Lincoln Memorial Hospital Honored for Patient Care

[December 13, 2023] 

The Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network (ICAHN) honored Lincoln Memorial Hospital with its annual Impact Award at the organization’s annual conference on Nov. 28. The Impact Award recognizes innovations in care at critical access hospitals across the state.

LMH won the award for a project led by LMH physical therapist Amy Knox that sought to improve the mobility of patients in the hospital’s swing bed unit. The swing bed program at LMH provides skilled nursing care to patients who are not yet ready to return home following an illness, injury or surgery.

“The key to this project was establishing a shared mobility goal for each patient,” Knox said. “This meant making sure the patient, their family, their nursing team and their rehab team were all on the same page about the skills the patient needed to go home safely.”

The hospital’s case management, nursing and rehab teams, among others, collaborated on the project between February and July 2023. The Lincoln Memorial Foundation funded the purchase of new equipment, including a simulator that rehab staff could use to help patients practice getting in and out of a car – a necessary skill once patients return home.

By the project’s end, the percentage of patients who met or exceeded the expected risk-adjusted mobility score – a metric used to measure a patient’s ease and comfort with standing, walking and other crucial mobility tasks – had increased from 8.2 percent to 89.5 percent.

LMH Senior Physical Therapist Janelle Hart demonstrates to a patient a new simulator to
practice getting in and out of a car.

“As a result of this work, we’ve seen increased family involvement in patient care discussions,” Knox said. “We’ve also been able to discharge more patients directly to their homes rather than nursing homes or other extended-care facilities.”

“We knew this project had the potential to make a difference for our swing bed patients, but the results have exceeded all our expectations,” said Dolan Dalpoas, president and CEO of Lincoln Memorial Hospital. “Many patients, especially those who are older, worry about how they’ll adjust to being at home after a hospital stay. This work helps allay those fears.”

[Anne Davis]