Department of Surgery Residents Receive High Score for Association of American Medical Colleges’ Conference Abstract

Drs. Jay Zhu, Kate Stadeli, and Andrew Ludwig, and Surgical ARNP Kathryn Harris

Evening Huddles In Action: Surgical Night Float Meets with Evening Charge Nurses

Department of Surgery residents Drs. Jay Zhu (PGY-5), Kate Stadeli (PGY-4), and Andrew Ludwig (PGY-5), as well as Surgical ARNP Kathryn Harris (ARNP), received a high score for their Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) conference abstract submission. Their project is summarized below:

Improving Interdisciplinary Communication: Standardizing Nightly Huddles Between Surgery Night Float Residents and Acute Care Nurses

Poor communication plays a critical role in medical errors leading to patient injury and death, while also increasing dissatisfaction among the members of a healthcare team. At UWMC, there was concern that the surgery night float rotation was often receiving inadequate handoff communication while also participating in a culture that relies heavily on pager-based messaging. Through an interdisciplinary collaborative effort led by Jay Zhu, Kate Stadeli, Kathryn Harris, and Andrew Ludwig, the night float rotation implemented standardized evening huddles to bring together the night float resident and the nursing staff on acute care surgical floors for nightly face-to-face discussions. The goal was to improve the communication of patient care plans while enhancing teamwork between the physician and nursing teams. This initiative was first piloted at UWMC on 4NE, and has since expanded to 7SA. The response from both residents and nurses has been overwhelmingly positive. Through survey responses, nurses have indicated that they better understand the general surgery team’s plan while also rating overall communication as being improved following the implementation of nightly huddles. Furthermore, more nurses were also able to identify their current night float resident on a face sheet. Currently, we are looking to establish similar huddles in other specialties and to expand this practice to Harborview Medical Center. We’d like to extend a special thanks to Traci Morgen, Patricia Berg, Jonathan Jimenez, and Michael Rositzke for being our incredible partners in this effort to improve patient care.

They have been invited to give an oral presentation and Dr. Zhu will be presenting their work at the 2018 AAMC Integrating Quality Conference.