Standardized Tracheostomy Education Across the Enterprise

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this quality improvement project was to create a Tracheostomy Subject Matter Expert (Trach SME) Committee to standardize tracheostomy care, education, and the discharge process across Boston Children's Hospital.

Design and methods: Boston Children's Hospital (BCH) is a free-standing urban tertiary pediatric hospital with 15 inpatient units. The newly formed Trach SME Committee evaluated the discharge process across the enterprise including hospital satellites and intra-hospital practice. Education materials were centralized, and policies were reviewed, revised and standardized to reflect current best practice. The Trach SME provided education to Trach Champions from each area that became resources for their respective units. The Trach SME also developed measurement outcomes to assess the effectiveness of the education process.

Results: In the implementation year of 2104, our 7-day unplanned readmission rate for tracheostomy patients was 18.18%. This rate decreased to 6.67% in 2015 and to 0% in 2016. In 2015, we began to monitor 30-day unplanned readmissions and the rate was 6.67% in 2015 and decreased to 0% in 2016.

Conclusions and practice implications: Standardization of policies, procedures and caregiver educational materials for the management of patients with a tracheostomy tube improved tracheostomy care across the enterprise and reduced tracheostomy readmission rates.

Keywords: Discharge; Education; Interdisciplinary; Standardization; Tracheostomy.