I recently spent four days at Portsmouth Regional Hospital (PRH) as part of the PatientKeeper IT Healthcare Connection. IT Healthcare Connection is an amazing program that gives our Mobile Heartbeat team the opportunity to learn about each care area of the hospital and spend time with the PRH team members.

#PortsmouthProud

What a great kick off to Team 14 of the PK IT Healthcare Connection. At the new hire orientation, we had the opportunity to meet folks that will be filling many different roles in the hospital as well as the executive and management staff. It was a great introduction to the hospital and to learn about the facility inside and out.

Everyone we met was amazing and we felt welcomed from the moment we walked through the front door. We kicked off our training with the first step of the patient journey – creating a new patient file in the MEDITECH system. Next, we toured the pharmacy and had a demonstration of the Pyxis system. We capped off the day with a visit to Appledore physicians practice where we saw PatientKeeper in action.

I am so proud to be a part of the HCA family and to have this opportunity to immerse myself in the day-to-day hospital operations at Portsmouth Regional Hospital (congratulate the team on being an ‘A’ Leapfrog hospital)…you could say…I’m #PortsmouthProud!

#HospitalBunnySuit

Today kicked off with gearing up in a full bunny suit along with hair & shoe covers and the opportunity to observe a procedure in the cath lab. The team in the cath lab are (in two words) wicked awesome. We looked through a case that had come in the previous evening and historical cases on a system that uses optics to navigate the arteries.

With a full plate of technology and systems to manage daily, the IT team are always planning for the future, making sure they are providing the nurses and physicians with the tools they need to deliver exceptional patient care. They will be overseeing the install and will train staff on the MH-CURE mobile clinical communication & collaboration platform.

I observed how clinicians communicate with each other and what devices they use. Everyone was excited at the prospect of carrying just one device and to more effectively communicate while on the move…and they are always on the move!

The feedback I heard today from the future users of Mobile Heartbeat was invaluable and I am excited to bring this information back to our team. Now I’ll take your feedback, how to do look in my #hospitalbunnysuit?

#ClinicalCommunications

In the words of our chief strategy officer, Mike Detjen at Mobile Heartbeat, isn’t it nice when a plan comes together.

We started the day off in clinical informatics where we had a deep dive into how their care teams use MEDITECH. This type of insight will help us to seamlessly integrate our MH-CURE clinical communication & collaboration platform with their IT system.

A tour of the lab gave us the chance to see how a specimen gets processed, analyzed and then results are input in to the patient record. The lab phone is ringing constantly—care teams wanting test results. MH-CURE will streamline this process, enabling quick texting and access to results.

I am so in awe of everyone at PRH, each person is incredibly compassionate and delivers the highest level of care, no matter where they work or their role at the hospital. While I’m not on the front lines like these amazing folks I am so proud to work with them and to help them improve their #clinicalcommunications!

#NursingWorkflow

Standing in the back of an operating room to observe two surgeries was astounding. The fluid motions of each nurse and doctor was incredible to watch. Ending the day with supply chain brought the process full circle and we could see how each item, from sterile gloves to a phone in a patient room, gets to the right place.

I visited the IMCU and shadowed a nurse for just a fraction of her day. She is constantly on the move and one of the most compassionate people I have ever met. There is so much to do in addition to her main job of patient care and she does it all with grace. We talked in depth about technology and how communication could be enhanced. There is a large monitor on the wall at the nurses’ station with a staff assignment white board next to that.  We talked about how helpful it would be to see all of that information on a mobile device…at the patient’s bedside.

Every second I spent in the hospital this week can be boiled down to the patient we visited on this last day. This person could not afford to see a dentist so couldn’t chew and had been rushed to the ED the night before for complications with diabetes. This patient faced several issues – diabetes medication that wasn’t working, making poor eating choices because of the inability to chew and not being able to afford medication. The nurse and the hospitalist were incredible, while they work to heal this person in the hospital they help with next steps and plan for this patient to see a dietician to help with life outside of the hospital.

This will sound a little dramatic, especially to anyone providing direct patient care but this week was an experience of a lifetime for me. Not only do I appreciate and have a better understanding of the complete hospital system, I have great admiration for each and every clinician and a more informed perspective of #nursingworkflow.