According
to Jennifer Lyons’ chart, she’s just a bad MVA who’s lucky
enough to be on her way to a full recovery. But
to Jennifer, hospitalized with a broken mandible and broken limbs,
nothing could be further from the truth. Jen who had the
accident while on an out-of-town business trip, is lying in a bed
two thousand miles away from her family. Although her husband
is flying in later tonight, Jennifer has never felt more
disconnected from her life. That is, until her nurse points
out the screen standing next to her bed. Even though she
can’t move her mouth, two minutes later, Jennifer is catching up
with her children. Two
floors down, Rebecca Forrester is also lying in bed with no family
members around her. She’s in her eighties and the fall she took is
already developing a complication – pneumonia. Her daughter,
working in Tokyo, will take a day to get to her side – a day
Rebecca may not have. With no telephones in this ICU, Rebecca
knows if her daughter doesn’t make it to her in time, she may
never be able to speak to her again. Until a nurses’ aide
enters with a wireless tablet. A minute later, Rebecca and her
daughter are talking. In
a growing number of hospitals nationwide, hooking up your patients
has taken on a whole new meaning. Whether via tablets or
bedside consoles, patient Internet access is revolutionizing patient
care and patient communication. Originally
conceived as a way to reduce boredom and facilitate patient
education, the units quickly began to add other features including
relaxation videos, local TV channels, video games and telephones,
besides videos and information patients can access on specific
healthcare issues. Feedback is already showing what medical
professionals have suspected for years -- people simply feel better
when they’re active and connected with the world around them.
But
for the patients, it’s all about facilitating communication
whenever they need it – with loved ones, with friends or even with
work. Just because someone is hospitalized doesn’t mean they
have to be isolated. For Jennifer Lyons, being able to
communicate with her children means everything. Not only does
she feel connected, but because she can check in with them a few
times a day, she feels more able to relax knowing that everything is
fine at home. And
technology doesn’t stop there. Doctors are now using Twitter
to keep families apprised of patient’s progress during surgery.
Smartphones are also creating ways for nurses to immediately
send messages, video or images to loved ones who might not make it
quickly enough to the bedside of critically ill patients. And
to them, that made all the difference. Using the internet to help your patients communicate is just ONE way to increase patient safety, health and satisfaction while reducing liability. We have many more in our book Notify In 7. Notify
In 7 is filled with tools you and your hospital staff can use
to facilitate NOK notification, patient identification and
communication. If you want to create change throughout your entire facility, our Six Sigma based, HIPAA-friendly, “Creating A Next of Kin Notification Program” has everything you need to roll out the Seven Steps facility-wide. The Program includes patient tracking workflows, tools and training materials, based on Notify In 7. It provides your Emergency Department staff, managers and Risk Management professionals with comprehensive training, giving you and your hospital a fully operational Next of Kin Notification System in ninety days.
Share |
Laura and Janet Greenwald, are the founders of The Next of Kin Education Project and Stuf Productions. The mother & daughter team were not only instrumental in enacting three Next of Kin Laws in California and Illinois, but created the Seven Steps to Successful Notification System, which teaches quick, easy, next of kin notification skills for trauma patients to hospitals like Dallas’ Methodist Medical Center.
|
More Free Articles You'll Enjoy Increasing Patient Safety in Seven Steps Pediatric Emergency Contact Notifications Made Easier Facilitating Patient Communication How To Deal With Patients Who Are John Does or Homeless Medicare Deadline Spurs Hospitals to Prevent Pressure Ulcers
|
||||
|