Transforming the Emergency Department with Smart Room Tech, Part 1. Cutting Through Chaos for ED Nurses
Chelsey Kamla, MSN, RN, Clinical Solutions Director and former ED nurse, explores use cases and benefits of implementing smart room technology in the Emergency Department.
The Emergency Department (ED) is often a patient's first interaction with a health system, and it’s rarely a calm one. High stress, confusion, and fear of the unknown create challenges for everyone involved. In situations like this, knowledge is powerful. It helps to comfort patients, arm clinical staff with critical care information, and help leadership teams implement strategic initiatives. This three-part series will explore how real-time access to critical information empowers nurses and physicians, informs patients, and enables data-driven leadership decisions.
The scene is familiar to anyone who’s worked in an ED: constant movement, split-second decisions, and multiple critical patients demanding attention simultaneously. ED nurses are always working against the clock. While critical to patient care, common activities such as reviewing patient charts for crucial case details, posting isolation signs, or updating dry-erase boards can now be streamlined by leveraging data from the EHR.
With so little time for direct patient care, burnout becomes a constant risk as administrative duties overshadow ED nurses’ core role. Nursing shortages and poor staff-to-patient ratios contribute to burnout.
A time and motion study on nursing workload and the use of EHRs in the ED, originally published in the Journal of Emergency Nursing, found that only 25% of nurse time was spent on direct patient care. Though processes and procedures exist to improve communication and patient care, nurses often lack the time and tools to implement them effectively.
This blog lays out three ways smart room technology addresses these nursing challenges in the ED.
Real-Time Information at the Point of Care
ED nurses need access to real-time information before they even step into a patient room. Without real-time information, nurses must spend valuable time searching for key details, delaying their ability to provide timely care. This is where smart room technology steps in.
Smart room technology puts critical patient data exactly where and when nurses need it most, digital door signs, integrated with the EHR, provide instant access to vital patient details in real-time. Nurses no longer need to search a patient record or decipher multiple paper signs hung by a door. More importantly, they ensure that safety protocols, such as required PPE for isolation patients, are never missed due to missing or outdated signage.
Customized to Support Actual Nursing Workflows
The implementation of digital door signs begins with understanding communication and workflows in the ED, which can be different from other units in a hospital.
Digital patient door signs are customized to support realistic nursing workflow, adapting the technology to how nurses actually work. For instance, when a nurse needs to indicate the need for privacy in a patient's room, such as for a linen change, peri care, or other invasive procedure, quick access to a manual button indicating "Procedure in Progress" supports bedside workflows that may not involve EHR documentation. This flexibility allows for real-time responsiveness while maintaining the overall efficiency of automated updates.
Beyond Time Savings: Bolstering Strategic Initiatives
Unlike other departments, technology investments in the ED generally focus on improving patient length-of-stay (LOS) and time-to-treatment. Digital door signs support multiple strategic goals in the ED. For example, digital door signs make critical information immediately visible to enforce infection prevention protocols and patient safety measures, such as fall prevention. Watch this video case study from our clients at Tampa General Hospital as they share how implementation of Vibe Health Aware digital door signs has enhanced staff and patient safety, and reduced manual responsibilities for nurses.
digital door signs are improving compliance.
Smart room technology helps ED nurses maintain high standards of care even in the most challenging circumstances.
For more information on our Vibe Health smart room platform, contact us at hello@evideon.com.
