Valvular Heart Disease Clinic

Cardiology is a growth area for Mayo Clinic. And, as a result of technological advances, the Valvular Heart Disease Clinic (VHD Clinic) foresaw an increase in transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedures. In order to accommodate the growing patient volume, additional physician and nursing resources had been added. Many unique solutions to fit individual consultant needs had been explored, resulting in roles for other team members varying day-to-day.

For the project with the Mayo Clinic Center for Innovation (CFI), the care team relocated to the Mayo Multidisciplinary Design Clinic, a clinical setting in which providers experiment with health care delivery methods, prototypes and processes. The intention of research and experimentation was to explore potential team efficacy and process efficiency gains through systematic, phased combination of experimental components including Care Team Optimization, Pre-Visit Information Collection, Customized Video Education, Situational Awareness, Remote Rechecks, and Group Visits.

The team explored modifications iteratively, yielding a variety of insights and results.  For example, by locating in a common workspace, care team communication, teamwork and awareness enhanced greatly. In creating clear roles and responsibilities, nurses more effectively managed the day-to-day clinic flow and all team members were found to positively influence team relationships, cohesiveness and performance. Establishing scheduled daily huddles enabled sharing patient goals and expectations.

The team also addressed opportunities to utilize patient information collected prior to the visit. Formal acquisition of this data pre visit armed the team with a proactive understanding of patient complexity, needs and expectations. The team successfully piloted uniform patient education modules/videos in tandem with requisite protected nursing educational time.

Outcome

The VHD Clinic incorporated experimental findings as it returned to its home clinic.