Picture yourself walking around one of Disney’s theme parks, and you come to a section of the park called “The World of PECOT.” At first, you think, “Perhaps someone painted a typo on the sign,” but it’s clear this isn’t EPCOT. After reading the sign more carefully, you realize you’ve just stumbled upon the Patient Experience Center Of Tomorrow. Excitedly, you scream, “come on, kids!”
After an hour in the line with your bored children, followed by an exhilarating 90-second ride on a futuristic hospital bed through a Star Trek-inspired world of sensors, screens and tech-enabled clinicians, you finally arrive at your destination.
Looking around, it appears that you’re in an ultra-modern hospital room equipped with everything you (Disney’s “patient-guest”) need to interface with the “clinical cast” that has been assigned to you. For example, in your room of the future is a large screen, IP-enabled smart TV running a simple-to-use patient experience platform that could easily have been borrowed from the “Jetsons” exhibit (at the other theme park down the street).
As the TV powers on, a welcome video features the hospital CEO who assures you that the cast will make every effort to ensure your stay is safe, comfortable and of the highest quality. You’re already one step closer to a great outcome!
Using your pillow speaker remote with it’s simple up/down/left/right/OK interface, you quickly realize how easy it is to navigate the menu system and begin by calling up the digital whiteboard. This EHR-integrated, auto-updating information screen replaces the old dry erase boards of the 20th century as it informs you of where you are, what day it is, who the members of your care team are, the medications you’re taking, and much more. The whiteboard also displays information (such as your allergies, diet, fall risk, etc.) for the care team cast members. That’s all great information, but we’re at Disney, which means it’s time to entertain yourself with TV, music, movies, relaxation content and the internet.
Getting hungry, you realize you can even order your meals from this futuristic device. But wait, you can also request a room cleaning, lower the shades, adjust the room temperature, communicate with the clinical cast, and demonstrate that you’ve watched all the education videos automatically assigned to you about your diagnosis and overall safety.
After watching the education videos, you feel much better informed about your stay. More importantly, you understand what you will need to do after discharge to continue getting better, thereby reducing the likelihood of returning to the hospital anytime soon.
As your time at the World of PECOT comes to an end, you think, “Wow, this is all pretty amazing! I wish my local hospital had these futuristic features today!”
Well, adventuring patient-guest, I’ve got good news for you. These systems do exist today, and you don’t need to check yourself into a Disney-designed hospital to reap the benefits (although those would be interesting if they existed).
Sentrics has been delivering this type of experience for many years, and their latest E3 patient experience platform represents a bold leap into tomorrow. There’s no reason to sit around dreaming about the future any longer – thanks to Sentrics, the future is already here!
Get a look at the future of the patient experience here.
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Frank Fortner is CEO of Strategic Healthcare Connections, whose mission is leveraging the power of connections to continue affecting positive change for healthcare and other industries. Formerly president of Iatric Systems, Fortner has helped more than 1,300 hospitals in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. to solve many of healthcare’s most pressing challenges, including integrating enterprise and departmental solutions as well as medical devices to EHRs and other software systems. He can be reached at frank.fortner@sentrics.net.