Engage With AHA Solutions
Resource:
St. John's Children's Hospital Increases Patient Satisfaction with Pain Management by 68%
Initially searching for an entertainment solution to raise patient satisfaction, the 85-bed teaching hospital recognized that Interactive Patient Care technology could provide much more.
In December 2011, St. John’s implemented GetWellNetwork’s solution for children’s hospitals, GetWell Town™, to enhance the care experience for its pediatric patients and their families. The hospital was also transitioning to an electronic medical record (EMR) system, and GetWellNetwork’s solution provided a seamless way to integrate several technologies into the care process and achieve three key objectives:
- Engage patients and families in their care
- Streamline nursing workflow
- Increase patient satisfaction
Empowering Patients, Advancing Pain Management
Designed specifically for pediatric patient and family engagement, GetWellTown provides St. John’s patients with kid-friendly, personalized tools and content, including award-winning educational videos as well as TV and Internet access. Patients and families also use GetWell Town to provide feedback during their stay so hospital staff can immediately review and address any needs or concerns.
To help manage their patients’ pain, St. John’s used GetWellNetwork’s Pain Management Pathway, which sends prompts to the bedside TV using patient-specific data from hospital IT systems. To trigger the Pathway, nurses scan and administer medication from their Pyxis® pharmacy dispensing system. Exactly 45 minutes later, patients are prompted to enter a pain level assessment through GetWell Town on their TV. Once a pain score is selected, the patient is offered education or relaxation videos about managing their pain. The Pathway then automatically documents the assessment in the MEDITECH EMR and immediately notifies nurses via their Ascom® phone.
With the new pain management process in place, St. John’s tracked more than 4,500 patient responses through GetWellNetwork, 79 percent of which rated their pain below five on a scale of zero to 10. In addition, the automated pain assessments, documentation and notifications created efficiencies for nursing staff, helping them prioritize which patients to follow up with based on their pain rating. As a result, St. John’s increased patient satisfaction scores for pain control by 68 percent.
Moving forward, St. John’s continues to innovate and build on their success. Through continued pain monitoring and patient education, St. John’s has set a goal of reaching the 95th percentile for pain control and achieving best practice for pain management by the Joint Commission.
