Picture This: A Better Transplant Experience for Pediatric Patients

Topic Significance & Study Purpose/Background/Rationale: Successful care of Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant (PBMT) patients, involves a multi-disciplinary care team of providers. The New York State Patients' Bill of Rights, stipulates that all patients have a right to know the names, positions, and functions of any hospital staff involved in their care1. When creative strategies have been used to establish patient rapport and introduce patients to new providers, these have been met with some success.2,3 We developed a tool to assist PBMT recipients recognize their many care-team members and promote a therapeutic alliance. 

Methods, Intervention, & Analysis : Upon admission for PBMT, a poster-board was placed in the patients room. Each day during the admission a photo featuring a member of the patients care team holding a positive message was taken and placed on the board in calendar format, with a caption indicating the day pre or post BMT the photo was taken. At discharge, a photo was taken of the patient holding a positive message he/she had written about him/herself; the patient was given a scrapbook to hold all photos to commemorate the PBMT experience.

Findings & Interpretation : The patient, family and staff were interviewed post discharge.  The patient reported the project helped him identify his healthcare team members over his prolonged hospitalization;  he also reported that the messages were motivational and helped him feel connected to his team.  He especially enjoyed funny messages that helped lift his spirits when he didn’t feel well. The patient reported that he would not change anything about the project.  The patient’s family-members reported that the photos assisted them in identifying team members they had not previously met who were caring for their son.  They felt the messages staff wrote were very inspiring, and both they and their son looked forward to getting a message each day.  No adverse effects were reported.   

Discussion & Implications : As a quality improvement project, we plan to use this tool prospectively with all admitted PBMT patients.  We plan to assess for improvement in patient satisfaction related to identification of team members. We believe that this project can easily be replicated at other institutions and has a low overhead cost in relationship to the potential improvement in patient experiences.