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- This is Kate Cruz recording at the eighth annual Becker's,
HIT Digital Health and RCM conference in Chicago.
I'm here with Lisa Stevenson.
Lisa, to get us started,
can you tell us a bit about yourself
and your role at your organization?
- Yeah, sure. Um, so I've been a nurse for over 20 years,
and the last 10 has been in, uh, informatics
and currently, um, I have a role at Houston Methodist,
um, as the CNIO.
I'm actually the first CNIO, um, for the organization.
So it's been an exciting opportunity.
- What have been, um, being the first person
to have that title?
What are some unique opportunities that you've had?
- Yeah, so really, um, engaging with operational leaders,
um, and our clinical partners on
how informatics can really assist, um, especially
with digital, digital innovation, right?
Really making sure that the technology we're implementing,
uh, is within the workflow of the clinician
and is solving the problem we're trying to solve.
- Absolutely. When you think
of digital innovation in healthcare right now,
there's a lot of AI talk.
Um, is there something specific about AI that excites you
or is there something else that you're excited about
in digital
- Talk?
Um, AI really is, um, one
of the most exciting pieces for sure.
I think it's just got a lot of future potential, um,
and really for healthcare
and in my perspective as a nurse, the ability
to automate really some simple tasks
and documentation pieces, um, summarize and create notes
and things that can save time for the clinicians
so they have more time at the bedside is, uh,
really an exciting opportunity, I think. Absolutely.
- Um, what are your top priorities for technology
and what are the issues that you're trying to solve with it?
- So, um, a lot of what we focused on has dealt with, um,
you know, the nursing shortage
and as it's grown, the pandemic, right?
The, so virtual nursing really got put into high gear at
Houston Methodist, um, during that pandemic.
Um, we continue to spread that model, um,
and grow that so that we are able to do admissions
and discharge documentation for bedside nurses.
Again, giving them more time, um, at the bedside.
Um, and so we're continuing to find other ways
to also automate tasks
and, um, really put nursing, you know, focus their skills on
that interaction with the patient so that they're not having
to do those administrative type
- Tests.
Definitely, I'm sure that saves a lot of time. Yeah.
Um, what is a piece of advice that you would give
to healthcare leaders today regarding digital innovation?
- Um, I think it's important to, uh, really make sure
that you're not implementing technology just
because it's, you know, for the sake of technology, uh,
that you really consider, um,
the problem you're trying to solve.
You consider the workflow and the impact to the clinician.
So really partnering with, uh, informatics can help, um,
really develop a, a plan from the beginning, um,
with this strategic kind of global view, um, understanding
how the technology fits in with your existing architecture
and how you can really make sure
that all those pieces fit together
and that the clinicians are properly prepared and trained
and are using the tool, uh, to its, uh, optimal benefit.
- So I'm gonna throw in a bit of a bonus question.
With your background as a nurse
and the nursing shortage, what are some big successes
that you have seen in your work?
Um, either, you know, recruiting nurses, um,
taking jobs off their plate,
and how has technology played a role in that?
- Uh, so certainly with the, um, virtual nursing, um,
platform that we have, it's really helped.
Uh, it's, uh, it's twofold, right?
It's, it's helped nurses
that may have wanna leave the profession,
have another opportunity to be able
to do something different that's not as taxing, right?
You're, you're sitting in a, um, at a computer
and still interacting with patients using your skills,
but in a very limited and controlled fashion.
Um, so it's saving those nurses
and then helping the nurses that are at the bedside have
less work to do an admission assessment.
Um, can usually take a bedside nurse
anywhere from 30 to 40 minutes.
Um, so that's a big chunk
of their time away from patient care
that we can now give back to them
because the virtual nurse can do it.
And by the virtual nurse specializing in the that format
and having a focus there, they're able to get it down
to like 15, 16 minutes.
So it's been beneficial on both sides. Yeah.
- That's awesome. Um, so you just
provided a great example of how that's helping clinicians.
Um, could you provide examples of specific instances
where the integration of informatics solutions led
to improve patient outcomes
or patient provider communication?
- Yeah, I, I would say virtual nursing, um,
has helped with that as well.
Um, but I, I would also say I've worked on, um,
something else that's near
and dear to me is the social determinants of health and,
and health equity and, you know, we're implementing, um,
thanks to CMS, uh, an inpatient screening tool, um,
for patients to really make sure, um,
that they're getting the resources they need
and looking at them holistically, um, to ensure that their,
their medical conditions improve
and aren't hindered by some potential social determinants
that are impacting their care.
So, um, but not only focused on the inpatient piece.
As a informaticist, I really worked with our ambulatory
and our community benefits folks
and really developed a program across the care continuum so
that from a time a patient is seen, um, in a, uh,
whether they're seen in a practice in a clinic
or on the inpatient side,
we have the same standardized domains
and questions that we're asking 'em.
The information is available to all clinicians across that
spectrum to see what potential risk the patient has.
Um, and then we're also taking a step forward in piloting
electronic referrals to community organizations so
that then they can also feed back information.
So we have a complete circle of a patient, for example,
that had food insecurity and was at risk there.
Um, and now we've partnered them with a resource
and we can see that they're getting what they need so
that box is checked
and we don't have to worry about that as a potential,
uh, impact on their health.
- Yeah, that's incredible.
Thanks for, uh, explaining that five years from now,
what do you think will be the most significant change in
healthcare delivery and operations,
and how should leaders prepare?
- I think there's a lot of opportunities.
It's a really exciting time in healthcare.
I feel like we're finally catching up to everybody else.
Um, but ai, uh, and, and,
and automation I think is gonna be the biggest change.
We'll see. There will be a lot of things
that clinicians have to do now
that they won't have to do in the future.
Um, but we need to be preparing them now for that
and really understanding as kind of strategic goal
and how we move forward and retraining our staff
to do the task at the highest kind of level of their license
and, and that are more patient centered task instead
of those administrative
or, um, basic things that we can automate.
Uh, so it'll be kind of preparing them to use the tools
and understanding how their,
their role is is changed as well. Definitely.
- In your work on that kind of already, um,
what are some big challenges that you've seen come up?
- So with any, just like anything,
and I think, um, you know, technology, we all know, right?
We get excited, we get this shiny new thing,
this new iPhone, and then it doesn't work as easily
as you thought or you need help, you're stuck.
Like clinicians are double time on that, right?
It's not just something they're doing for fun,
they're taking, trying to take care of a patient
and if that technology's not working
or they're not understanding how to use it,
it's a big barrier to adoption and the success of the tool.
So, um, really not only having, uh,
the staff understand the why behind the technology, how
to use it, but having support prepared, um, kind
of a plan B in place as well.
Um, so sometimes some things that we try,
'cause we're willing to innovate
and try, um, new technology, new solutions,
and if it doesn't work
or needs a backup plan,
you gotta have a failover plan, right?
Because you can't, the patient care can't stop. Yeah.
Um, and you wanna be as, as minimal minimally disruptive
to the clinician workflow as
- Possible.
Definitely. I really like that idea of like the plan B.
Yeah. Especially with all the
technology, like you said, you need it.
Well Lisa, I've really enjoyed our time talking today.
Is there anything else you want our listeners to know?
- Um, I think that really, uh, taking advantage
of, uh, venues like this, you know, at Becker's
or other conferences and really sharing, um,
with other healthcare organizations, what you're doing.
People are doing great things out there.
And to be able to learn from others
and not always reinvent the wheel, uh,
I think is a big takeaway.
- Awesome. Well, Lisa, thank you so much.
It's been a pleasure talking
to you and I appreciate our time.
- Sure. Thank you. Thank you.
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