Improving the Patient Care Experience in Residential Eating Disorder Treatment: A Quality Improvement Project

Purpose The purpose of this project was to implement structured biweekly patient check-ins at a residential treatment facility for eating disorders. This project was intended to increase the patient care satisfaction scores on patient discharge surveys from under 80% to over 90%. Background The project was implemented at a 12-bed residential treatment facility for adolescents and adults diagnosed with eating disorders located in Cypress, Texas. Methodology The Baird 2007 concept of scripting during rounds was utilized as well as the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAPS) patient care experience survey questions when creating the script used during biweekly check-ins. The check-ins were recorded in an anonymous survey and compared monthly. The Institute of Healthcare Improvement’s Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle was utilized with a plan to meet with leadership every 2 months. Results After 4 months of implemented patient biweekly check-ins, the mean of patient discharge survey scores was over 90%. Only 1 PDSA cycle was completed with 6 patients completing eating disorder treatment during the period of project implementation. Implications The implementation of regular patient check-ins may lead to improvement in the overall patient care experience at a residential treatment care facility where rounds are not a part of the schedule. The sustainability of this project is dependent on leadership’s willingness to train staff on scripted patient check-ins.