Optimizing the Implementation and Dissemination of the Recovery Model Approach

For a period of nine months spanning 2018 and 2019, monthly patient satisfaction survey scores in a 22-bed sub-acute inpatient psychiatry unit at a safety-net hospital in California decreased significantly, which revealed that patients felt they were not receiving satisfactory care and which warranted calls for innovative approaches to improve care delivery. The patient experience of care affects recovery and length of stay. Because prolonged hospital stays result in increased costs and increased use of healthcare resources in hospital units, including sub-acute psychiatric microsystems, it benefits hospitals to improve the quality of patient care. In an effort to improve quality of care, the hospital’s sub-acute inpatient psychiatry unit integrated the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Recovery Model Approach with the traditional Medical Model Approach. The clinical nurse leader (CNL) led a practice-change project to educate a patient population whose mental illnesses included, but were not limited to, depression, psychosis, schizophrenia, paranoia, eating disorders, substance/alcohol abuse disorders, borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder, and mania. The education was intended to help patients develop skills and knowledge to guide them through the treatment process. A daily patient education program, which lasted one hour, was administered for a year. Patient satisfaction surveys were collected and analyzed monthly for a year to correlate with the discharge rate and to determine if there was a significant benefit. The survey results over the past six months indicate that the approach enhances the patient’s quality of life and improves the patient experience at the facility