This is absolutely fantastic. Patient education is one major and crucially important part of healthcare beyond hospital/clinic walls that is often overlooked because staff don't have time and don't 'dumb' things down enough for the average patient to understand. One thing that may be useful would be an online portal with videos/quizzes for patients to reference after discharge. Often times patients will express understanding of the education they receive only to, presumably, forget it all when they get home.
On a semi-related note, the use of iPads is an interesting channel, and one that's been long overdue. I'm surprised that no one (that I've seen yet) has started a company providing bedside iPad media services -- movies, games, messaging, etc. Outdated TVs running local cable still seem to be the standard form of inpatient entertainment.
Also great to see designers getting into healthcare! I'd love to help out any way I could.
Thank you! We certainly envision engaging patients and their families after they are discharged from the hospital. This will come in the form of accessing their personalized learning plans from the computer and other devices, as well as providing written materials to those who prefer that method. Our content is designed to meet patients where they are in terms of their preferences and health education needs. We have encountered numerous patients who continually want more information, as well as those who just want the basics. We have the ability to serve both of these preferences with our interactive tool.
Apart from the interactive patient education, we are also testing providing patients with relaxing and meaningful media. Currently, we offer patients a guided meditation exercise which has been a huge hit!
We would love to talk to you more about our work - always happy for input and help - feel free to get in touch with us at info@noorahealth.org
> I'm surprised that no one (that I've seen yet) has started a company providing bedside iPad media services -- movies, games, messaging, etc. Outdated TVs running local cable still seem to be the standard form of inpatient entertainment.
They market themselves slightly differently from how you describe it, but Pad In Motion does essentially this: http://padinmotion.com/
> Also great to see designers getting into healthcare! I'd love to help out any way I could.
Where are you based? My startup[0] also works in this space, though we focus on a different approach (patient education isn't our main angle, and readmission rates aren't our primary metric).
There's a UK company that has flatscreen tv's with limited internet connectivity and telephones. These are mounted on huge wall-mounted arms that swing over the bed.
The service is expensive and lousy. Most people would be much better off taking a laptop and 3g dongle or a tablet.
The problem is not due to staff not having time, or not dumbing things down. The problem regarding patient education will always be engagement and motivation.
Agreed in that engagement and motivation are big issues. But time and time again I've witnessed physicians rushing through explanations of a patient's condition and management in a language far too sophisticated for a layman's understanding. I know that nurses typically walk through discharge instructions with a patient, so maybe my perspective is one-sided. Although I do think physicians should have a bigger role in educating and motivating patients by providing them with a thorough understanding of their conditions and medications.
I meant more about patient education in general rather than specifically discharge instructions.
also, from my experience, the stories of patients not understanding something about their discharge and then being readmitted because of that lack of understanding is far less than the cases of patients being readmitted simply because they chose not to follow specific instructions regarding their health.
You can't fix fat with education (no matter how shiny of a device it's on) and fat, generally speaking, is what causes a lot of of the chronic diseases that perpetuate the need for hospitals in the first place.
On a semi-related note, the use of iPads is an interesting channel, and one that's been long overdue. I'm surprised that no one (that I've seen yet) has started a company providing bedside iPad media services -- movies, games, messaging, etc. Outdated TVs running local cable still seem to be the standard form of inpatient entertainment.
Also great to see designers getting into healthcare! I'd love to help out any way I could.