Background A two-year quality improvement campaign at a single teaching hospital was launched to improve the identification, documentation, and treatment of pressure ulcers (PUs) after Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) declared severe hospital-acquired PUs are “never-events.” Method The campaign included (1) reference materials, (2) new documentation templates, (3) staff education, and (4) hospital-wide mattress replacement. An ongoing retrospective chart review of frail older patients determined the presence of PU documentation, which provider (nurse or physician) documented the PU, and which descriptors (stage, size, or location) were used. Results The campaign significantly increased the proportion of PUs completely documented by nurses from 27% to 55% following mattress replacement and resident education (OR 3.68, p = 0.001, 95% CI: 1.68–8.08). A similar improvement was observed for physician documentation increasing from 12% to 36% following the same interventions however this change was not statistically significant (OR 2.11, p = 0.12, 95% CI: 0.82–5.39). These improvements were short-lived due to the implementation of electronic medical records (EMR) for nursing notes. Although the percentage of PUs completely documented by nurses decreased following EMR implementation, it increased in the following months, above the pre-campaign baseline as nurses adapted to the new documentation system. However, after EMR implementation, complete PU documentation by physicians fell to a nadir of 0% and did not recover. Discussion A multi-component campaign to improve the quality of PU documentation by both physicians and nurses can yield positive gains. However, these improvements were short-lived due to EMR implementation, which acutely worsened documentation of PUs. This emphasizes the importance of frequent and repeated interventions to sustain quality improvement successes.

Enhancing clinic handoffs can improve the handoff process, increase the likelihood of patients seeing the correct primary care provider within the target time frame, reduce missed tests, and possibly reduce acute visits.

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