6 Methods for Improving Nurse Workflow & Productivity with Technology With the passage of the HITECH Act in 2009, electronic health records (EHR) systems have become the standard for capturing and sharing patient information. Eligible hospitals (EHs) and eligible providers (EPs) are now incentivized for achieving “meaningful use” of EHRs—that is, realizing significant improvements in patient care as a result of using the EHR system. In addition to EHR systems, several technologies have been proven to significantly improve nurse workflow, and, as a result, patient care. We’ll explore some of these technologies below.
#1: Real-Time Location Systems Real-time location systems use tags and sensors to locate nurses, patients, equipment, and medical staff within a building. The system locates the closest available resources (people and equipment) and displays that information, typically in a map format. RTLS may utilize a tracking chip that is clipped onto a nurse’s hospital ID badge, for example, which activates a receiver when the nurse enters a patient’s room and displays the nurse’s name, job title, and photo on a centralized display screen. These systems can significantly reduce the amount of time nurses spend tracking down equipment (electrocardiogram monitors, intravenous pumps, etc.), making delivery of care more efficient. Additionally, real-time location systems help track how nurses use their time throughout the day—information that can be used to improve workflows and efficiency. Another unexpected benefit of RTLS is that it helps medical facilities track which staff members came into contact with a patient with a communicable disease, helping control its spread. Realtime location systems have proven to be useful training tools for new and existing nurses. #2: Delivery Robots Robots can reliably handle many of the fetch-and-deliver tasks that nurses routinely perform. Robots have been successfully used to deliver medications from on-site pharmacies to unit nurses, and they can also deliver meals, supplies, patient charts, lab specimens, and linens. This frees up nurses to spend more quality time with patients and less time on administrative tasks.
Robots can bring a significant return on investment for medical facilities. Providence Hospital in Washington D.C. reported that a delivery robot can do the work of 4.2 full-time-equivalent staff for just $2.85 per hour1. The use of robots does not generally require structural changes to the interior of medical facilities, since robots can be guided by computer and programmed to detect people, beds, and other obstacles in order to avoid collisions. #3: Wireless Nurse Call Systems Wireless nurse call systems are centralized programs that can integrate with pagers, wireless phones, two-way radios, cell phones, IPads, smoke and motion detectors, wandering patient door equipment, and real-time location systems to streamline workflows and help nurses deliver better care to patients. A wireless system that enables nurses to talk to patients can help prevent accidents and increase response times from minutes to seconds. These systems improve workflow by streamlining patient care and eliminating the amount of time nurses spend tracking down patient information and on administrative functions.
#4: Workflow Management System Managing patient flow and coordinating tasks are constant challenges for nurses. Lack of easy access to information can create delays and inefficiencies—for example, a nurse may have to check a paper chart, check online, ask another staff member, or physically check to find out whether a room is occupied or empty. Workflow management systems can be an invaluable tool in this regard by collecting information from multiple sources and integrating it into a single display that highlights essential information about patients and available facilities. Workflow management systems can help eliminate time nurses spend tracking down information and display information such as: How long each patient has been waiting Which patients are at risk for a fall Pending admissions and discharges The availability of rooms Which patients have outstanding test orders or new results
The result is less frustration among healthcare staff and improved patient satisfaction. #5: Wireless Interactive Patient Systems Interactive patient systems can be integrated with a medical facility’s clinical documentation system to enable two-way communication between nurses and patients and deliver multimedia at a patient’s bedside, including educational videos, entertainment, and Internet services. One hospital that implemented an interactive patient system found that patient use of education videos increased 15 percent within the first month1. Having a variety of entertainment options helps replicate what patients experience at home and can significantly improve their experience and satisfaction. Too often, nurses end up fulfilling requests that aren’t part of their normal duties—requests for a missed meal, an additional blanket, a change of room temperature, etc. — duties that should be handled by other staff members. Patient interactive systems enable patients to enter a request online, at which point the system routes the request to the appropriate team member or department, removing nurses as middlemen. #6: Wireless Patient Monitoring Patient falls are a leading cause of death among those 65 and older. Emergency call systems are critical for responding to such emergencies after the fact, but prevention is key. Wireless patient monitoring systems featuring sensors that can be integrated into patient beds, for example, alert nurses when a patient gets out of bed or when the patient is sleeping in the wrong position. Additionally, sensors can measure a patient’s heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, and body movement to prevent an acute event from occurring in the first place. Wireless patient monitoring systems improve workflows by adding an “extra set of eyes” on patients, reducing the number of hours nurses spent on administrative functions and helping prevent falls among patients. #6: E-Medication Administration Medication errors are a common problem in hospitals, causing tens of thousands of patient deaths and hundreds of thousands of adverse reactions among patients every year1. Electronic medication administration with bar coding helps reduce errors at the nurse level by providing information about the drug and the patient, reducing the likelihood of a medication mistake. Importantly, these systems provide nurses with legible information about the medication that nurses don’t need to transcribe from physician orders, as well as information about when the last dose was given and when the next dose should be given. These systems help streamline nurse workflows by generating work lists and reminders, including which items must be completed and when.