Brigham & Women’s Hospital
Challenge
Helping patients adhere to the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery protocol required a more hands-on approach than the current practice of emailing paperwork and limited communication with hospital staff.
Solution
Developing a first-of-its-kind mobile application that would create a digital pathway for patients to follow the ERAS protocol with close support and monitoring from hospital staff.
Impact
The patient experience leading up to and after surgery was greatly improved, and the hospital was able to successfully administer the ERAS protocol to its OB/GYN patients.
Enhanced Recovery After Surgery is a protocol for patients that provides diet and exercise plans to help them prepare for and recover from surgical procedures. The protocol has gained traction in the medical community as an important component of healthy recovery from surgery.
With these lifestyle plans being emailed or mailed to patients, it was difficult for the hospital to monitor their progress or ensure the patient was following the guidelines. Effectively administering the protocol is key for the hospital to improve patient outcomes after surgery.
To support the need to share and track specific information for the patient, such as diet, exercise, and general wellness, the mobile app solution would have to be an intuitive, content-based data collection tool with a patient-friendly user interface.
For the team, putting patients in charge of their own wellness with support from the hospital staff was at the core of this mobile application solution.
ADK architected a HIPAA-compliant mobile app that would also securely house patient data as it was designed in compliance with the ERAS protocol. The solution came complete with a custom dashboard for hospital staff and a patient interface to capture key data and provide necessary and timely communication.
A hospital-wide rollout of the ERAS mobile app solution is in the works to provide the same enhanced patient experience across all departments.
The implementation in the OB/GYN department has shown that the ERAS protocol can be successful when managed through a dynamic, digital platform that gives both the patient and staff clear visibility over the process.
