HAP Achievement Awards: Bryn Mawr Rehabilitation Hospital

August 09, 2024

HAP's annual Achievement Awards honor hospitals and health systems for their innovation, creativity, and commitment to patient care. The Achievement Awards showcase and share member hospitals’ and health systems’ successful programs and best practices.

This year, Bryn Mawr Rehabilitation Hospital received the Optimal Operations Award for its project focused on the discharge of acute inpatient rehabilitation patients.

Here’s what you need to know:

• The challenge:   The hospital noted a substantially higher rate of patients discharging from the facility with recommendations for supervision when compared to regional and national benchmarks.
• Addressing the issue:  Through a review, the hospital team uncovered an implicit bias, with staff recommending supervision for patients who had any history of cognitive, safety, or balance impairments regardless of demonstrated performance or resolution of these barriers.  
• Taking action:  The team developed educational modules for staff, including guidance on the need for objective justification of supervision scoring and appropriate reasons and scenarios where a patient would match for supervision or independent scoring.
  • The team also focused on a chart audit and feedback process to ensure accurate patient scoring for discharge.
• Results:  Within three months of education, the hospital system saw an eight-point overall improvement in discharge quality indicator scores, with facility performance exceeding regional and national benchmarks. The team noted significant improvements in 10 key areas overall.
• Advancing care:  “By increasing the introspection and objectivity regarding these recommendations, our facility was able to mitigate any disparities and promote appropriate independence in the above‐mentioned patient populations,” the team noted in its entry. “Staff were also able to identify strategies both in their practice and in how they provide family education and training to optimize independence in the community post discharge.”

Congratulations to Bryn Mawr Rehabilitation Hospital for its outstanding efforts to improve operations and care. Learn more about the project online.

Questions about the HAP Achievement Awards may be directed to HAP Member Services at (717) 561-5359.