Wollongong Hospital offers virtual visitation
Project Achtergrond
Intensive care nurses attend to life-threatening patient conditions while both welcoming and limiting visitors in the ICU. The pandemic increased these challenges even more. Wollongong Hospital in Australia worked to customize a virtual visitation solution for ICU patients and family members.
Probleemstelling van het project
With more than 500 beds, Wollongong Hospital provides services to the Illawarra and Shoalhaven Region, with a population of some 350,000 in New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest of the local health district’s eight hospitals. Its ER department receives approximately 70,000 patients annually and its ICU provides important critical care. Because of the intensive medical care required in the ICU, hospitals manage a delicate balance of both welcoming and limiting family as visitors, updating those living a distance away and rigorously attending to the health demands of critical patients often in life-threatening conditions. A patient’s loved ones, out of the area or overseas, can feel helpless and disconnected, while patients feel isolated and frightened. When hospitals worldwide needed to pause all ICU visitations, Wollongong Hospital looked for possible solutions.
Technologische innovaties
Customized WebEx, specifically for healthcare.
Doelstelling van het project
While looking at technology options that might connect ICU patients with loved ones who are unable to visit, the hospital discovered that traditional devices and other existing virtual communications apps were not suitable for patients who are too ill to hold a device or sign into their own account. None of the existing options considered the security and patient privacy needs for use at a hospital or the heavy demands on ICU staff to schedule each family interaction. Wollongong Hospital set out to solve this challenge with a customized, integrated virtual communication solution. The hospital worked with technology adoption partner Taleka and IT solutions provider Citrus Solutions to create ‘HowRU’ based on Webex by Cisco. Taleka worked closely with ICU staff and patients’ families to understand their unique needs and workflow requirements, then Citrus applied its innovation and automation skills to simplify the user experience into just a few steps. The solution is delivered over an electronic device which is secured onto a mobile and adjustable stand that enables hands-free operation.
Technology Providers
Cisco, Taleka, Citrus