Corewell Health enables workforce to focus on patients

In an American Hospital Association podcast, Corewell Health Chief Operating Officer Darryl Elmouchi, MD, discusses how the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based hospital system piloted programs to enable its workforce to prioritize patient care. Corewell Health hired a team to document how front-line nurses were spending their time and found only 44% was spent on direct patient care. The health system created an app for patients and nurses to fill out requests, such as getting a glass of water or a blanket and hired workers to fulfill those requests. To reduce length-of-stay at its larger hospitals, Corewell Health assigned patients, doctors, nurses and care managers close together on the same unit or floor to improve communication among clinicians, reducing discharge wait times.