In early 2023, Arkansas-based Baptist Well being launched a digital nursing program at its Rehabilitation Institute to supply extra assist to bedside nurses, sufferers and households. This system then expanded to its hospitals in Stuttgart, Malvern and Heber Springs. Citing optimistic affected person outcomes and suggestions, Baptist Well being plans to roll out digital care packages on each medical and surgical ground throughout the group.
The most important personal nonprofit healthcare group primarily based in Arkansas, Baptist Well being has 12 hospitals, pressing care facilities, a senior residing group, greater than 100 major and specialty care clinics, and roughly 11,000 staff.
Baptist Well being will improve its bedside care groups by growing its utilization of Caregility clever telehealth gadgets to greater than 700 bedsides system-wide, doubling the footprint of the healthcare group’s inpatient telehealth providers. The initiative provides digital scientific assets to assist in-person bedside care.
The purpose of digital nursing is to cut back strain on bedside employees by redistributing duties {that a} digital nurse or assist employees can discipline. On account of elevated telehealth providers in acute care settings, healthcare methods see important time financial savings and improved throughput (the method of transferring sufferers by way of the hospital system from admission to discharge), in response to Caregility.
As a part of this enlargement, Baptist Well being will deploy Caregility’s telehealth gadgets and Caregility Cloud digital care platform in additional than 500 extra affected person rooms on the well being system’s flagship hospital, Baptist Well being Medical Heart-Little Rock, in addition to Baptist Well being Medical Heart-North Little Rock and Baptist Well being-Fort Smith. These gadgets will assist the enlargement of digital nursing and the rollout of digital assist employees and digital suppliers within the coming months. Moreover, a centralized hub to assist digital nursing and digital sitters has opened on the Baptist Well being Medical Heart-Little Rock campus.
“Embracing digital assist as a part of our acute care bedside assist and high quality technique signifies a pivotal step ahead in how we envision the way forward for healthcare at Baptist Well being,” stated Kourtney Matlock, president of Baptist Well being Rehabilitation Institute and system post-acute providers, in a press release. “Baptist Well being first added digital care in 2005, and we now have continued to advance with the newest know-how bringing us to the place we’re right this moment with our partnership with Caregility. This enlargement is greater than an initiative; it’s a dedication to offering well being fairness throughout our state, setting new requirements in affected person and supplier satisfaction, and furthering our mission to be the employer of alternative in Arkansas.”
Baptist Well being stated this enlargement builds upon its earlier success with digital admissions and discharge packages, presently supported by greater than 300 wall-mounted and cart-based Caregility telehealth gadgets throughout 11 hospitals. Since partnering on digital care providers with Caregility in 2021, telehealth session quantity for Baptist Well being has elevated from roughly 1,000 digital visits per quarter to greater than 20,000.