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The Value Of Communication Coordination Among The Care Team

This post is sponsored by Sprint and is the first article in a 12-part series […]

This post is sponsored by Sprint and is the first article in a 12-part series on mobilizing healthcare for improved communication.

Though patient satisfaction and safety – and, sometimes, lives – depend on it, communication among a medical care team isn’t always coordinated.1 It’s often tough for medical professionals to know who to communicate with.1 Who is the specialist handling this patient? The nurse?1

But when a care team isn’t coordinated, the consequences can range from irritating to disastrous.1 The time it takes for a hospital patient to get a glass of water can have a major impact on overall satisfaction.1 Yet with an uncoordinated care team, it might take awhile from the moment the patient presses the “nurse call” button to when the drink is placed by her bedside.1 That’s because, in many care settings, the monitor tech at the nurses’ station needs to check the whiteboard to determine who is responsible for the patient.1 Then, the tech must track down the nurse, who might be caring for another patient.1 Uncoordinated care is time consuming.1

At its worst, the lack of care team coordination can lead to confusion and unnecessary stress.1 Many hospitals still use antiquated loudspeaker systems to alert care teams to emergencies.1 Imagine hearing “Code Blue” called for your child’s room at a pediatric hospital.1 There has to be a better way.1

When a care team is coordinated, there are two major benefits to the patient, providers and hospital:

1. Patient Safety – When care team members need to collaborate to help a patient, hospitals will see a reduction in medical errors if the team is coordinated.1 Care team coordination can also help reduce hospital readmission rates, saving money for the hospital and improving patient health.1

2. Patient Satisfaction – A coordinated care team provides better care, and that leads to happier patients.1 Every patient discharged from the hospital fills out a survey measuring satisfaction.2 The results of those surveys determine hospital reimbursements – the higher the satisfaction, the higher the reimbursement.1

So how can care teams become more coordinated? With the current state of communication technology (from smartphones to Skype), there are many options for using tech to improve care team coordination.1

What if a doctor could pull his smartphone from his pocket and see a list of a patient’s care team in the palm of his hand? Even better, what if he could call, text or even videoconference the team just by swiping a finger? With a care team directory at his fingertips, the doctor saves time – he doesn’t have to walk back to the nurses’ station or find a computer.1 He’s at the patient’s bedside the entire time.

Anyone who has spent time in an emergency department knows that one visit can take all day. That’s in part because doctors need to check on test results periodically, say every 15 minutes or so, at a computer in the department.1 But if the results came directly to the doctor’s smartphone via a push alert – and he could then text the results to a pharmacist – patients would be out of the ER quicker.1

The possibilities for using tech to improve care team coordination are endless.

                                                                                                                                                      

1. Jamie Brasseal and Mike Detjen of Mobile Heartbeat granted permission for all of their direct quotes and indirect quotes to be used in this article. Interview date: Jan. 16, 2015.

2. HCAHPS: Patients’ Perspectives of Care Survey, http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/HospitalQualityInits/HospitalHCAHPS.html, Sept. 25, 2014.

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