Inpatient digital experience and smart hospital rooms with Jeff Fallon

This Week in Health Tech

In this episode of This Week in Health Tech, Vik and Jimmy invite Jeff Fallon with eVideon to talk about the hospital inpatient experience. It is the first time we are talking about changing inpatient experience with digital transformation in healthcare.
We start out with the traditional/existing setup in most hospital rooms. Jeff explains that patient rooms have not changed a whole lot since 1970s. There is still the nurse call button in the room maybe with a hardwired phone and a tube tv which is controlled by up and down buttons on the bedside remote control.
Vik mentions that the good thing is that digital transformation is in the works at most of the health systems. It starts with an infrastructure upgrade to support digital transformation.
Jeff agrees that infrastructure is the backbone for digital changes but it is easier to do in newer buildings than in really old hospital buildings. It becomes inherently expensive to upgrade wiring for example in buildings with concrete walls and increases barriers for entry.
Vik indicates that maybe we could get around the issue of physical wiring with advancements in wireless technology, especially with wifi 6.
Jimmy stated that there must be a reason for the change now with the inpatient experience and Jeff comments that value-based care is a big driver for this. Patient satisfaction scores are used for value-based compliance and providing a better inpatient hospital experience will help drive up patient satisfaction scores and hence patient outcomes.
Jeff also commented that pandemic also accelerated the transformation and the drive to use technology to provide a better experience but more importantly reduce contagious viruses.
Vik comments that in COVID times, when caregivers are wearing masks it is difficult to make that connection with patients. But maybe a smart room will display the caregiver's photo on the screen and badge information so you can make a better connection even through a mask.
Jeff also mentions that it is critical to give patients control of their experience and using technology we will be able to provide that experience. Vik thinks using a smart speaker could also be useful in the hospital room which can announce the schedule for the day or announce the person entering the room etc. Vik thinks in future patient could be given a tablet with all hospital approved apps to give the patient control on what apps / information they would like to make use of. Jeff thinks it needs to be balanced because some users could get overwhelmed and may need more hand holding.
Either way, we all agree that digital transformation will drive inpatient experience and improve all patient satisfaction.
Website: http://www.thisweekinhealthtech.com
Twitter: @TWIHT1
Tido Inc.: https://www.tidoinc.com/
Jeff Fallon: Jeff Fallon
eVideon Healthcare: https://www.evideon.com/
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Linkedin: Vik Patel
Linkedin: Jimmy Kim

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Vik Patel - LinkedIn
Tido Inc. - Website
Tido Inc. - LinkedIn