ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Imagine being treated for an illness, that would normally require a hospital stay, but in your own home, with your own monitoring equipment and a dedicated line to your healthcare team.
OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center is preparing to launch an “OnCall Digital Hospital” option for some patients, based on a similar program that launched at Peoria’s OSF Saint Francis Medical Center over a year ago.
Patients such as those suffering from heart failure, COPD, Covid, infections, urinary tract infections, pneumonia, or other illnesses, who are admitted through the ER, could be eligible for the program.
“One thing that thing has come out of COVID is that we have thought about health care delivery and models of care much differently. And it’s also opened up not only our eyes but also patients’ eyes and to the ability to care for patients virtually, and the role that digital care can actually play in their lives,” said Melissa Meier, manager of Digital Care for OSF OnCall Digital Health.
The care team will screen patients for eligibility based on how close they live to the hospital, if they’re over 18 years old, what their insurance will cover, and clinical and social test results.
OSF says the program will allow patients to sleep in their own beds and have lab tests, IV therapies, and mobile imaging — like ultrasounds and x-rays — performed in their own homes.
“Patients enjoy being in their home space, being nearby, their pets, their loved ones. They can control their visitor volume and flow and they have, you know, the comforts of home like their bed or their favorite recliner,” Meier said.
Patients will be provided with a tablet computer for video visits with doctors and nurses; a personal emergency response bracelet; vital sign monitoring devices; a telephone that connects directly to the care team; and a router or hotspot for internet access, along with a backup power supply.
The program requires a minimum of two in-person, at-home visits from a nurse each day.
“There’s not buzzers going off and there’s not five patients waiting for them and there’s not a med pass that’s past due,” said Courtney Dahnert, supervisor of Clinical Digital Care. “And so, this really gives nurses the opportunity to be able to sit down and focus one on one and speak with their patients and get to know them a little bit and how is their health relevant to them,”
Nurses from the program in Peoria say the time it takes them to travel between patients provides an antidote to workplace burnout.
“Our health care workers don’t even have time to take a break. And in in any sort of home care setting, even when you’re just driving between patients, that’s a break that downtime where your brain rests and refreshes for the next the next round,” Dahnert said.
Meier says as technology continues to advance, so does the healthcare field.
“The more we can do to make patients comfortable and get good rest, the faster that they’ll heal,” he said. “It’s not the care itself that’s different, but it’s the logistics and the way we get there.”
OSF is recruiting nurses ahead of the launch the “OnCall Digital Hospital” program in Rockford in early 2024.
Story by Taylor Castro
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