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Shannon Kuhlman / courtesy photo
Michelle Pursley, RN, left, and Kendra Burke, CNA, are pictured by a telehealth care board at CCCH now being used for a multitude of informational and communicative services.

CCCH implements new telemedicine services

In April, a new service at Chase County Community Hospital was implemented called telemedicine or Telehealth care boards.
In a statement from CCCH representatives, they wrote, “As the complexity of patients requiring hospital care increases, our staff will now be supported by Avel e Care hospitalist services.”
On call 24/7, Avel board-certified hospitalists and registered nurses are available to assist the care teams with the management of complex medical and surgical patients who are 18 years and older.
Avel eCare services provide real-time access to expert internal medicine consultation including admission, overnight and urgent support.
The telehealth care boards are used by physicians, hospital personnel, patients and families.
Shannon Kuhlmann, Chief Nursing Officer, explained that the care boards are 55-inch TVs that display both medical and personal information for hospital patients.
These care boards are in 14 of the hospital rooms at CCCH.
“The care boards can provide the provider and nursing staff patient information on medication, diet, allergies, care plan, activities, their nurse and CNA and family contact instantly,” Kuhlmann said.
They are also used for monitoring patients in-room by a monitor at the nurse’s station 24/7, she added.
This assists the staff in keeping close watch on patients who are in isolation, at risk of falling or have problems with confusion.
“Another important function of the care boards is giving out-of-town family communication with the patient and ‘visitations’ like Face Timing,” she added.
This function provides a positive impact with the patients and families, said Kuhlmann.
“It’s a huge part of the healing process and important for communicating and social participation for the patient,” she said.
One example of how care boards can assist in patient/family communication is when a patient cannot attend a wedding or graduation. The care board allows them to view the event.
Another example of its importance in communication was when a CCCH patient was in isolation and had a family member who needed to communicate through sign language using the care board, Kuhlmann said.
“We have had lots of visitors, staff and medical students from larger facilities who commented on how impressed they were with this capability. It is cutting-edge technology that we have been able to bring to our community,” she said.

 

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