At many healthcare providers, workers walk in and are handed a pager. They’re expected to leave their smartphones and iPads behind, and use the dated technology that is still stuck in the healthcare industry.

This week, as part of Intelligent InSites annual BUILD conference, leaders in tech and healthcare from around the nation discussed how to steer more towards a tech-savvy healthcare workplace.

“It cannot be stressed enough, technology can add so much value in the healthcare industry,” said the InSites emcee. “But it won’t get anywhere without successful integration with staff.”

During the seminar “Driving Staff Engagement with Technology”, Pat Patton, Vice President of Nursing Operations at the Catholic Health Initiative, emphasized the need to “build a bridge” when adopting new technology.

He summarized the process of building the bridge into five points.

Building the bridge to tech-savvy healthcare

1. Meet them where they are.

Nurses are tired, Patton said. The first step to successful tech integration is to meet them where they are, and start by addressing the tedious problems that wear them out, many of which could be eased by faster tech.

2. Ask them what they want.

Good tech adoption starts with the right tech adoption, Patton said. In order to integrate the right technologies, ask your workers what they need. Examples: What is it you really want in your library? How can we make it easier for you to do this or that?

3. Shared Governance.

Having shared governance, Patton explained, is bringing nurses and staff together to govern themselves. Not many healthcare workplaces have this, but he encourages everyone to consider it. Rather than just implementing new smartphone tech, ask, what’s the best way to do it for you? “Let them get into it,” Patton said.

4. What’s in it for them.

This is something Patton has found increasingly common with millennials, he said. Millennials want tighter schedules, less hours, and high tech.

“If you give a millennial a pager, they look at you like you have 3 heads,” Patton said. “They expect tech when they walk through the door.”

These millennials want to know why they should adopt a new tech. More importantly, they want to know how it will affect the patient. By explaining how a new technology could save patient lives, you’ll find much more success with integration, Patton said.

5. Transformational Leadership.

Leadership should be transformational rather than transactional, Patton said. “Have a solid base, moral behavior, and be transparent. Talk about what you’re doing and how things are going,” he said. “Are you self aware that maybe you need to step back and think a minute, before beginning to build the bridge again?”

All tech integration must start at the top, he said. Leadership cannot just nod their heads and approve. They need to be using the tech and proving that it is useful.

Make good tech

Coming from a more technical approach, Ashley Allen shared from his experience as principal systems analyst of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. This was the nation’s first pediatric hospital, and is opening a new branch in a few weeks that is fully equipped with InSites tech.

Allen learned his most important lesson after day one, when he walked into the hospital as an overconfident techie and was floored by the medical jargon. From then on, this line became his mantra:

“Not only must you be an expert in Information Tech, you must be an expert in the industry in which you implement Information Technology solutions.”

Basically, be an expert at your client’s field as well as an expert in your own field. As a tech person, Allen said, this is the only way you can design valuable tech that solves the needs of your client.

Good tech, Allen said, meets this list of standards: It’s simple, highly automated, reliable, solves a problem, has value, and becomes a part of us.

With that said, a good healthcare IT person must also know how to maintain the scope of a project. In 2012, he said, 17% of IT projects went so badly they threatened the existence of a company. This is because they had too much, too soon, he said. It’s easy to keep saying “Can we just add this…and just…and just…”

“It’s hard for me as an IT guy to say no to these physicians,” Allen said. “But sometimes you have to say no. So you can still deliver on what the original project intended to do. Otherwise you risk going over time and over budget.”

Dr. Scott Leddy, Chief Medical Information Officer at Cook Children’s Health Care System, also shared that integrating tech involves using the right language. For instance, avoiding the word “tracking” when explaining RTLS systems, and instead saying “location placement.”

What this ultimately comes down to is creating a more efficient, more personalized healthcare for patients, the speakers said.

“I fully envision a future where a patient walks in, gets an armband, and their visit will be customized to them,” Allen said. “In the next 10-15 years, it’s going to be amazing.”

 

Photos courtesy of Dan Francis Photography.