Patients who are actively engaged in their health and informed of their care journey see more improvement than passive participants. Patient engagement systems aim to boost patient participation by leveraging the healing potential of collaboration, communication, and empowerment. For example, an Interactive Patient Care System (IPS) can integrate with in-room Smart television technology and existing HIT applications to connect patients and providers throughout the recovery process.
Comprehensive communication is achieved through cost-effective integrations that create a communication hub between an IPS and existing HIT applications, which offers the ability to easily share educational materials with patients and improve collaborative feedback tools. Providing credible and professionally created patient education materials in a variety of formats during the health journey addresses care information along with health literacy. The educational details can inform, offer insights to enhance outcomes and reduce avoidable readmission or help with the ongoing self-management of a chronic condition, and help guide patients through shared decision-making. This all contributes to building a patient’s self-efficacy and confidence while enhancing their trust, health literacy, and engagement.
Patients must be active participants who connect & collaborate When done right, digital transformation makes care delivery more collaborative for all patients and reduces non-clinical tasks for clinicians. At its core, an IPS leverages the patient’s television infrastructure to create a data-driven communication hub for customized education, entertainment, and empowerment. It takes a familiar interface – the TV remote control in the form of a pillow speaker that is connected to the nurse call system – and empowers patients to engage in their care, review educational lessons, take control of non-clinical tasks such as making a service request, and connect with their caregivers. Allowing patients to manage non-clinical aspects of their care not only increases operational efficiency of the facility but further boosts an internal locus of control with the patient. Creating a sense of control in what was an unfamiliar environment builds patient confidence in managing their health by collaborating with the care team.
Leveraging data-driven solutions to provide patients with an engagement roadmap during their initial admissions process increases the patient’s active involvement and ability to work with their caregivers to lower the length of their stay and improve safety. Digital transformations shaped by data-driven technology ensure patients are prepared with clear expectations and guided through a smoother journey. To make the care journey more efficient and patient-focused, advanced digital patient engagement systems integrate with other devices and tools such as EHRs to offer universal access and further connect facility-wide. From infusion centers to emergency departments and even beyond the walls of the facility, the technology works to keep patients and providers seamlessly connected.
