Improving Health Literacy of Colonoscopy Patients Through Reinforced Teaching of Bowel Preparation Using Pre-Procedure Phone Calls

Abstract Medicare/MediCal patients undergoing colonoscopy procedures at East Bay Endoscopy Center (EBEC), were found to have inadequate cleansing of the bowel due to poor compliance and adherence to prep instructions. Poor health literacy affects the vulnerable population seen in Medicare/MediCal patients which in turn contributes to poor compliance to prep instructions. Poor health literacy results in wasted time, effort, money, prep supplies, and low patient morale. This improvement project addresses poor health literacy by enhancing pre-calls to include prep instructions. Prior to implementation of the project, data was collected over a 3-month period to find the number of cancelled procedures due to non-compliance of prep instructions. This information will be used to compare with number of cancelled procedures post-implementation of enhanced pre-calls. With the implementation of enhanced pre-calls, the aim of this project is to suggest that enhanced pre-calls that includes prep instructions are effective means of optimizing patient’s health literacy when it comes to colonoscopy preparation. The clinical nurse leadership theme that best aligns with this project is outcomes management as the goal centers on improving health literacy and thereby patient outcomes (AACN, 2013). References: American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2013). Competencies and curricular expectations for Clinical Nurse Leader education and practice. Retrieved from http://www.aacn.nche.edu/cnl/CNL-Competencies-October-2013.pdf (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site