Get to know UK HealthCare’s award-winning Complex Discharge Team

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 24, 2024) — Every person deserves dignity and respect.  

For the members of UK HealthCare’s Complex Discharge Team, that’s more than a platitude — it’s a daily practice.     

Established in 2015 within Good Samaritan Hospital, the 23-bed Complex Discharge unit looks after patients who may be medically ready for discharge, but don’t have a safe discharge plan. 

Within those beds are 23 different stories. Some patients may not have a home or nearby family to return to, some may be dealing with substance use disorder, others may suffer from cognitive decline brought on by diseases like dementia or schizophrenia or a combination of multiple factors. 

The team was honored for its care with a 2023 National Compassionate Caregivers of the Year Award, courtesy of the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare. 

“Nothing beats compassion,” said Padmaja Gaddam, M.D., medical director of UK Good Samaritan Hospital’s fifth floor. “Especially on this unit, without compassionate care it doesn’t work at all. Our patients need respect, dignity and some sensitivity. That’s when we have better outcomes. Compassionate care can transform lives.” 

It can take time to find safe placement for many of the patients, resulting in stays that can stretch from weeks to several months. So the staff spend time not only tending to their patients’ medical needs but also helping them feel comfortable in their own skin, and at home in a clinical environment.  

“I feel so proud to be part of this team,” Gaddam said. “It’s overwhelming and frustrating at times because our patients can become confused or agitated but our staff know how to handle it. They’re all very well trained and work with the best interests of the patient.”  

Importantly, the team has its own dedicated social worker and case manager working hard to find safe placement for patients – in the past it has even been able to connect patients with estranged, out-of-state family members. The team also has a designated advanced practice provider or nurse practitioner, a recreational therapist and nursing staff.  

“Our staff is an amazing group of people and everybody has gifts,” said Carol Anne Wright, one of the unit’s charge nurses. “We couldn’t do it without one.” 

Some days, Wright said, a patient can be their own worst enemy with the way they’re behaving. Other days, it feels like a perfectly choreographed Broadway play.   

“Everything just comes together to bring down the house, and the whole floor is excited,” Wright said. “But it takes all kinds to make that magic happen.” 

Deserving of dignity — and fun 

Alyssa Wade may have the most fun job on the floor.  

“I get to play all day,” Wade, the unit’s recreational therapist, said with a smile.  

Games, exercise, educational activities or videos – Wade employs it all to bring a little more joy to a patients’ day. Oftentimes she gets to know a patient and uses their interests or maybe a past hobby to tailor an activity specifically for a patient. Maybe a patient used to enjoy golf but can no longer physically play the game. 

“Then let’s play golf trivia or watch golf together,” Wade said. “Let’s see what we can do in that sense to meet the need.” 

Recreation not only helps pass the time it also can be used as an intervention to prevent certain behaviors or simply to boost morale.  

“It doesn’t matter who you are, everyone plays,” Wade said. “Think about the hardest situation you’ve had in your life and each of these patients has something like that going on, maybe times 10. Having empathy for them is, I think, what this team really shows.” 

The unique patient population the team works with is so often judged harshly in the outside world, Wade said.  

“I think a huge misunderstanding is that they’re almost not deserving,” Wade said. “They’ll look at someone’s history and ask, ‘Why give them the time and the resources?’ They’re human and sometimes you’re dealt really bad cards in life.” 

Others in the medical profession may look at the day-to-day of the unit and see a slow job, Gaddam said. It’s not for everyone but so much of the unit’s best work is done spending time with patients and getting to know them and building trust. Because of that, Gaddam has seen patients come onto the floor hostile to staff and leave thankful for the care they receive. 

“The Complex Discharge Team takes a very special kind of person,” Gaddam said. “One who perseveres despite the odds. One who compulsively looks at the bright side and roots for optimism and positive outcomes.” 

Many of those positive outcomes come from successful, safe discharges. One patient, Wright recalled, consistently asked staff how her mother was. Thanks to the work of the team’s case manager, they were able to find the nursing home where her mother lived and place the patient there. Later on, Wright saw photos of their former patient “joyous and happy.” 

“You can just see how happy she is!” Wright said. "And that’s something we made happen as a team.” 

Being recognized 

In the two years leading up to the award, the team recorded strong patient safety numbers with no hospital-acquired infections, no falls with injuries and a significant reduction in pressure injuries. 

Winning the National Compassionate Caregivers of the Year Award was a surprise, Wright said.  

Both she and Dr. Gaddam were among five members of the team who traveled to Boston last November to receive the award. It was exciting to get to come back to UK to explain to the rest of the team the national recognition and high praise Complex Discharge Team received simply for doing what they do best every day.