How Gosford Hospital’s Stroke Service set a new standard of care
(for both patients and doctors)
The Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS), as part of the Quality Improvement Awards 2019, Highly Commended Gosford Hospital for a project based on the implementation of the Scrawl Software.
Before Scrawl
The key performance indicators of acute stroke unit care have improved slowly or have not improved at all nationally since the National Stroke Foundation began clinical audits in 2007, as shown below.
With Scrawl
Scrawl* was introduced to Gosford Hospital in the year 2018/2019 at the request of their clinical staff. Improvements were immediately demonstrated across patient care and length of stay, as well as improved documentation, coding, and classification of stroke patients.
*This Scrawl deployment was done under a working title: “Rounds by Trazepp Medical.”
14.2%
Reduction in average patient stay, from 7.7 to 6.6 days. This saved 699 bed days, decreasing bed block.
97%
Stroke unit care (baseline for service and nationally 60-75%).
$1,210,000
Savings in terms of productivity from reduced stays over a 9-month period.
*Alanati, K., Presented at Stroke Society Australasia (2019)
Improvements to patient care
21% uplift in stroke unit care
Increase in stroke unit care to 97% against a national benchmark of 68%, and up from 76% in 2017.
15% increase in antihypertensives in ischaemic strokes
Increase to 95% from a national benchmark of 76%, and up from 80% in 2017
40% uplift in anticoagluants for atrial fibrillation
Increase to 90% from a national average of 70%, and up from 50% in 2017.
Substantial improvements to documenting patient care
A substantial improvement in clinical documentation was observed when a comparison of key clinical data points was examined in a consecutive case series of patients admitted prior to, and post-deployment of, Scrawl.
Improvements to documentation, coding, and classification
In the Activity Based Funding model in Australian public hospitals, acute admitted activity is funded at a Diagnosis Related Group (DRG) level. In Stroke, the DRG family is B70, and there are 4 DRGs. B70A is the most complex and attracts more funding to cover the costs of caring for more complex patients. A B70D is the least complex and has the least funding. As a result of improved documentation, the Gosford complexity spilt has increased in 2018/19 with more B70A and B70B DRGs and less B70C and B70D DRGs.
See all the data and get a demo of Scrawl.