The hyperlink between affected person expertise and well being outcomes is properly established: Constructive interactions enhance communication, remedy adherence and cut back readmissions, finally main to higher outcomes and better supplier profitability, in keeping with a 2023 report from the Nationwide Library of Drugs. Nonetheless, within the quickly altering hospital surroundings, particularly within the Emergency Division (ED), sustaining affected person consolation is usually a problem. Efficient affected person experiences additionally require quick, environment friendly communication that retains sufferers properly knowledgeable about their care.

Conventional communication instruments, akin to whiteboards and tv screens, have lengthy been utilized in hospitals, however their limitations have grow to be extra obvious. Brigham and Ladies's Hospital (BWH) in Boston, which manages greater than 50,000 inpatient stays and a couple of.25 million outpatient encounters yearly, has addressed these challenges with ePaper know-how, akin to E Ink, by digital whiteboards. This implementation has resulted in a quantifiable enchancment in affected person consolation, streamlined workers communications and demonstrated vitality financial savings, illustrating a considerable leap ahead in affected person expertise and operational effectivity in one of many busiest and most anxious healthcare environments.

Challenges of conventional communication within the emergency division

In each emergency room, sufferers and households eagerly await details about their care, whereas docs, nurses and different healthcare professionals concentrate on delivering life-saving remedies. Whiteboards have lengthy been an vital communication device to maintain sufferers knowledgeable of important info, such because the names of healthcare suppliers, pending check outcomes and care plans. Regardless of their potential advantages, dry-erase whiteboards usually go unused in hospitals as a result of time constraints of busy workers. In consequence, sufferers are left at the hours of darkness about their care, which might enhance their nervousness and negatively impression their hospital expertise.

Analysis has proven that feeling knowledgeable and understanding what to anticipate is essential to affected person consolation and satisfaction. The lack to replace these whiteboards in actual time provides pointless stress to the already intense expertise for sufferers and their households. It additionally exacerbates the continued downside of workforce burnout, which locations too little burden on healthcare suppliers to keep up up-to-date communication strategies.

Bringing whiteboards into the digital age

To handle these points, BWH, in collaboration with know-how companions eVideon, Avalue and E Ink, explored the potential of digital whiteboards in its ED. The research included 42-inch ePaper screens built-in with affected person knowledge programs, offering real-time updates on care plans, check outcomes and very important affected person info. This digital whiteboard routinely pulled knowledge from the hospital's digital medical data (EMR), making certain accuracy and lowering the burden on nurses to manually replace info.

The mixing of eVideon's software program and E Ink's ePaper know-how allowed the hospital to offer personalised, always up to date and easy-to-read info to sufferers and their households. Not like conventional TV screens, which might emit harsh glare and disrupt sleep, digital paper know-how mimics the look of printed textual content, offering superior eye consolation and usefulness in each shiny and darkish environments.

Impression on affected person consolation and satisfaction

The outcomes of the research at BWH have been overwhelmingly optimistic. Sufferers who had entry to digital whiteboards confirmed larger ranges of satisfaction and luxury. Practically all sufferers within the research (98%) reported that the digital whiteboard didn’t intervene with their capability to relaxation, an important issue for restoration. Moreover, 70% discovered the digital whiteboard extraordinarily useful in understanding what was occurring with their care.

The power to show essential info akin to care group particulars, lab outcomes and personalised updates made sufferers really feel extra knowledgeable and in management, assuaging a number of the nervousness that usually accompanies an emergency room go to workers. This improved communication between suppliers and sufferers has considerably improved general affected person satisfaction, which might have a long-lasting impression on hospital popularity and affected person retention.

A extra environment friendly and sustainable future for healthcare

Along with ePaper's digital whiteboards that enhance affected person communication and luxury, any such know-how can future-proof hospitals by growing sustainability and general effectivity, finally bettering the underside line. Not like conventional LCD or LED screens, which devour important vitality and might disrupt sufferers' sleep in extreme mild, ePaper makes use of minimal energy. They solely use electrical energy when updating the show, making them a really vitality environment friendly different. This effectivity interprets into substantial value financial savings on vitality payments, an important consideration for hospitals targeted on value management and sustainable practices.

By adopting ePaper know-how, hospitals not solely enhance affected person satisfaction with clearer, extra accessible info, but additionally align with inexperienced buying targets, growing their environmental footprint. Most of these shows, which might function 24/7 with minimal vitality consumption, assist each sustainability and operational effectivity. The results of improved affected person care and decrease vitality prices makes ePaper digital whiteboards a progressive funding for hospitals.

This may be applied in versatile purposes exterior of 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 best way for long-term success.

About John Marchesano

John Marchesano is the Strategic Partnerships Supervisor of Healthcare at E Ink, creator of the e-paper utilized by BWH.