Users Conference Informs, Inspires, and Connects
Thank you for making GetConnected2008 a success!
Designed exclusively for the GetWellNetwork community, GetConnected2008 was the industry's first annual conference focused on Interactive Patient Care technology and improving the patient experience. The two-day conference was held at the Hilton Washington Embassy Row in Washington, D.C. Participants shared best practices and lessons learned, discussed the latest trends and issues in Interactive Patient Care, learned new strategies through hands-on workshops and networked with colleagues in the industry.
Topics such as patient education and safety initiatives, patient satisfaction and service excellence strategies, and success planning and outcomes management were featured in more than 25 client- and GetWellNetwork-led sessions. Keynote speakers included Fawn Lopez, publisher and vice president of Modern Healthcare and Modern Physician; John Babiarz, group president of ARAMARK Healthcare; and Michael O'Neil, Jr., founder and CEO of GetWellNetwork, Inc.
Did You Miss the Conference?
GetWellNetwork clients can review the conference presentations by logging in to the Client Resource Center (a username and password are required) and clicking on the GetConnected logo in the middle of the screen. |
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User Group Meetings - Mark Your Calendars
Feedback and dialogue during GetConnected2008 were terrific and we have heard your call for more! The discussion for the next two monthly User Group calls will focus on presentations from client representatives originally presented at the Users Conference. The dates and times for these calls are:
- Thursday, May 22, 12:30-2:00 pm ET
- Wednesday, June 25, 12:30-2:00 pm ET
The User Group calls are an exclusive opportunity for the GetWellNetwork client community. To participate, please email Julia Southerton at jsoutherton@getwellnetwork.com. Please be sure to mark your calendars. A confirmation
email providing the dial-in information will be sent to you no later than May
21.
Community Resources - Discussion Forums, Listservs, and More!
In the coming weeks, we will be communicating the availability of a number of new community resources accessible through the Client Resource Center (a username and password are required), including discussion forums, listserv access, and more! Stay tuned for further information. |
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Virtua Health Automates Bedflow Processes
"Click to Clean" Helps Reduce Average Bed Turnaround Time by 34 Percent
"The GetWellNetwork 'Click to Clean' feature was essential in our efforts to redesign the bed turn-around process, providing us with a means for effective communication. We are encouraged by the early results and look forward to seeing continuous improvement."
- Terry Rodgers, Administrative Director, Virtua Health Marlton
Situation. At many hospitals, bed turnaround time is an integral part of the bedflow process relieving crowding in the emergency department, admitting surgical patients, and accommodating direct admissions and transfers. Dissatisfied by its current process for facilitating bed turnaround, Virtua Health Marlton, New Jersey, formed an interdisciplinary team to analyze and address this issue. Its focus was to create a process that would seamlessly integrate into hospital work flow.
The team at Virtua Health Marlton was able to identify multiple factors that led to delay in the bed turnaround process. It concluded that manual processes and extensive communication were making the process difficult and time-consuming. The average bed turnaround time on Unit 3 South at Virtua Health Marlton prior to the implementation of "Click to Clean(SM)" was 330 minutes (5.5 hours) from patient discharge to next patient admission.
Solution. "Click to Clean" is a relatively simple application that facilitates rapid bed turnaround time between patients by using communication tools available through the GetWellNetwork® PatientLife System®. The feature provides an on-screen menu item that gives staff the option to contact housekeeping when a room is ready to be cleaned, and in turn, a menu item for housekeeping to close the loop once the room is ready to be occupied. Notification sent directly to the appropriate party at each stage in the process serves to streamline communications.
Outcome/Results. Since Virtua Health Marlton launched the "Click to Clean" feature, the average bed turnaround time on Unit 3 South has been reduced by 34 percent. This feature of the GetWellNetwork PatientLife System is both easy and quick to implement, and provides flexibility in its configuration depending on the business needs of the hospital. "Click to Clean" is currently live at several GetWellNetwork client sites.
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GetWellNetwork Community Continues to Grow - Welcome!
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GetWellNetwork Introduces Fall Prevention Education Package for Patients and Families
GetWellNetwork recently announced the availability of the Fall Prevention Education Package, a multimedia patient education module designed to help hospitals educate patients and their families on the risks of falls and the precautions they can take to avoid them. The package includes an 11-minute educational video produced by Envision, Inc. that enables hospitals to engage patients in their own care process while providing additional support to the nursing staff and improving patient safety.
Nurses can prescribe the fall prevention video to patients through the GetWellNetwork PatientLife System. Once triggered, the system's innovative Patient Pathways™ technology delivers an alert to the patient's television monitor inviting the patient to watch the video. The patient's response is then recorded and can be viewed by the nursing staff. When interfaced with a hospital's electronic medical record, the system can also launch the pathway based on a patient's specific fall risk score.
"With the emphasis on patient safety, public reporting on quality outcomes, and recent changes in Medicare reimbursement rules, it is more crucial than ever to take initiatives to ensure that both staff and patients are educated on fall prevention and the risks involved with falls," said Rebecca Pariseau, RNC, clinical nurse specialist at St. Joseph Mercy Oakland Hospital. "Delivering this information through the GetWellNetwork system not only enables us to reduce the occurrence of falls and improve nurse efficiency in this aspect, but also involves patients and their families in the initiative." Learn more.
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