HEART TO HEART HOSPICE
“ Behind the scenes , we can use technology systems to increase the bedside time . That ' s what feeds the souls of nurses ” look at our performance compared to other hospice providers , we have more visits , and that typically translates to better care because we ' re there at the end of the patient ' s life ," she adds .
" Nurses don ' t work in hospice care because they want to do a lot of paperwork , they do it because they want to be at the bedside " Seeley Avery , VP of Marketing and Education , says . " Behind the scenes , we can use technology systems or processes to increase that bedside time and those conversations . That ' s what feeds the souls of nurses , and anything other than that can be very frustrating ."
The EMR has vastly increased the amount of time nurses can spend at the bedside . " They used to spend so much time doing paperwork ", Avery adds . " Once you ' re trained in how to use the EMR , it ' s so much easier . We ' d hear of nurses who , after tucking their kids into bed , would then have several hours ' worth of documentation to write up . Now they can document it into one system before they leave the hospice patient and then go home and get back to their lives . If it improves their lives , that improves their care and employee satisfaction , and it ' s just this whole upward spiral ."
" It ' s been a huge ride ," Abercrombie says of the last four years . " I won ' t say smooth , but with a clear , direct partnership with the clinical team and Heather , it ' s been really enjoyable and rewarding . We ' ve had some hard times changing the culture , but we are here to care for the patients and their families . We do that by providing stable , flexible , secure technology that works consistently . We don ' t want staff to worry about whether their tablet is going to boot up or a system is not available . Ultimately it ' s all about the patient ."
SEELEY AVERY VP OF MARKETING AND EDUCATION , HEART TO HEART HOSPICE technologymagazine . com 261