Conference Update: Speaker Q&A
The annual conference is less than 100 days away. Did you know that the full agenda is available for you to start mapping out your itinerary? Download the full conference brochure here.
As the countdown continues, we’ve spoken with Allison Clerval, RN, BSN, CCDS and Kathleen M. Shindle, RN, BSN, CCDS, who will present “To Err Is Human: CDI Impact on Patient Safety Indicators.”
Q: Why is it important for CDI programs to understand the impact on patient safety indicators?
Clerval : Patient safety indicators (PSIs) are a set of metrics, outlined by CMS, that provide info on adverse events and negative outcomes. They provide a standard for measuring care, and are becoming increasingly tied to reimbursement. Our industry has evolved from capturing CCs and MCCs for reimbursement to looking at the whole picture to reflect the true quality of care of our patients. CDI involvement in recognizing PSIs is just the natural progression of capturing diagnoses, present on admission status, the physician’s intention, and true quality concerns.
Q: How is your topic important for everyone regardless of professional background?
Shindle: We think it’s safe to say that the quality of care provided to our patients is a top concern for us all. We all play a role in capturing the true picture of our patient’s condition, whether it’s through documenting the care provided or accurately coding the record. Making sure we are only capturing true PSIs helps direct research to prevent future complications.
Q: As nurses, what unique perspectives do you bring to the CDI role?
Clerval: With nearly 50 years of clinical experience between us along with our years spent caring for surgical patients, we have experienced first-hand the quality concerns these PSIs were built to address. As surgical nurses, we have always worked as a part of a team. Our CDI role involves collaboration with coders, physicians, and performance improvement to identify PSIs and work as a team to discover solutions to provide the best quality of care for our patients.
Q: What do you think is the most important quality for a CDI professional to have?
Kathleen: As it relates to accurate reflection of the true patient condition, we feel that integrity is the most important quality. CDI professionals assess and review a patient’s medical record to ensure all the information documented reflects the patient’s severity of illness, clinical treatment, and the accuracy of documentation. We must sustain the highest level of ethical behavior, knowing what is right and what is wrong. We have to decipher when it is appropriate to query and when not to query and be honest in the face of identifying a PSI.
Q: Why do you think attending the ACDIS conference is important?
Clerval: We have a unique role that is often hard to fully articulate to those outside of the profession. While other conferences address issues pertinent to CDI, there is nothing like the ACDIS conference to address current topics in our field. The presentations encourage so much conversation back at our facility and help guide the development of new projects. From addressing mortality risk adjustment to capturing true PSIs, the knowledge you walk away with is incomparable. What better way to gain fresh insight than to learn from your peers?