Six Best Practice Elements of ThedaCare's Collaborative Care Model
The collaborative model has been widely successful in improving the quality of patient care and making that care more efficient, according to Kathryn Correia, senior vice president of ThedaCare and president of Appleton Medical Center and ThedaClark Medical Center in Neenah, WI.
length of stay by 25 percent and various error margins to nearly zero and significantly increasing patient satisfaction scores.
Correa highlights that the key to this innovation and process redesign is staff involvement at all levels. Collaboration among physician, nurse, and pharmacist roles is increased and waste and non-value added activity is reduced.
- Collaborative rounding upon admission: rounding as a team to reduce delays and minimize handoff errors
- Evidence-based plans of care: standardized work for treatment of the patient
- Nurse as manager of care: Nurse as process owner, making suggestions to the MD (a huge culture shift)
- Tollgates: Ensure consistent, documented care, with the ability to stop the line if there is a problem or delay
- Electronic Medical Record: EMRs that provide notifications to nurses (a form of process error proofing)
- Purposeful design of physical space: Reducing walking to create more value-added time for patient care — 80% of supplies are kept in patient rooms.
Subscribe via RSS | Lean Blog Main Page | Podcast | Twitter @markgraban
Please scroll down (or click) to post a comment. Connect with me on LinkedIn.
Let’s work together to build a culture of continuous improvement and psychological safety. If you're a leader looking to create lasting change—not just projects—I help organizations:
- Engage people at all levels in sustainable improvement
- Shift from fear of mistakes to learning from them
- Apply Lean thinking in practical, people-centered ways
Interested in coaching or a keynote talk? Let’s start a conversation.
