At one time or another, we all know what it’s like to be a patient sitting in an ED waiting room. From the waiting room to the exam area, and maybe even an inpatient stay, healthcare organizations are always striving to do anything they can to make the experience smoother and more comfortable for their patients. At King’s Daughters Medical Center, they have embraced MEDITECH Expanse, to make things easier for their staff and increase patient satisfaction.
For nurses, the Expanse single sign-on and handheld device mobility are saving them time and providing a better patient interaction. Instead of having to look away to a computer on a clunky cart, nurses at King’s Daughters are able to look their patients in the eye and engage with them, while at the same time easily scanning their wristband for medications, improving patient safety.
“The more time you’re spending with a patient, the happier they are and the more well taken care of that they feel, and that makes our job better at the end of the day,” explains Taylor Berry, RN, Clinical Applications Specialist.
But the results aren’t just anecdotal—Expanse has helped shave about an hour off of the average stay in the ED. And while admissions have increased, length of stay has decreased. Across the organization, clinicians are using tools that help them provide efficient, quality care.
In the ED, physicians have really embraced the use of tablets. And the improved engagement with patients has led to positive feedback not just from staff, but from the patients themselves. Being able to have better engagement with their clinicians, partnered with seeing the site using the latest technology, has contributed to a better experience all around.
As Joe Farr, RN, Clinical Applications Specialist, explains, more efficient technology is helping provide a better one-on-one connection between providers and their patients. After all, their patient population aren’t just strangers to them. Joe says: “The people that I get to take care of as a nurse in our ER, are also the same people that I might run into at the hardware store the prior week or sit beside at a restaurant the next week.”
We all know that clinicians didn’t get into medicine to stare at a screen; they did it to help patients. By providing a more mobile and efficient EHR, we strive to help them do just that. Check out the video above to get an inside look at how staff across the organization are using technology to improve the patient experience.
Learn more about how innovative, web based handheld tools put medication administration, documentation and chart review in the palm of your hand.
