A four-hospital system in the Midwest uses the SmarteXp® patient engagement platform to educate patients for better outcomes. What they’ve found, however, is that patient engagement also has a transformative effect on hospital staff and workflows.
Educating patients digitally and automatically throughout the care episode addresses questions that patients would otherwise pose to their nurses and physicians. That saves those medical professionals time and helps them care for patients more efficiently and effectively.
In this case, the hospital system automatically delivers evidence-based digital messages to joint replacement patients from pre-op through their post-discharge recovery. Here’s how the program works for different staff members:
The Orthopedic Program Manager works closely with SmarteXp. With a focus on achieving optimal outcomes, smooth workflows for her team and a safe, comfortable patient experience, she has identified gaps in the care process that could be addressed in the messaging itself.
Noting that patients were expressing concerns about post-op pain management, constipation and insomnia, this manager added content addressing the issues to the SmarteXp messages—particularly during the pre-op period. The move has helped set patients’ expectations about the recovery period, pre-empting their calls and questions. Patients, meantime, have told the care team they feel more confident knowing the facts before surgery.
The Orthopedic Nurse Educator raises awareness about the digital education program during joint replacement classes for patients. She also uses the two-way, secure messaging tool in each of the communications to respond to individual patients’ concerns. What she hears from patients through that tool helps her determine topics that need more emphasis during joint class.
The Ortho Patient Navigator receives a weekly data report from the SmarteXp platform that helps him stratify patient concerns. He uses this information to organize and classify where to focus his time.
Patient engagement technology has helped this hospital system’s staff do their jobs more efficiently and connect with patients in new and effective ways. With the 2-way connections, ongoing data on patient usage, and patient-reported feedback, the care staff has a better a handle on patient needs and how to improve workflows around patient education, preparedness and recovery. Learn how efforts to better prepare patients results in shorter hospital stays and fewer post-discharge emergency room visits and readmissions.
Next week, we’ll talk about making patient engagement happen for your hospital.
