KU Hospital nurses keep docs in the know

Newsletters are common practice among hospitals, but this year nurses at the University of Kansas Hospital launched a newsletter unlike any other.

Physicians at KU Hospital receive From Your RN the first Friday of each month. The newsletter, written and edited by nurses, informs physicians of practice changes throughout the hospital. The newsletter goes to attendings, residents, fellows and third- and fourth-year medical students.

KU Float Pool Unit Educator Liz Miquelon, RN, BSN, thought of the idea for the newsletter during the Advisory Board Company’s Frontliner Leadership Project.

“There were times that nurses knew information before the physicians,” Miquelon said. “We felt like there was a disconnect.”

Miquelon said she immediately received positive feedback from the leadership at KU.

Quality Outcomes Coordinators Mike Hastings, RN, and Jennifer Thibault, RN, BSN, MBA, LNCC, CRRN, SANE-A, CCM, joined Miquelon’s editorial team to make the newsletter become a reality.

“When Jen and Mike came on it was a huge relief to me,” Miquelon said.

The newsletter launched in May 2009.

Physicians receive From Your RN via e-mail. Hard copies of the newsletter are distributed in physicians’ work and break rooms. The newsletter is also available on the hospital’s intranet site.

From Your RN currently has about 50 contributors.

“We have plenty of writers. We have plenty of articles each month,” Miquelon said.

Miquelon tries to keep the newsletter to two pages each month so physicians can read it quickly, she said.

In October, Miquelon conducted a survey among physicians to receive feedback about the newsletter.

“Over 90 percent thought the newsletter was helpful,” Miquelon said.

Thibault said the survey provided great reinforcement for the newsletter.

“We were very pleased,” she said. “Really (the newsletter) is just a tool to communicate.”

And during these budget-conscious times the newsletter provides a low-cost means of centralized communication. Miquelon said the newsletter costs $150 a month to produce.

“It’s really inexpensive,” Miquelon said.

The low cost of the newsletter makes it feasible to provide on an ongoing basis.

“The hospital’s really embraced it,” Hastings said. “Our initial concern was that it wasn’t something that was in the budget.”

KU Hospital Executive Vice President Tammy Peterman, RN, MS, provided an endorsement in From Your RN’s first issue.

“The goal of this monthly publication is to ensure timely, effective communication with our physician partners about changes to or modifications of clinical practice. By keeping you informed of changes before they happen, we believe patient care will be even safer and our collaboration with you will be even stronger,” Peterman stated.

Chief Medical Information Officer Greg Ator, MD, also endorsed the newsletter.

“Nurses and doctors are part of a team. The doctor’s life and the life of the nurse are intertwined around the patient. This newsletter will allow for better communication in this time of great change for doctors and nurses. Our patients will benefit and so will our nurses,” Ator stated.

Miquelon said patient care drives the newsletter.

Thibault agrees.

“We’re a team, and we’re communicating better to take better care of our patients,” Thibault said.

Miquelon and her team hope to get information about the newsletter published in a Nursing Quality Journal.

Miquelon said she wants to equip other nurses with this communication tool because variations of the concept can be use at hospitals of all sizes.

“We hope that other hospitals can utilize this,” she said.

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