Adopting the right attitude can convert a negative stress into a positive one. -Hans Selye
Communicating Surgical Procedures Updates Using MyCareText
Stress is a common facet of hospital waiting rooms, no matter the scale of the procedure. Waiting for treatments, appointments, procedures, or for the start of visiting hours are all common examples of waiting within most hospital settings. For the family members or loved ones who are waiting, anxiety about what is happening is at the forefront of their minds.
“Family members who are waiting to see a patient experienced anxiety, fear, hopelessness, loneliness, powerlessness, frustration, and uncertainty.”[1] Compounding these emotions is confusion and the loss of control that family members experience when the patient is admitted for surgery, starting with pre-op procedures and carrying through intra-op and post-op procedures.
Waiting is often considered the most stressful aspect of hospitalization; that period of time of just not knowing exactly what is going on is often agonizing for everyone in the waiting room. The aforementioned is especially true for parents who are waiting for their children.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the domestic population is expected to increase almost 17% by the year 2020; the fastest growing segment of this population are those over the age of 65. One of the implications of this substantial population increase is the associated increase in the number of medical procedures that will be performed to meet the standard of care required by patients seeking medical help.
The proportion of surgical services is expected to have significant increases (between 14-47%) for all surgical fields.[2] The majority increase in this demand is expected to come from the aging baby boomer generation, but some of that demand will also be coming from an increase in pediatric surgeries as the population rises.
Individual hospitals perform anywhere between thousands to tens of thousands of surgeries per year. In 2006, there were over 46 million surgical procedures performed in the U.S. alone, all of which included some form of waiting for loved ones.[1] Along with technological advancements within the medical industry, the increase in population is also driving the growth behind the medical field and medical procedures.
The high growth rate in the number of expected surgeries means that there will also be a larger number of people who are going to experience waiting room settings. This high number of waiting individuals creates the question of whether or not the current care-practitioner workforce will be able to effectively address the concerns and needs of those who are waiting for a loved one in surgery.
The groups of people waiting in the hospital waiting rooms will also be under significant stress, and measures need to be taken to alleviate some of their stress and put them at ease in order to improve their hospital experience. Because a family’s response to a critical illness has implications for the family, patient, and healthcare staff, everyone benefits when professionals intervene to aid during these stressful times.
Family members appear to have a beneficial impact on a patient’s response to treatment.[3] They act as a buffer for patient anxiety and as a means to stay connected to the patient’s own existing social support network. If the family is overstressed, then that may carry over to the patient, possibly having ill effects on treatment via increased blood pressure and heart rate. Another side effect of unmitigated stress may be manifested in distrust with hospital staff, anger, dissatisfaction with care, and possible noncompliance with the treatment regimens.[3]
There have been numerous studies that attempt to define the needs of family members during times of duress; these needs have been categorized into five major areas that appear to be universally experienced by most family members and loved ones.[3]
Most people waiting seek: to be assured, to remain near to the patient, to receive information, to be comfortable, and to have support available. With the exception of being near the patient, the rest of these needs can be tied to a flow of information regarding the procedures that their loved one is undergoing.
[3] Leske, Jane Stover. “Interventions to Decrease Family Anxiety.” Critical Care Nurse 22.6 (2012): 61-65.
One of the biggest stressors for family members regarding surgery is the high level of uncertainty about what exactly is happening to the patient. HIPAA regulations have pushed some hospitals from allowing family members from seeing their loved one even before the surgery. Should this happen, one of the major needs that family members seek is automatically removed, increasing the worry for those family members who are waiting. The same level of anxiety exists throughout the entire surgical process, carrying over from the pre-op to the intra-op and post-op.
An effective measure in relieving this anxiety is transparency about the process that is going on with the patient during the surgery. Knowledge about what is happening during the different stages of the operation takes some of the uncertainty from the process, allowing those waiting to relax further and achieve the equilibrium that they seek during their time in the waiting room. Research has shown that the stress of family members who were waiting during a patient’s surgery decreased when they received patient information, as compared to families who did not receive reports during surgery.[3]
Receiving information has been found to be critical if only to notify of the stage of surgery. It assists the family members in restoring or maintaining emotional balance.[1] This access to information puts family members at ease or allows them to seek support should they feel that it is necessary.
MyCareText is a reliable mobile information program allowing family members of patients undergoing medical procedures to stay updated and informed of their loved one’s status. It is a cloud-based, messaging platform that sends text messages to family and friends informing them of what part of the procedure the patient is currently going through—all in real time.
The idea behind MyCareText is to provide loved ones peace of mind during the procedure. There have been numerous studies on the stress of family members during surgery, and we understand that it is difficult being in the waiting room when a loved one is undergoing a serious operation. This program is designed to alleviate that frustration and open the lines of communication between family members and the hospital staff, increasing transparency and the level of care that is to be received.
Knowledge about the procedure can now be conveyed to loved ones in real time, no matter where they are at. So now if a family member is at a vending machine, out running errands, or filling a prescription, they can have the peace of mind of being informed on the status of their loved one undergoing a procedure.
MyCareText was designed to be a simple, easy-to-use interface to family members informed on the progress of a loved one’s surgery. The interface makes it easy for the practicing nurse to enter in the required information that is to be communicated to family members. The system itself is completely HIPAA compliant and is fully secured by 128bit encryption.
The system is also designed to communicate one way with the patient’s family and does not receive text messages back. Within 24 hours of the procedure, the system is purged of that user’s information, further ensuring a patient’s privacy.
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