Our Federal Community of Practice is a recurring webinar series inviting federal healthcare facility stakeholders to hear informative case studies from industry leaders. These sessions highlight data-based insights, promote facility performance improvement, and foster ongoing collaboration between our suite of patient engagement tools and healthcare centers around the country.
On Thursday, June 22, we were proud to host members of some of our federal VA client facilities to share how they leverage Get Well technology to:
- Improve the Veteran patient experience through digital rounding
- Increase education and medication-teaching tools
- Successfully enhance digital care management via GetWell Loop within a multi-hospital medical system
The highlights of this 60-minute session are below.
Enhancing the Veteran experience with digital leader rounding
Patient experience is a priority for healthcare organizations public and private, small and large. Nurse leaders play a crucial role in this metric, and are relied on for their hands-on experience in patient engagement, education, and care. Using more intentional and digitally enhanced patient rounding, one VA facility positively impacted Veteran experience scores alongside their Clinical Nurse Leaders (CNLs).
Research shows that intentional patient rounding, with targeted questions by nursing leaders, can significantly improve the quality of care a patient receives, thus improving patient satisfaction. Many organizations, however, struggle to appropriately utilize their clinical leaders to drive positive patient experiences. Like many civilian hospital systems, the VA uses survey and assessment tools to measure patient engagement, but these processes can be time-consuming, often not seeing feedback on scores for weeks at a time.
This facility implemented GetWell Rounds+ to facilitate digital rounding by CNLs. The CNLs used the software to engage with Veterans, ask key questions, and provide on-the-spot service recovery in case of issues or complaints. By individualizing questions based on unit performance, the CNLs focused on areas they found needed improvement.
The GetWell Rounds+ implementation improved outcomes in two areas: staff communication, and responsiveness. One improved metric in particular was a decrease in the number of patients who answered “no” when asked if their care time responded in a timely manner. There was a clinically significant decrease in patients indicating “no” to the question, representing a 12% decrease.
This case study helps reinforce the value of purposeful, real-time digital leader rounding in monitoring and improving the patient experience. For Veterans at this facility, the combination of CNL rounding and our GetWell Rounds+ solution enhanced patient engagement and perception of timely care.
This successful implementation reinforces the benefits of integrating digital technologies into clinical practice and highlights the importance of preparing clinicians for a digitally enhanced future of care.
Leveraging volunteers for patient education
Another VA facility spotlighted leveraged volunteers to educate Veterans, improving patient education and medication teaching. The program aimed to support nurses by providing assistance with non-clinical tasks and to help teach Veterans about medication best practices using the suite of patient education tools offered by Get Well.
To kick off the program, the team recruited volunteers (many of whom were college students interested in medicine) and created guides and training programs. Once volunteers were comfortable interacting with patients and with using GetWell Rounds+, the volunteers began their work.
Throughout the program, the facility noticed an improvement in the percentage of patients completing assigned patient education. From January to May 2023, the percentage of patients who had some assigned patient education completed jumped from 28% to 42%. The program also received positive feedback from nurses and Veterans alike, with volunteers being praised for their assistance in patient education, thus lessening the burden on clinicians.
After seeing the success of this program, a collaborative partner of this facility in New Jersey implemented a similar one, focusing on medication teaching and utilizing GetWell Rounds+ forms completed by volunteers to track patient progress and increase personalized education utilization.
Since its launch in September 2022, the personalized education program experienced a consistent rise in usage. From Q4 2022 to Q1 2023, there was a 20% increase in the number of patients who completed personalized education and a 31% increase in the number of medication sheets viewed. Additionally, the facility found a correlation between the number of GetWell Rounds+ forms completed and the percentage of patients who completed their personalized education.
Both of these facilities were successful in relying on volunteers to complete GetWell Rounds+ forms and training, educating Veterans on medication and safety practices, and relieving some non-clinical tasks from staff. These programs were a “win-win” for volunteers who sought medical experience, clinicians with critical care tasks on their plate, and Veterans who wanted to take an active role in their care.
Optimizing patient care and communication at scale
Finally, LifeBridge Health, a large, multi-service line health system with hospital facilities, urgent cares, and several acute care programs spotlighted their use of GetWell Loop. Using GetWell Loop, they were able to improve patient care and communication by providing digital post-discharge and post-procedure follow-ups with patients.
The partnership started in 2015 as a solution for a specialty care department’s need to scale and automate their post-discharge follow-up process. The department wanted to find a way to communicate with patients in a secure and HIPAA-compliant manner. They found GetWell Loop, implemented it, and achieved widespread success.
After seeing this victory on a small scale, the system at large decided to leverage GetWell Loop across all their facilities, implementing it in their emergency departments and main hospitals. Implementing solutions on this scale can be challenging, but with the partnership of Get Well’s client success teams, they pulled it off, and a significant number of patients engaged with the solution.
For this partner, GetWell Loop resulted in positive outcomes, including lower 30-day revisit rates for patients who used GetWell Loop compared to those who didn’t. Patients reported satisfaction with the platform, leading to improved Google ratings for the hospitals. The success of the program also increased staff engagement.
Since the success of this partnership, Get Well solutions have expanded across the system, having been integrated into the hospital’s electronic health record (EHR) system, allowing for convenient scheduling and auto-enrollment of patients on relevant care plans. Our solutions have also allowed for validation of patient contact information, and the use of the GetWell Anywhere app to allow patients to access their care plans and activate their “Loops” for care going forward.
Overall, Get Well solutions were successfully implemented at scale for this large healthcare system, resulting in increasing patient engagement and positive outcomes. No matter the size, scale, or needs of each system, Get Well offers customizable options for every circumstance.
For VA facilities, Get Well solutions offer a bright look ahead
The case studies showcased in our Federal Community of Practice webinar highlight the transformative impact of data-driven solutions on patient care and engagement within VA facilities. Through the adoption of Get Well technology, these organizations successfully elevated Veteran experiences, improved patient education and medication teaching, and streamlined patient care and communication on large scales.
With Get Well’s innovative solutions, healthcare organizations have the power to revolutionize patient experiences, optimize care delivery, and adapt their approaches in real time. Get Well remains committed to collaborating with facilities of all sizes to provide customizable solutions that meet their unique needs and contribute to the improvement of care for deserving Veterans.
