Client Story
Patient Flow enhances patient care and communication at Hendrick Health System
Integrating Patient Flow for a streamlined EHR
Hendrick introduced Altera Patient Flow in February 2020 to help streamline the flow of patients and enhance the overall patient experience across the enterprise. Staff members can monitor patients from registration to discharge and have real-time information on patient locations and statuses to prevent delays and bottlenecks. Patient Flow includes various tools, such as secure messaging, task management and real-time alerts-enabling healthcare and housekeeping staff to work together more efficiently.
According to the staff at Hendrick, the implementation process was seamless. “It was a very easy transition because we already had the clinical aspect of the system with Sunrise Acute Care,” Steven Weaver, Systems Manager, explained. “The main reason we added in Patient Flow was so we could integrate under one platform and combine clinical features with registration and scheduling.”
Mitigated the number of daily calls made to the Transfer Center
Improved quality of care in the ED due to the integration of Patient Flow and the ED tracking board
Strengthened communication throughout departments
Patient Flow proves advantageous for clinical staff
Patient Flow can also be used to help manage patients in the Emergency Department (ED) with features like automated triage, clinical decision support and real-time tracking of patient status. These all result in improved patient satisfaction and reduced wait times.
According to the Hendrick team, physicians and nurses mainly use the “Unit View” within Patient Flow. “The ‘Unit View’ shows the unit that the staff member is working on that day. Whenever a patient is paged out, they can see where the patient is going or where they are being assigned. They can switch the assignment or ‘arrive’ a patient without alerting us. They also have the authority to do a bed swap,” Martha Martinez, Systems Specialist, said.
“One tool we use now, which is very helpful, involves bed requests. When a doctor puts in his admit order, it automatically comes over to Patient Flow as a bed request and the proper staff is alerted,” Weaver said.
An intra-departmental solution
Patient Flow is a daily tool for clinical staff, but it also aids the Environmental Services Staff (EVS) at Hendrick, such as maintenance and housekeeping. By prioritizing beds for cleaning based on status, it improves overall patient flow by enabling patients to reach their respective beds in a more efficient manner. Staff members receive requests on their assigned iPod Touches they carry throughout their shifts and can update statuses as “in progress” or “complete.” Additionally, the solution helps EVS to consistently keep track of team members’ locations within the hospital. The efficiency of Patient Flow has helped Hendrick reduce cold beds/housekeeping delays.
Patient Flow positively affects patient transfers
Improved workflows are directly related to enhanced patient care. When asked about the transfer feature in Patient Flow, Martinez said, “We move around our surgery, OR and Cath Lab patients regularly. Anything that is emergent can be seen by staff members in Patient Flow without having to make multiple calls.”
The solution also ensures patients are placed in the right bed at the right time and optimizes capacity and drives better patient outcomes. On top of that, it centralizes the transport workload to limit any possible delays.
“Patient Flow is order-driven and provides a real-time view of discharges and transfers, which positively impacts throughput. Having this solution in place makes it easy for the bedside nurse to anticipate patients arriving to the unit,” said Jennifer Solis, Nurse Manager.
Patient Flow provides increased visibility into the Emergency Department
Patient Flow is also prevalent in the Emergency Department. “The ED staff is able to view the ED tracking board, which shows room assignment information directly from Patient Flow. This way they don’t have to toggle between the two solutions,” Weaver said. “Workflow optimization in Patient Flow benefits the speed and quality of care that patients are receiving in the ED.”
Producing impactful outcomes since implementation
Patient Flow’s analytics feature provides descriptive and predictive analytics to assist leaders in making informed decisions and addressing daily patient flow challenges. This includes a comprehensive operational scorecard, forecasts of patient census and throughput, suggestions for staffing requirements and many more useful features.
“Altera Patient Flow’s ability to personalize has been very helpful in tracking metrics along our three-campus system. Based on the data obtained, we have been able to strategically guide what our system needs are,” said Precilla Camacho, Nurse Manager.
Since the implementation of Altera Patient Flow in early 2020, the Hendrick team has experienced a significant amount of success when it comes to bed management, transfers, bed turnover, analytics and much more.