The rehabilitation team and researchers created a list of desired outcomes and ways to achieve them from the time the patient is booked for surgery. The result is a much shorter hospital stay and fewer readmissions and postoperative complications, as well as reduced use of drugs. Preprinted orders for physicians have been developed and detailed costing is available. Dodek says the key to the project's success is the involvement of all staff from different disciplines from the outset.
Intensive care is also under the researchers' microscope.
Dodek, who also directs St. Paul's ICU, is working on a database that would include nursing workload, outcome scores and complications. The database will be linked to the hospital pharmacy and to the laboratory and radiology departments. Dodek says alternative antibiotics are often less effective, more toxic and more expensive. In almost all cases, says Dodek, the patients tested were able to take penicillin after all.