UW Medicine’s Harborview Medical Center in Seattle recently retrofitted hospital rooms with smart technology, and the hospital has already observed accelerated recovery for spine patients.
Those results stem from a pilot in Harborview’s acute care and intensive care units. Most recently, 40 smart rooms opened in May in the acute care unit on the fourth floor of the Maleng Building as well as the seventh floor ICU, equipped with sensors, screens and artificial intelligence to support patients and employees.
The acute care unit “has many novel features,” Kellie Hurley, MSN, RN, associate administrator at Harborview, told Becker’s. “Technology is one of them, but we’ve also worked hard to optimize this floor to focus on accelerated recovery for spine patients. Technology is one tool in our toolkit, among many other optimizations that are proving very beneficial for our patients.”
This accelerated recovery focus is integrated into the rooms through a dedicated provider model, a dedicated care management team, a dedicated mobility tech and a virtual nurse. The floor sometimes has two mobility techs if patient volume is higher.
“As a team, it’s a novel care model of utilizing technology and people to surround our care for the patient. So optimizing our care team, but also to make it as specialized or individualized as the patient needs,” Ms. Hurley said.
Early results show patients are being discharged sooner. Ms. Hurley said even after complex spine surgery, earlier mobility is helping patients leave the hospital faster. About 96% to 98% of patients in this unit are mobilizing daily — sometimes on the day of surgery. This compares to closer to 60% in other areas of the hospital.
“That’s a really important thing because complex spine surgery can be uncomfortable,” Ms. Hurley said. “That’s why the team is important, to make sure the pain is controlled, make sure the nurse is involved for a safe mobilization event. But the mobility tech, that is their only focus. And so they develop that relationship, they build that trust, and they are really a key to this, which is mobility and faster recovery.”
She also emphasized the roles nursing and AI play in the model. Virtual nurses are housed on the floor, rather than in an offsite command center, which she said enhances the model.
“The virtual nurse joins the patient and bedside nurse at admission to build relationships and connections that continue through discharge,” Ms. Hurley said. “They provide hourly rounding, including overnight, using the camera with the patient’s permission. They constantly monitor patients’ progress, call out concerns and connect with the care team at the bedside when needed.
“We’re also using [Real-Time Location Systems] for real-time staff tracking. This helps us know where staff are and what support may be needed. For example, if several staff enter a room, the virtual nurse can anticipate that support might be needed and join proactively.”
Virtual nurses monitor charts for labs, physician notes and discharge milestones. In the next three to four months, Harborview plans to introduce ambient sensors in the smart rooms to help increase safety to further prevent and avoid patient falls and injuries.
Ms. Hurley said the process of opening and developing the smart rooms has provided an opportunity for front-line staff involvement and staff buy-in.
“Their involvement months before go-live was essential,” she said. “It builds buy-in and trust. Cameras in rooms can feel intrusive, but when staff realized nothing is recorded and it isn’t about auditing, they saw it as a tool to elevate patient care and safety.”
Leaders continue to meet monthly with virtual nursing and virtual medicine teams and focus groups to evaluate and make adjustments to the model as needed.
Harborview expects to open additional smart rooms in two more acute care units, and an additional ICU unit this year.
“We’re piloting at Harborview in preparation for building a new tower in about three years,” Ms. Hurley said. “That design will include decisions for 300 rooms, so we want to be sure this technology is useful. Harborview is the pilot site, but we’re working with UW Medical Center-Montlake and UW Medical Center-Northwest to scale across the system.”
