Delivering On The 4 Tenets Of Patient- And Family- Centered Care
Patient- and family-centered care is the name of the game in health care. As it should be. If we are not here for our patients and our families, then why are we here?
Every interaction we have with our families is a crucial opportunity to improve care outcomes. One of the many questions is: how do we use these fleeting moments and communicate fully and effectively with our families?
Traditionally, health care providers communicate in-person or over a phone call. We can all agree that there’s been a substantial cultural shift and electronic communication is not only the new norm but the new expectation. Texting is a faster and easier option for many people but with PHI/PII involved, existing text messaging platforms are not HIPAA compliant and should not be used in the health care setting.
So how do we take this new paradigm and still provide evidence-based compassionate, personalized care?
Well … we have two apps for that.
Pumping + Information Sharing
Milk tracking apps regularly log pumping sessions, volumes, and bottles of milk for mom. That’s a lot of data without truly helping manage the needs of the dyad. Nowhere embedded in that experience is the expertise to evaluate, intervene or even to support moms.
Keriton brings all of the pieces together: family, functionality, transparency, and connectivity. Klassify is our lactation analytics module. It makes mom’s pumping sessions, volume, and bottle inventory data visible in real-time to clinical staff. Clinicians can use the data to troubleshoot, coach and encourage moms to pump longer.
Text Chat + Partnerships
If mom is experiencing any issues, she can use the chat feature to reach out to the clinical team. Similarly, after seeing mom’s pumping data, clinicians can proactively reach out with a message to address problems in minutes, rather than days later when her supply is likely in jeopardy. Keriton also offers alert flags for clinicians to aid this process.
The ability to connect with our patients, literally and therapeutically, is paramount. Keriton assists clinicians with HIPAA compliant, secure text chat in its apps. Just like consumer-friendly messaging apps, mom receives a push notification when a new message comes, and she can swipe the notification to open the chat screen in her Kare Mom app.
Transparency + Collaboration
Keriton creates a virtual window between the home and the hospital. As mom pumps and logs bottles at home, clinical teams can see real-time inventories of milk and can make feeding order decisions based on breast milk availability.
It’s common for the clinical team to believe there is no maternal supply coming into the hospital and so consider moving the infant to DHM or formula. With Keriton, clinicians can see that mom has a freezer full at home that will come in soon allowing the maternal milk feeding order to stay.
Moms can see how much milk is in the hospital too, and be automatically alerted if the inventory falls below a certain threshold of bottles. By extending the care team into the home, Keriton promotes transparency, accountability, and collaboration.
Photo sharing + Respect
Waking up in the middle of the night to pump is exhausting for moms. That’s why we built HIPAA compliant photo sharing into our apps. After feeding a baby in the unit, the nurse will be prompted to take a picture using a smartphone device to send to mom.
Moms routinely tell us that these pictures of their babies are all the motivation they need to keep on pumping. It might be the highlight of their day or night. They can also share it with family and friends.
Photo sharing is one of several biometric feedback features in the Kare Mom app that helps stimulate milk production. In 2500 observations, we’ve found that a mom who receives a picture of her child on the Kare Mom app pumps 83 mL more milk that day than a mom who doesn’t receive a picture.
Patients and families are the most underutilized parts of the care team. With our Kare Mom app, we make good on the belief that patient- and family-centered care is working with patients and families, rather than just doing to or for them.
Would you like to know more? Contact us