Head and Neck Surgical Oncology Team
May 2021
Head and Neck
Surgical Oncology Team
Baptist MD Anderson
Jacksonville
,
FL
United States
Russell Smith MD FACS
Faisal Ahmad MD
Loren Bonenclark MPAS, PA-C
Ashley Kohler, MPAS, PA-C
Patricia Bologna RN BSN
Blake Williamson RN BSN
Lindsey Walker RN BSN
Veronica Wasloski M.S CCC-SLP
Jennifer Schultz M.S CCC-SLP
Shelley Kidwell RD, CSO, LDN
Deborah Gomer BSN, RN, OCN, CCM
Palma Iacovitti DNP MBA
April Starling DNP MSN
Molly Piner CMA
Meka Williams CMA

 

 

 

The early days of the pandemic created so much fear and uncertainty on many levels. From a clinic perspective, we had to change how we managed patients, determining how to manage elective surgery cases, introduction to telehealth, disinfection processes, to name a few. With volumes down in the early phases of COVID 19, the Head and Neck Oncology Team decided to resurrect projects that had been on the back burner for quite some time. Our Team consisted of Trish Bologna, Blake Williamson, Faisal Ahmad, Russell Smith, and Palma Iacovitti. We identified a deficit for Head and Neck patient education. Discharged patients were sent home without the proper education specific to the surgical procedure performed. The clinic staff were receiving multiple calls from patients stating confusion with post-op instructions and coming in with wound infections. These issues initiated the start of the patient education journey. The clinic nurses and surgeons partnered with Weaver 7. The Team reviewed over 13 most common surgical procedures. We started creating patient education that our outpatient clinic team would use before their surgery and the inpatient staff at discharge. During the same time frame, Dr. Ahmad, in collaboration with our APPs: Candace Vanderschaaf, Ashley Kohler, and Loren Bonenclark, led the charge for the development of Nurse Guidelines. The Guidelines are created for bedside staff to enhance patient care and outcomes. It described the surgery type and provided a daily roadmap of the plan of care and specific patient education that needed to be given by the nurses at discharge. This process not only helped bedside nurses identify potential problems quickly but increased their confidence in managing very complicated surgical patients. Dr. Ahmad safely conducted four educational sessions to Weaver 7 staff that filled a knowledge deficit. We also started strategizing plans to implement interdisciplinary rounds. We are appreciative how members who were not directly involved with the actual project, supported those that were by managing Cerner pools, clinic calls, clinic coverage, etc. A shout out to Lindsey Walker, Meka Williams, Molly Piner and April Starling! This team has done an extraordinary job improving our head and neck surgical oncology patients' quality care and outcomes.