Although the healthcare policy was implemented to incentivize the multidisciplinary services of hospital-based nutrition support team (NST) in South Korea, timely completion of the services has been challenging in the hospitals. We enhanced NST healthcare information technology (NST−HIT) to bridge the gap between policy implementation and seamless execution of the policy in the hospital system. A 48 month pre-test−post-test study was performed, including a 12 month pre-intervention period, a six month intervention period, and a 30 month post-intervention period. The enhanced NST−HIT provided sufficient patient data and streamlined communication processes among end-users. A Student’s t-test showed that the timely completion rate of NST consultations, the reimbursement rate of NST consultations, average response times of NST physicians and nurses, and length of hospital stay significantly improved during the post-intervention period. A segmented regression analysis of interrupted time series showed that the average response times of NST physicians had sustained after the interventions. We believe that well-structured, multi-pronged initiatives with leadership support from the hospital improved service performance of hospital NST in response to national-level healthcare policy changes.

Background: Early enteral nutrition (EN) initiation is recommended for intensive care unit (ICU) patients; however, the optimal rate of EN advancement remains unclear. We aimed to assess the association between EN advancement and in‐hospital mortality, as well as length of hospital stay.Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study on 341 critically ill adults receiving EN between January 2021 and December 2023. The exposure of interest was rapid EN advancement, defined as an EN change exceeding the median value calculated between the first and seventh days after EN initiation. The comparator group included patients without rapid EN advancement. Factors related to in‐hospital mortality and length of hospital stay were assessed using multivariable logistic and linear regression analyses. Subgroup analyses were performed for EN initiation within 48 h of ICU admission.Results: Rapid EN advancement reduced in‐hospital mortality (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 0.64, 95% CI 0.38–1.07, P = 0.092), although this was not statistically significant. However, rapid EN advancement significantly shortened hospital stay by 25 days (95% CI −25 to −9.2, P = 0.002). In the early EN initiation subgroup, rapid EN advancement significantly reduced in‐hospital mortality (adjusted OR = 0.42, P = 0.039) and shortened hospital stay by 48 days (95% CI −77 to −19, P = 0.001).Conclusion: Rapid EN advancement reduced in‐hospital mortality and length of hospital stay in critically ill patients, especially with early EN initiation. These findings could inform clinical practices that enhance timely and adequate nutrition therapy in ICUs. Further randomized controlled trials can help establish clinical guidelines.

Studies have documented the impact of various types of health care information technology (HIT) on patient outcomes. However, literature on the HIT products is largely for outpatients and little is known about those for hospitalized patients. In 2014, a Korean hospital developed an inpatient portal known as the Smart Bedside Station (SBS). A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate the associated factors for accessing the medication view menu (Today’s Medication) on the SBS using data from October 2018 through September 2019. A root cause analysis with expert review was conducted to identify additional barriers for accessing the medication view menu. Approximately 92.58% of the study population accessed the SBS at least once during their hospital stay. However, 99.20% of accessed patients used the SBS for entertainment purposes (e.g., television) and 40.16% viewed the medication information. Younger age, higher education, and certain jobs were significant associated factors for accessing the medication information. In conclusion, this study revealed strong associations between accessing the medication view menu on the SBS and a number of associated factors. Based on the results, further research is warranted to suggest new items to access the medication view menu by hospitalized patients.

Evaluation of sustainability after quality improvement (QI) projects in healthcare settings is an essential part of monitoring and future QI planning. With limitations in adopting quasi-experimental study design in real-world practice, healthcare professionals find it challenging to present the sustained effect of QI changes effectively. To provide quantitative methodological approaches for demonstrating the sustainability of QI projects for healthcare professionals, we conducted data analyses based on a QI project to improve the computerized provider order entry system to reduce patients’ dosing frequencies in Korea. Data were collected for 5 years: 24-month pre-intervention, 12-month intervention, and 24-month post-intervention. Then, analytic approaches including control chart, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and segmented regression were performed. The control chart intuitively displayed how the outcomes changed over the entire period, and ANOVA was used to test whether the outcomes differed between groups. Last, segmented regression analysis was conducted to evaluate longitudinal effects of interventions over time. We found that the impact of QI projects in healthcare settings should be initiated following the Plan–Do–Study–Act cycle and evaluated long-term effects while widening the scope of QI evaluation with sustainability. This study can serve as a guide for healthcare professionals to use a number of statistical methodologies in their QI evaluations.

Background: Timely and comprehensive collection of a patient’s medication history in the emergency department (ED) is crucial for optimizing health care delivery. The implementation of a medication history sharing program, titled “Patient’s In-home Medications at a Glance,” in a tertiary teaching hospital aimed to efficiently collect and display nationwide medication histories for patients’ initial hospital visits. Objective: As an evaluation was necessary to provide a balanced picture of the program, we aimed to evaluate both care process outcomes and humanistic outcomes encompassing end-user experience of physicians and pharmacists. Methods: We conducted a cohort study and a cross-sectional study to evaluate both outcomes. To evaluate the care process, we measured the time from the first ED assessment to urgent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) initiation from electronic health records. To assess end-user experience, we developed a 22-item questionnaire using a 5-point Likert scale, including 5 domains: information quality, system quality, service quality, user satisfaction, and intention to reuse. This questionnaire was validated and distributed to physicians and pharmacists. The Mann-Whiteny U test was used to analyze the PCI initiation time, and structural equation modeling was used to assess factors affecting end-user experience. Results: The time from the first ED assessment to urgent PCI initiation at the ED was significantly decreased using the patient medication history program (mean rank 42.14 min vs 28.72 min; Mann-Whitney U=346; P=.03). A total of 112 physicians and pharmacists participated in the survey. Among the 5 domains, “intention to reuse” received the highest score (mean 4.77, SD 0.37), followed by “user satisfaction” (mean 4.56, SD 0.49), while “service quality” received the lowest score (mean 3.87, SD 0.79). “User satisfaction” was significantly associated with “information quality” and “intention to reuse.” Conclusions: Timely and complete retrieval using a medication history-sharing program led to an improved care process by expediting critical decision-making in the ED, thereby contributing to value-based health care delivery in a real-world setting. The experiences of end users, including physicians and pharmacists, indicated satisfaction with the program regarding information quality and their intention to reuse.

The multiplicity of dosing frequencies that are attached to medication orders poses a challenge to patients regarding adhering to their medication regimens and healthcare professionals in maximizing the efficiencies of health care service delivery. A multidisciplinary team project was performed to simplify medication regimens to improve the computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system to reduce the dosing frequencies for patients who were discharged from the hospital. A 36-month pre-test–post-test study was performed, including 12-month pre-intervention, 12-month intervention, and 12-month post-intervention periods. Two-pronged strategies, including regimen standardization and prioritization, were devised to evaluate the dosing frequencies and prescribing efficiency. The results showed that the standardized menu reduced the dosing frequencies from 4.3 ± 2.2 per day in the pre-intervention period to 3.5 ± 1.8 per day in the post-intervention period (p < 0.001). In addition, the proportion of patients taking medications five or more times per day decreased from 40.8% to 20.7% (p < 0.001). After prioritizing the CPOE dosing regimen, the number of pull-down options that were available reflected an improvement in the prescribing efficiency. Our findings indicate that concerted efforts in improving even a simple change on the CPOE screen via standardization and prioritization simplified the dosing frequencies for patients and improved the physicians’ prescribing process.