FCH patients having their ‘voices’ heard

Problems of upset patients and discouraged nurses with service issues while in the hospital may be a thing of the past at Faith Community Hospital.

Dr. Jeffrey Smith, introduced Patient Voice, which FCH will be the only hospital in the region to have. Smith said many problems with similar systems is it didn’t work for the nurses. Smith said this one does.

“It gives a record and rating from a patient point of view,” Smith said. “If you want to talk to an administrator, there’s a portal where you can do that.”

The system shows when and where a patient’s question were given and immediately answered nurses on call., preventing patient exaggeration which happens frequently in times of distress.

“Documentation is both the nurse and patient’s friend,” Smith said. “When a nurse is dispatched, it gives them a 30 second reminder of what needs to be done. Plus, the old fashioned call button is still there.”

The system also provides patients access to educational materials so they can ben more more informed of their condition. The system is done with an iPad. If a patient can’t or won’t use one, the message is automatically forwarded to the appropriate nurse.

Patients can also access the Web and are allowed to answer survey questions in real time.On the pain page, patients may express pain level and review medication history. Showing when next dose of medication is available avoids unnecessary calls to the nursing stage and can help ease anxiety.

Nurses spend up to 40 percent of their time in documentation. Integrating Patient Voice allows nurses and other professionals to effectively chart all their patients on the go.

Messaging if fully customizable for each department and caregiver responses are sent with a simple touch, Smith said. Messages can be translated from a patient’s native language and put into English and vice versa

“it’s information in real time,” FCH CEO Frank Beaman explained.”It’s quicker for both the nurse and patient. It doesn’t require conversation in rooms, saving time walking back and forth between rooms. It also allows a patient to have access to have their own records via connection on the patient portal.”

The system allows more efficient management of a nurse’s workload. Others such as physicians and therapists can also link into individual patients and find out things such as medications. Smith said no longer do people such as the physical therapist or anesthetist needed to be found. They are all immediately available, Smith said.

Hospital cleanliness is a standard in any facility. Nurses are monitored to wash their hands frequently and the machine can tell when they did it and for how long. Reminders to wash hands before and after each patient visit are given. Each caregiver can see compliant numbers in real time.

The system allows for a better overall experience for both patients, hospital personnel and nurses as well.