P R O J E C T R E P O R T
I NCREA S I NG THE REACH OF NUR S I NG CARE : APP LY I NG D I G I TAL HEALTH TO PRE - ADM I S S I ON PATHWAY S
J SILBY MERCY HOSPITAL DUNEDIN + K SAMAN PERSONIFY CARE
digitise the Covid assessment to track and action symptoms and rapidly add screening questions around symptoms and travel history as per the latest New Zealand Ministry’s advice. Traditional tools for delivering pre-admission pathways (i.e. paper forms and phone calls) can be an impediment to implementing clinical best practices. The cost of personalising patient pathways is often a barrier to delivering consumer-centred care. Intelligent technology solutions can achieve a personalised patient experience and increase the capacity of nursing staff to deliver high-value care to the patients. Delivering timely information to patients tailored to their procedure or risk profile, not only improves the care experience but reduces the load on nursing staff answering routine questions by phone. Meanwhile, using smart technology to collect and screen patient information for their pre-admission preparation can provide early visibility to clinical risks and reduce sub-optimal patient outcomes.
They then receive notifications, in accordance with their pathway, including a secure checklist of things they need to do, assessments and forms they need to complete and other tailored information. Hospital staff track the progress of their patients against their pre-admission pathway and automatically screen them for clinical risks that require further follow up. Since the initial trial, the Personify Care digital pre-admission pathway has been rolled out across 11 of Mercy’s specialty suites. Across that time more than 2,800 patients have completed pre-admission using Personify Care, capturing over 223,000 digital interactions which would have otherwise been collected and reviewed manually. For nursing staff, this approach has eliminated the workload of manually collecting and reviewing patient information — enabling them to focus their time on high-value patient care. The use of digital pathways has also improved the timeliness of receiving pre-admission information. Using traditional approaches one in four patients had not provided pre-admission information five days before surgery, and under the digital model, all pre-admission information has been collected on time. The successful adoption of Personify Care became even more impactful during the Covid-19 pandemic. Clinical staff were able to quickly
The importance of nursing care in managing pre-admission pathways is well established. Ensuring that patients are well informed and ready for their procedure is critical to avoiding unnecessary complications. Early visibility of patients’ health history is vital to the effective management of their clinical risks. As part of its ongoing commitment to providing exceptional care that makes a difference, Mercy Hospital Dunedin in New Zealand sought to deliver an ‘Enhanced Pre-admission’ pathway for its patients. Personify Care’s digital health solution was selected and trialled in order to reduce the manual effort involved in collecting patient histories and ensuring patients had timely access to information about their procedure. During the trial process, staff were trained and existing hospital best practices were used to configure digital pathways within Personify Care’s platform within approximately seven weeks. This included: • Screening patient demographics and health histories • Personalised patient information by procedure type • Monitoring real-time patient experience measures and feedback. Patients are invited onto their hinz.org.nz/page/JOIN pathway via SMS or email as they are booked in for their procedure.
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WANT TO KNOW MORE ? Ken Saman | ken@personi fycare . com
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