a patient has been on antibiotics prior to arriving at Kindred can vary. Instead of relying on a general timeframe, Kindred can research specific to minimize the risk of complications related to antibiotic use.

IDENTIFIER

Monica Leriger
Clinical Pharmacist
Kindred Healthcare Enterprise
Clinical setting: Post-Acute Care

BENEFITS

  • Supports better and safer use of antibiotics
  • Community-based initiative to reduce antibiotic resistance
  • Improves communication with specialists in a highly complex setting
  • Saves staff time and frustration searching for clinical information

QUOTES

“One of our patients was on an antibiotic that was suboptimal for a particular infection. Because of CareWeb, I learned that the patient had a problem with what was considered the gold standard antibiotic for this infection. This information helped us with identifying an appropriate treatment plan for this particular patient.”
“We use CareWeb when new patients come into the facility. It’s so useful. We can find out where they’ve been, what labs have been done, and their discharge papers.”
“One big benefit from CareWeb is that I am often off site and can not access the papers sent with the patient. CareWeb allows me to get quick and accurate patient info regardless of my location.”

CASE STUDY

  • Situation: The CDC has named the escalating threat of antibiotic resistance one of the top five health threats in the United States. Especially within a transition of care setting, antibiotics sometimes are continued unnecessarily simply because information can be missing, such as why the antibiotic was initiated or how long it’s supposed to be continued.
  • Benefits: If healthcare team members have access to key information about their patients’ antibiotic therapy (including indication, dosage, and duration), fewer complications would arise for patients and it would help decrease the risks to the community at large from antibiotic overuse or misuse.
  • What it Means: An improvement in patient outcomes and effective efforts to help decrease the number of people infected with antibiotic-resistant organisms, which the CDC estimates results in 23,000 deaths annually.