What Healthcare Facilities Are Failing To Prioritize
By Bob Hill, Healthcare Industry Manager, Ergotron
From wall mounts, to patient e-tablets to flexible and configurable medical carts and telemedicine solutions, innovative medical furniture is supporting the technology transforming healthcare every day. The challenge lies in integrating this new equipment and technology into caregiver workflows throughout the hospital. Many facilities were built decades before the advent of electronic health records (EHRs) and were not designed to accommodate these high-tech, digital solutions and the equipment personalized to help enhance caregiver health and caregiving. When not effectively integrated in a hospital design with a focus on ergonomics, technology can negatively affect the patient experience, clinician safety and, ultimately, the facility’s bottom line.
The applied science of ergonomics focuses on designing and arranging physical things like healthcare information technology (HIT) for users to interact most efficiently and safely. In hospital settings, ergonomics impacts two key measures of success: nurse engagement and patient experience. Today, many clinicians struggle to adapt their already crowded environments in a way that’s convenient and comfortable, much less ergonomic. Twenty-first century technology like smart devices, documentation carts and medication delivery stations vie for space and attention in a patient room. Even efficient workflows can be hampered by the multiple challenges facing healthcare workers today.
So what are the physical barriers to supporting the new world of digital medicine?
Barriers To Efficient And Healthy Healthcare Facility Design
Technology has the power to connect us more than ever before. But just like in our personal lives, it can become a barrier to effective communication. Patient-centered care should equally balance the patient, caregiver and technology in a “triangle of care.” In this environment, the provider partially faces the computer display and the patient, and the patient can interact with the screen and provider simultaneously.
Mobile carts and wall workstations work to improve patient engagement, but today's healthcare facilities still are not fully designed to accommodate them, and caregivers are not always adequately trained on how to best leverage them. Existing healthcare facilities were designed to optimize clinician workflow without technology in mind, so patient rooms are often too small to accommodate the medical equipment that is considered commonplace today. In Ergotron’s survey with HIMSS Analytics, Finding the Disconnect: A Communication Breakdown in Healthcare IT, respondents ranked space restrictions and placement of fixed equipment as the biggest challenges when using technology at the patient’s bedside.
Staff at various points in the care continuum recognize the need to upgrade existing facilities to align with today’s digital solutions. Yet, as expected, different stakeholders voice varying priorities. Leaders hone in on the budget and bottom line, while IT professionals prefer the latest and greatest technology, and point-of-care professionals think about their daily routine and how infrastructure impacts the patient experience.
When asked to rank the factors influencing technology equipment decisions, overall results in the same survey showed budget is ranked highest, while equipment ergonomics is ranked lowest. While ergonomics may not rise to the top when considering elements to prioritize, it has been shown to improve efficiencies – a well-known pain point with EHR adoption. Incorporating ergonomics into the equation while aligning priorities across stakeholders helps ensure a holistic perspective that supports the organization’s overall success.
Leaving ergonomics out of the equation has lasting negative effects on both nurses and patients. Due to physical discomfort, nurses admit that they are often less friendly or engaging with patients and are more distracted. Half of nurses in a 2014 nursing survey reported feeling some level of discomfort inputting charting data – a real concern considering at least 35 percent of a typical 10-hour shift is spent entering data at a computer workstation.
Coupled with new technology demands and an industry shortage of healthcare professionals, an overwhelming 88 percent of nurses are concerned about their expanding workloads. When fatigued and stressed, caregivers admittedly work and interact differently with their patients. Ergonomic equipment is one of the easiest ways to help directly counteract the pain and tiredness associated with a demanding career in healthcare, leading to a positive impact on the patient experience.
Opening Communication Between Leadership, Clinicians And Patients
As hospitals continue to implement new healthcare solutions, healthcare space planners, IT decision makers, clinicians and facility leadership need to consider the broader organization’s goals to improve patient experience, ensure clinician satisfaction and maintain the bottom line.
Even today, surveys show a clear communication breakdown exists when selecting new technology. Clinicians complain of discomfort to IT professionals regularly, with more than half complaining at least one per month (56 percent) and more than one-third complaining once per week (36 percent), according to survey data. Even so, ergonomics is the least influential factor in equipment product selection, even with the majority (85 percent) of decision makers saying they consult clinicians when evaluating new technology.
As providers continue to evolve how they work in the world of digitized healthcare, it is critical that care facilities take advantage of every opportunity to improve the clinician and patient experience by integrating innovative technologies into caregiver workflows. Whether new hospital builds, renovations or process-flow improvements, using the right equipment, rightly placed, begins to remove barriers.
Ergonomic considerations are a part of the solution, with ergonomic equipment helping hospitals improve the patient-provider experience and engagement. It also positively impacts workflow efficiency and workers’ overall health, making it even more crucial for hospital decision makers to keep these assets top of mind.