The hyperlink between affected person expertise and well being outcomes is well-established: constructive interactions improve communication, adherence, and scale back readmissions, finally resulting in improved outcomes and larger supplier profitability, based on a 2023 report from the National Library of Medicine. Nonetheless, within the fast-paced hospital surroundings, significantly within the Emergency Division (ED), sustaining affected person consolation might be difficult. Efficient affected person experiences additionally require swift, environment friendly communication that retains sufferers well-informed about their care.
Conventional communication instruments, corresponding to whiteboards and tv screens, have lengthy been utilized in hospitals, however their limitations have develop into extra obvious. Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) in Boston, which manages over 50,000 inpatient stays and a pair of.25 million outpatient encounters yearly, has addressed these challenges with ePaper expertise, like E Ink, by digital whiteboards. This implementation has resulted in quantifiable enchancment of affected person consolation, streamlined employees communication, and demonstrated power financial savings, illustrating a considerable leap ahead in affected person expertise and operational effectivity in one of many busiest and most aggravating healthcare environments.
Challenges of Conventional Communication within the ED
In any ED, sufferers and households anxiously await details about their care, whereas medical doctors, nurses, and different healthcare professionals are centered on delivering life-saving remedies. Whiteboards have lengthy been an essential communication software to replace sufferers on important info just like the names of caregivers, pending take a look at outcomes, and care plans. Regardless of their potential advantages, dry erase whiteboards in hospitals typically go unused because of the time constraints of busy employees. In consequence, sufferers are left at nighttime about their care, which might improve their anxiousness and negatively have an effect on their hospital expertise.
Research has proven that feeling knowledgeable and understanding what to anticipate is essential for affected person consolation and satisfaction. The lack to replace these whiteboards in real-time provides pointless stress to an already intense expertise for sufferers and their households. It additionally exacerbates the continued difficulty of employees burnout, the place healthcare suppliers are stretched too skinny to take care of up-to-date communication strategies.
Bringing Whiteboards into the Digital Period
To deal with these points, BWH, in collaboration with expertise companions eVideon, Avalue, and E Ink, explored the potential of digital whiteboards in its ED. The examine included 42-inch ePaper screens built-in with affected person knowledge techniques, offering real-time updates on care plans, take a look at outcomes, and important affected person info. This digital whiteboard robotically retrieved knowledge from the hospital’s digital medical data (EMR), guaranteeing accuracy and decreasing the burden on nurses to manually replace info.
The mixing of eVideon’s software program and E Ink’s ePaper expertise allowed the hospital to supply customized, continuously up to date, and simply readable info to sufferers and their households. In contrast to conventional TV screens, which might emit a harsh glare and disrupt sleep, the digital paper expertise mimics the looks of printed textual content, providing superior eye consolation and value in each vibrant and dim settings.
Affect on Affected person Consolation and Satisfaction
The outcomes of the examine at BWH have been overwhelmingly constructive. Sufferers who had entry to digital whiteboards expressed greater ranges of satisfaction and luxury. Practically all sufferers within the examine (98%) reported that the digital whiteboard didn’t intrude with their skill to relaxation, a essential issue for restoration. Moreover, 70% discovered the digital whiteboard extraordinarily useful in understanding what was occurring with their care.
The flexibility to show essential info corresponding to care staff particulars, lab outcomes, and customized updates helped sufferers really feel extra knowledgeable and in management, assuaging a few of the anxiousness that always accompanies an ED go to. This enhanced communication between healthcare suppliers and sufferers considerably improved general affected person satisfaction, which might have an enduring affect on hospital popularity and affected person retention.
A Extra Environment friendly and Sustainable Future for Healthcare
Together with ePaper digital whiteboards proving to reinforce affected person communication and luxury, this sort of expertise can future-proof hospitals by boosting sustainability and general effectivity, finally enhancing the underside line. In contrast to conventional LCD or LED screens, which devour substantial power and might disrupt sufferers’ sleep with extreme gentle, ePaper makes use of minimal energy. They solely draw electrical energy when updating the show, making them a extremely energy-efficient different. This effectivity interprets into substantial price financial savings on power payments, a vital consideration for hospitals centered on price management and sustainable practices.
By adopting ePaper expertise, hospitals not solely enhance affected person satisfaction with clearer, extra accessible info but additionally align with inexperienced buying objectives, enhancing their environmental footprint. A lot of these screens, which might function 24/7 with minimal power use, help each sustainability and operational effectivity. The result of enhanced affected person care and decreased power prices makes ePaper digital whiteboards a forward-thinking funding for hospitals.
This may be applied in versatile functions past emergency departments, benefiting affected person rooms, ready areas, and hallways. Utilizing ePaper whiteboards, hospitals can create a extra patient-centered, cost-effective, and environmentally sustainable healthcare surroundings, paving the way in which for long-term success.
About John Marchesano
John Marchesano is the Strategic Partnerships Supervisor of Healthcare at E Ink, the maker of the e-paper utilized by BWH.
