Posted on 02/09/2004 10:43:16 AM PST by Dog Gone
Access to e-mail and the Internet is everywhere these days -- from coffee shops to cruise ships.
So why not at a hospital, where patients can take their mind off that painful appendectomy and instant message while lying in bed?
That's part of the thinking behind a new bedside service at Memorial Hermann Memorial City Hospital, which is among the first in the nation to offer the Pyxis PatientStation.
For $9.95 per day, the personal computer gives touch-screen access to cable TV, music, games and high-speed Internet -- and eases the boredom of a hospital stay, patients say.
"I cannot live without the Internet," said Niraj Shah, who was admitted to the hospital last week.
The 21-year-old University of Houston student said the cost of the service was a small price to pay for contact with the outside world.
In his case, that meant watching cable TV channels and e-mailing family in India and the United Kingdom to update them about his condition.
"Believe me, it's better than using the phone and calling them all the time," he said.
Some hospitals in the Houston area offer patients free access to cable TV, but getting online usually requires the use of the patient's laptop or a loaner from the hospital that is hooked up to a phone line.
Now, with a chance to increase revenues and customer satisfaction at the same time, other major hospitals are taking a closer look at similar systems.
Given the days and weeks that some patients are confined, analysts said, the hospital room is a natural extension for wired capabilities.
And hospitals have become increasingly aware that those stays -- no matter how uncomfortable or unwanted -- need to be more consumer-friendly.
"People want to have the ability to access data, the Internet and their e-mail immediately," said Vicki Keiser, regional health care and life sciences partner for Deloitte & Touche. "And so as hospitals measure what patients want and how patients feel about their experience when they leave, I think that you'll see these kinds of things investigated."
Memorial Hermann Healthcare System is the first in Texas to use the PatientStation, according to San Diego-based Pyxis, the unit of Cardinal Health that makes the systems.
Thus far, 24 hospitals nationwide have adopted the technology, with about 1,000 units in use, including 121 at Memorial City.
The system isn't just for patient use and entertainment.
The technology will eventually have clinical applications as well, hospital officials said, such as giving nurses and doctors secure access to electronic patient charts. It may one day help dispense medications as well, with the use of a secured cabinet by the bedside.
"Eventually, we want patients to be able to order their meals from the cafeteria," said Fran Davis, a nurse at Memorial City, describing another use. "The potential is just incredible. And we think it will lead to more contact with the patient because you'll be spending more time in the room."
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and St. Luke's Episcopal Health System said they are considering installing similar devices for their patients.
"It's a great piece of technology because it allows the patient to not only have Internet access and watch TV, but it also allows the patient-care providers to have an access point at the bedside as well," said Mike Reno, vice president of facilities and support services at St. Luke's.
Patients at Memorial City don't necessarily have to pay to use the system, which has a 15-inch flat-touch screen attached to an adjustable arm mounted on the floor. Access to local TV channels, relaxation videos and general health care information is provided for free.
But for the extra fee -- which isn't covered by insurance but can be charged to a credit card or phone line -- patients can watch cable TV channels such as ESPN, listen to four radio stations, gain access to the Web or play almost 20 games.
The hospital only charges patients for the first 10 days of use, after which the fee disappears and the expanded online service is provided free.
Only 15 percent to 20 percent of the hospital's patients have opted to pay for the service since it was introduced in November, officials said, and the hospital is trying to collect data on which patients are more likely to use it.
But Memorial Hermann thinks the device will catch on, and it plans to roll the system out to all of its area hospitals, including Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital, next month.
We can write an FR opus that really is final.
Hack, cough...
One of the coolest things I've ever done was at a children's hospital in St. Paul whe my daughter was having hip displaysia surgery.
Everything went well, and it was a short stay, but i was there over a four-day weekend and they let me sleep in her room ( She was two) Since my daughter was sleeping a lot, there was not anything much to do.
Come to find out the morning after the surgery, that *I* am stir-crazy, but that some Kind Soul had donated a bunch of computer equipment to the children's wing... and it was all MAC stuff!
The nurses didn't have a clue how to go about hooking it all up or loading the games that came with it, but *I* did!
So, I co-opted one of the long-term care kids for company and inside of a day I had Macs, printers, games and AOL all loaded and running in the play-room.
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