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 constructive affected person outcomes and suggestions, Baptist Well being plans to roll out digital care applications on each medical and surgical ground throughout the group.
The biggest personal nonprofit healthcare group based mostly 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 rising its utilization of Caregility clever telehealth units to greater than 700 bedsides system-wide, doubling the footprint of the healthcare group’s inpatient telehealth providers. The initiative provides digital scientific sources to assist in-person bedside care.
The objective of digital nursing is to scale back stress on bedside workers by redistributing duties {that a} digital nurse or assist workers can subject. Because of elevated telehealth providers in acute care settings, healthcare techniques see important time financial savings and improved throughput (the method of shifting sufferers by way of the hospital system from admission to discharge), in response to Caregility.
As a part of this growth, Baptist Well being will deploy Caregility’s telehealth units 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 Middle-Little Rock, in addition to Baptist Well being Medical Middle-North Little Rock and Baptist Well being-Fort Smith. These units will assist the growth of digital nursing and the rollout of digital assist workers 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 Middle-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 have now continued to advance with the newest know-how bringing us to the place we’re at this time with our partnership with Caregility. This growth 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 selection in Arkansas.”
Baptist Well being stated this growth builds upon its earlier success with digital admissions and discharge applications, at the moment supported by greater than 300 wall-mounted and cart-based Caregility telehealth units 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.
