Omaha-based Nebraska Medicine is future-proofing its upcoming $2.2 billion hospital by testing out smart rooms at its current campus.
The health system launched a 17-bed “innovation design unit” earlier this year to try out new technologies ahead of the new medical center set to open in around a decade.
“The goal for this unit is to ensure that we not build a hospital that’s obsolete the day it opens,” Scott Raymond, BSN, RN, chief information and innovation officer of Nebraska Medicine, told Becker’s. “So, to future-proof that $2 billion-plus investment for 30 to 50 years.”
The technologies in the unit so far include real-time location services and virtual nursing capabilities. Patients can control their entertainment, room temperature and blinds via iPads, where they can also order food and video chat with loved ones. Each room cost over $2 million.
“One of the biggest purposes of this unit is to identify what would become the standard in a future hospital,” said Ron Carson, executive director of enterprise applications for Nebraska Medicine. “We’re trying to identify the baseline.”
Mr. Raymond calls it the “universal room.” The rooms and floors on the new hospital will be “acuity adaptable,” so units can easily be swapped.
“We are rigorously testing these different solutions, comparing them and using that information to inform our decisions for future implementation of these products and workflows,” said Bethany Lowndes, PhD, scientific director of innovation at Nebraska Medicine.
Having the unit gives the health system the “flexibility to adapt” to coming technologies and patient needs, Mr. Raymond noted.
Most innovation centers around the country simulate care; Nebraska Medicine’s is unique in that it is in an actual hospital inpatient unit.
“Trying to do proof of concepts of innovation in a hospital is very difficult because you have to try to take over a unit and affect the workflows,” Mr. Raymond said. “So that’s a huge differentiation from other labs.”
Future technology implementations could include ambient listening, biometric monitoring, and robotics for delivery or exoskeletons for patient recovery or to help staff perform functions. The innovation unit also plans to share its findings with the broader healthcare community, and gives vendors direct access to the clinical space to try out their technologies.
“I like to use the example of, ‘Row the canoe while you’re carving it,'” Mr. Raymond said. “So we have the opportunity to do innovation in real time.”
Or, to use another motto of the unit: Fail fast. “Success is great, and that leads to operations, but failing or bailing leads to innovation and taking the technology to the next level,” he said.
“We have a really unique opportunity here at Nebraska Medicine,” said Kara Tomlinson, DNP, RN, executive director of system delivery and innovation at Nebraska Medicine. “This innovation design unit is going to give us an opportunity to test, trial and innovate around different ways to provide care. This is really exciting stuff.”
The technology has been “pretty intuitive” for patients and staff alike, she said.
“We really tried to keep the people at the center of everything,” Mr. Carson said. “So giving patients more control over the space they were in, giving our staff better visibility to the conditions they may be facing as they entered rooms for patients who were fall risks or had other isolation precautions, and then trying to retain our staff in an environment where care dynamics change by allowing them to continue to use their skills in a virtual format.”
Nebraska Medicine worked with healthcare consulting firm Blue Cottage of CannonDesign on the concept. The health system solicited feedback from staff in designing the unit, asking: What does innovation in healthcare mean to you?
Nebraska Medicine plans to continue iterating on the hospital room of the future, even after its “futuristic” new medical center is built.
“This unit, and the philosophy, the vision, will continue on into perpetuity,” Dr. Tomlinson said.
Ron Carson, Bethany Lowndes, Scott Raymond and Kara Tomlinson of Nebraska Medicine will be giving a presentation on their “innovation design unit” from 10:35-11:15 a.m. Oct. 2 at Becker’s 10th Annual Health IT + Digital Health + RCM Conference in Chicago.
