Whiteboard use in labor and delivery improves patients' knowledge of their delivery physician and satisfaction with their care

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement encourages designs that improve patient satisfaction. This quality improvement study aimed to assess patient knowledge of their delivering physician’s name and the change in patient satisfaction after the implementation of a whiteboard in labor rooms. A multidisciplinary team designed a dry-erase whiteboard prompting care providers to record their names, roles and patient care information. A questionnaire was administered to a convenience sample of patients before and after the whiteboard implementation. Providers were trained on the use of the boards. Based on an expected post-intervention increase from 18% to 36% in the knowledge of the delivery physician’s name, 190 patients were needed to achieve a power of 80%. Patients who had a planned cesarean or vaginal birth within 1 hour of admission were excluded. Categorical variables were compared using chi-square and Fisher's exact tests. A multivariable logistic regression was performed to control for confounders. 191 patients completed a questionnaire 1 to 3 days postpartum. There was no difference pre- and post-intervention in terms of age, parity, induced labor, anesthesia use, and mode of delivery. Post-intervention, there was a statistically significant increase in recalling the delivery resident’s name [21/101 (20.8%) vs. 33/90 (36.7%), p=0.016] and a non-significant increase in recalling the name of the attending and nurse [19/101 (18.8%) vs. 23/90 (25.6%); 46/101 (45.5%) vs. 53/90 (58.9%)]. Patients reported that the whiteboard helped them learn their providers’ name [75/89 (84.2%)] and understand their care [71/89 (79.8%)]. Patient satisfaction with care was significantly higher after the intervention [83/101 (82.2%) vs. 83/89 (93.3%), p=0.028]. Knowledge of the delivery resident’s name was associated with higher patient satisfaction [51/53 (96%) vs. 115/137 (84%), p=0.03]. The use of a well-designed whiteboard increases laboring patients' knowledge of their delivery physician’s name in a busy inner city hospital and improves patient satisfaction. Efforts that promote this type of communication and knowledge may help to better integrate patients into their care teams, improve their satisfaction and elevate the quality of care received.