nursing it innovation award
Go.” Burks describes Cullman as a very tech-
friendly environment. “We love technology
at this hospital,” she enthuses. “We’re on the
cutting edge. Experia told me about the new
product and it seemed easy” so she agreed to
becoming a beta site. “If there is something
that could benefit us, we will try it.”
That was in the summer of 2011. By Oc-
tober, the hospital had gone live with the
unit—which the vendor modified in accor-
dance with nurse input from Cullman. Its set-
up is simple, and adds no extra time to the
discharge process, Burks says. She explains
how the process works: Nurses are given an
iPod Touch, which resides at a charging sta-
tion. When it is time to conduct a discharge
meeting, the nurse gathers up the typical
documents for signing and takes the device
to the bedside. Using the iPod, the nurse
records the interaction with the patient, in-
cluding any questions from the patient and
their answers. That information is automati-
cally downloaded to a Web site hosted by the
vendor and the voice file becomes part of an
online package available to the patient.
The iPod Touch has been stripped down
of its standard features, such as music downloads, and has no other activated features,
says Bailey. “There no music on the device
and it can’t be used to make calls,” she says.
The device, however, is interfaced with the
hospital’s inpatient EHR, from CPSI. The
iPod Touch gets an ADT feed from the EHR,
and when the nurse logs on, the device will
pull in a list of names admitted to the hospital, organized by floor. During the discharge, the nurse goes to her floor, clicks on
the patient name and pulls up a discharge
template for a given condition, such as CHF.
The system will generate a PIN number for
the patient to later use to access the recording, a number which the nurse writes down
on a preprinted form for the patient. She
then records the conversation, and upon
completion, the Good to Go system securely
dispatches the voice file to its Web site.
As part of the patient’s take-home package, they receive the instruction sheet on
how to access the Good to Go Web site,
which the vendor hosts remotely and which
to enter the contest, contestants prepared an essay of up to 1,250 words answering
the following questions:
What the Judges Looked For
1. what is the nursing i.t.
project that is worthy of
recognition?
2. what is the technology
involved?
a. For off-the-shelf products, please describe
what additional configuration was required
to achieve the system
functionality associated
with the nomination,
and the role that nursing
played in making configuration decisions.
b. For home-grown
products, please
describe the role that
nursing played in the development of the system
functionality associated
with this nomination.
3. what is innovative or
groundbreaking about the
project?
4. what are the measur-
able results/outcomes of
the project? Be as spe-
cific and detailed as pos-
sible. Examples of results
may include: achieving
tangible improvements in
the quality of care; reduc-
ing the time nurses spend
on non-care activities by
automating tasks; improv-
ing workload manage-
ment through telehealth
technologies and other
systems; enabling per-
formance improvement
through data analytics
and reporting.
5. How does the project
support quality improve-
ment?
has customized pages for each patient. Patients can also call an 800 number if they just
want to listen to the conversation. The Web
site—one of the modifications added during the beta development—includes related
hospital-produced videos to the discharge
condition, and Bailey says the hospital has
“just begun to scratch the surface” of adding
related content to the patient page. “Think
of all the reasons you’re admitted. That is a
lot of templates to tailor and a lot of videos
to complete.” Physicians have expressed interest in adding their own video messages to
patients, she notes.
During its first phase of the project, Cullman deployed the technology in Burks’
“step down unit,” reserved for patients who
do not qualify as critical care patients, but
who still need more attention than a regular unit. These are typically patients with
CHF, pneumonia and acute MI, says Bailey.
They’re also likely candidates for 30-day readmissions. The 31-bed unit is usually full
to capacity, Burks says.
Cullman currently deploys the technol-
ogy in six departments, including its post-
op, maternity and one-day surgery depart-
ments. The set-up is used for situations other
than discharges, as well. For example, respi-
ratory therapists use the devices to record
any specialized patient care instructions
the patient might need at home. Those re-
cordings become part of the patient’s online
package. Bailey’s next project is linking in
nursing homes with the technology. A case
manager planning a nursing home stay will
record her dialogue with the patient. And
the patient’s Web site will include related
links to the home itself. “The nursing home
can dial in as well and hear exactly what our
case manager told the patient. Our goal is to
improve communications between hospital
and nursing home.”
In addition, the hospital will use the devic-
es to record conversations between patients
and members of the patient financial servic-
es department. The financial services staff of-
ten makes bedside visits to explain payment
options. These recordings will be used solely
for quality improvement purposes—with
department managers reviewing the interac-
tions—and not be part of the patient’s post-
