When a patient undergoes surgery, his or her family members are often left in the dark throughout the majority of the process. Instead of keeping these family members feeling anxious and worried, hospitals are turning to a new app to better communicate with surgery patients’ loved ones.
Called Electronic Access to Surgical Events, or EASE for short, the tool is akin to Snapchat.
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In a recent phone interview, Dr. Kevin de la Roza, a pediatric cardiac anesthesiologist and the co-creator of EASE, summed it up fairly simply: “EASE is a platform that allows us to securely and with HIPAA compliance communicate with these families.”
Here’s how EASE works: A patient can download the app for free and begin the registration process. Once signed up, the person can select others from their contact list who they want to receive updates on their progress. The patient then gets a QR code that the clinician scans to admit the individual to the EASE platform. Additionally, the provider scans the patient’s medical bracelet.
After that, it’s smooth sailing, and the medical team can send text, photo and video updates to the patient’s family. The messages can be sent from the pre-op, surgery, PACU, NICU, ICU and medical floor settings. All received messages cannot be saved, and they disappear after 60 seconds.
EASE was originally developed in 2013 at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, which is part of Orlando Health. However, the tool has been implemented at a total of about 35 hospitals across the country.
In a phone interview, Dr. Jose Perez, the corporate medical director of the NICU at Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies, discussed some of the perks of utilizing EASE.
For doctors to be successful, they have to have positive patient outcomes and communicate with patients and families, he said.
“EASE allows us to do that communication piece,” Perez said. “It really builds a trust relationship. I think it has far-reaching implications outside just a picture.”
In addition to assisting in day-to-day operations, the app has also come in handy in critical situations. De la Roza noted that Orlando Health utilized EASE during Hurricane Irma last year. The institution’s NICU was on lockdown, and many families couldn’t be with their babies. The staff was able to use EASE to keep parents in the loop and calm.
Moving forward, de la Roza hopes to bring EASE to more institutions and keep improving the communication piece of the healthcare journey.
“Hopefully it’s a movement that’s happening in healthcare,” he said. “My vision is to keep growing this and expanding as best we can.”
Photo: EASE
