The Heart Roadmap Initiatives at Memorial Hermann
“We can provide exceptional clinical care through innovative treatment and diagnostics, operating in the nation’s most advanced heart facility,” says Harold A. Condara, Jr., MD, chairman of cardiology at Memorial Hermann Memorial City Hospital. “However, a true Heart & Vascular Institute needs to include elements of care that focus on all participants in a holistic manner — addressing the emotional and spiritual care of the patient, their family and clinicians — those are the contributions of the Heart Roadmap initiatives.”
Keeping Families “in the Loop”
Last year, Memorial Hermann asked researchers at the University of Houston to gather information to help build the Heart Roadmap initiatives. They interviewed more than 100 heart patients treated at four Memorial Hermann hospitals and their families, as well as 20 physicians and 60 clinicians and other employees.
“A common theme from the research was that patients and families just want to be kept informed throughout the process,” says Terri DeLoach, senior customer relationship management representative with the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System. “But they also want more attention paid to their emotional and spiritual side.”
To that end, Memorial Hermann has redesigned the experience for its bypass and valve surgery patients in a pilot program under way at the Memorial Hermann Heart & Vascular Institute-Memorial City. In the coming months, the program will be rolled out to Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, Memorial Hermann Southwest, Memorial Hermann Northwest and Memorial Hermann The Woodlands.
One key part of the initiative is the addition of special registered nurse educators called cardiac nurse liaisons. The cardiac nurse liaison is the patient’s and family’s partner before, during and after surgery.
“My role is to ensure that patients and families have the best possible experience given the circumstances,” says Judith Farmer, RN, cardiac nurse liaison at Memorial Hermann Memorial City. Her husband also was a heart surgery patient, so she can relate to families coping with the stress of having a loved one in the hospital. “My own experience has given me a great deal of insight on how I can be a bridge between patients and their families, and the doctors and staff.”
For planned procedures,
the cardiac nurse liaison contacts
the patient at home
before surgery to explain
what can be expected. In
other cases, the nurse
will meet with the
patient and family
at the first opportunity.
Throughout
the patient’s hospital stay, the
nurse will continue to monitor the
patient’s progress and keep the family
informed.
“My goal is to link patients with what they need,” Farmer says. If patients need spiritual support, the nurse can call the Chaplain. If families want dietary advice, the nurse can put them in touch with nutrition services. “Families are a critical part of the recovery, and I want to be able to give them enough information to make them feel capable and confident.”
Art as Health Aid
At Memorial Hermann Memorial
City, the cardiac nurse liaison also
distributes materials that help support
patients and families. But these items
go beyond basic patient education and
take a more artful approach.
Evidence shows that art can reduce stress, improve comfort and speed healing for patients. So Memorial Hermann has partnered with the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston to use art to enhance the hospital experience. The museum has provided four prints of its masterpieces to share with heart patients and their families. The works include landscape paintings by Claude Monet, John Frederick Kensett, William Merritt Chase and Paul Signac.
“If they choose to, patients can select one of the prints to keep at their bedside. This provides the patient with a visual focal point that promotes healing,” DeLoach says. The entire collateral program that supports the Heart Roadmap initiatives has been themed Art of Heart. You will see the printed Art of Heart materials throughout the patient and family experience.
A More
Personalized
Experience
Another goal of the Masters of Heart care team — what Memorial Hermann calls the patient’s own team of doctors, nurses and other specialists — is to make the experience more personalized. Heart patients can complete a patient preference list to request certain items to enhance their comfort during their stay. These requests might include extra blankets if they tend to get cold or a particular beverage they prefer. “This helps us understand our patients better and offer more personalized care,” DeLoach says.
Offering support to families is another goal of the Art of Heart program. In the waiting room, Memorial Hermann provides healing notes so that family members can write personal messages that are delivered to their loved ones at bedside. Family members also can participate in art activities like origami to reduce stress and help occupy their hands and minds.
More Resources in the Hospital and Online
Education has always been an important part of treatment after heart surgery. As part of the new initiatives, Memorial Hermann has added more patient education. Now, patients benefit from an inpatient education class led by nutrition experts.
Memorial Hermann also has added more heart disease resources to its Web site for heart patients. The information is available in the Passport to a Healthy Heart section at memorialhermann.org/services/Passport.htm. Memorial Hermann also plans to create an online gallery of heart patient stories in the coming months.
Information at Your Fingertips
As part of the Art of Heart program,
Memorial Hermann will add a virtual
heart concierge. This referral expert
will put patients in touch with cardiac
services throughout the system,
including referrals to cardiologists,
diagnostic services, cardiac
catheterization, heart surgery
and cardiac rehabilitation.
When available, the virtual
heart concierge will be accessed
through a number at
