FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
STUDY FINDS NURSES PROVE THEIR WORTH BY UNCOVERING UNMET HEALTH NEEDS OF FAMILIESNumber of Patients Treated Triples
New York City, February 5, 2001 - A study published in the February 2001 issue of the American Journal of Nursing, "The Impact of Staff Nurses on the Recruitment of Patients," found that ambulatory care nurses can uncover the unmet health needs of families and increase the number of patients being served by the institution. Nurses at Montefiore Medical Center's Family Care Center used an in-depth survey of 50 patients to discover the unmet health care needs of the patients' family members. Many of the 138 family members had no primary health care provider, and as a result, are now being cared for at the Montefiore site.
"We knew intuitively that the caring relationships nurses had developed with current patients translated into some members of families enrolling for care," said Maude Joseph, RN, administrative manager of Nursing in the Family Care Center. "What we did not realize until we conducted the patient interviews is that over 30 percent of these family members had no provider. As a result, we enlisted the support of the existing patients to make appointments for their family members, and 82 percent actually made and kept these appointments."
"The program is a model of successful nursing intervention," said Margaret Comeford Freda, EdD, RN, a nurse researcher at Montefiore and co-author with Joseph of the AJN article. "It improved care to existing patients, their families and the community; evolved into a highly effective marketing program to increase the number of patients at the primary care setting, and expanded the professional horizons and boosted the spirits of the nurses. We proved, with measurable results, that family-centered care works on many levels."
The program, developed over a six-month period by 13 nurses, identified a number of general medical problems (e.g., arthritis, thyroid conditions) and pediatric illnesses, as well as a range of gynecological and psychological problems among the family members, who were either treated in the primary care center or referred to specialists.
Of the 50 patients, 20 were adults and 30 were children. The mothers of the pediatric patients were interviewed for the study. The patients reported 138 family members living with them, and the nurses elicited health histories for all 138. Forty-two percent of those family members were obtaining health care at other sites; 31 percent were reported to have no health care provider at the time of the interview. Ninety-four percent of the patients interviewed agreed to make appointments for their family members who were not currently enrolled at the site or any other; 82 percent made and kept appointments. A total of 257 appointments were made and kept from the original 50 interviews.
The American Journal of Nursing is the largest and oldest circulating nursing journal in the world, and is the official journal of the American Nurses Association. The American Journal of Nursing is owned and published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a unit of Wolters Kluwer International Health & Science (WKIHS). WKIHS is a group of leading publishing companies offering specialized publications and software in nursing, medicine, pharmacy, science, and related areas. WKIHS also includes Ovid Technologies, New York; Facts and Comparisons, St. Louis, Adis International, Aukland, New Zealand; and Kluwer Academic Publishing, The Netherlands.
Montefiore Medical Center, the university hospital for the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, is an internationally recognized leader in patient care, education, research and community services. Montefiore provides treatment programs for patients with all major illnesses and has distinguished centers of excellence in heart care, cancer care, children's health, women's health and neuroscience. Montefiore's health system encompasses two large acute care hospitals, two new ambulatory specialty care centers, a large network of primary care offices and one of the nation's largest hospital-based home health agencies.
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