Development and Integration of Nurse Case Management at the Assuta Ashdod Hospital

Background: Nurse Case Management (NCM) was first developed in the USA during the last century, to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the care of complex patients. Despite the positive research and widespread implementation in the USA, it is not utilized in Israeli hospitals. Hospital NCM do both utilization management and discharge planning. They are masters at organizing complex care needs through communication, coordination and collaboration. Assuta Ashdod Hospital decided that in order to uphold its vision of ‘A community that has a Hospital’, it would implement the use of NCM to promote efficient, effective patient centered services. These hospital based NCM staff work together with the patients, their caregivers and the multidisciplinary team in order to assure quality contiguous patient care. The team of 4 experienced registered nurses with advanced degrees began working on the units with the opening of the hospital in November 2017.

Project goals and objectives: To assess the integration of NCM into the daily routines of the various hospital units and to determine the supporting and limiting factors in the processes.

Significance of the research: This study will assist in evaluating and improving the process of development and implementation of the NCM position at Assuta Ashdod Hospital and other medical organizations in Israel and perhaps even abroad.

Methodology: The research will be conducted using the methodology of implementation studies. It will accurately describe the implementation of the organizational processes of including the NCM team into daily routine activities of hospital. The study will focus on four main issues relating to the NCM work process: (1) Methods to determine which patients require NCM intervention (2) Responsibility for the collaborative process of assessing, planning and implementing the services needed to meet the individual/caregiver needs (3) Cooperation and coordination with the respective health care providers (4) Patient Advocacy.