Nurse managers at Arlington-based Texas Health Resources will start using a new digital rounding tool this month to help improve patients' hospital experience, reports the Cleburne Times-Review.
The app, accessed on an iPad mini, allows nurse managers to note personalized information about patients, such as their food preferences or favored discussion topics. This information stays in Texas Health's system even if patients are moved to a different unit or revisit the hospital at a later time.
"If patients return to our care and have been rounded on in the past, we can know in advance what's important to them and anticipate service opportunities," Bianca Radney, Texas Health's vice president of patient and family experience, told the Times-Review.
The app also connects nurse managers to environmental services. Nurse managers can alert the department about an issue with a patient's room, monitor response time and track trends in patient complaints.
Texas Health first piloted the app in several hospitals last year and launched a systemwide rollout Jan. 21. The three-phase process will likely continue through this summer, according to Michele Kennedy, a patient experience consultant at Texas Health.