How Healthcare Technology Can Optimize Nursing Workflows

Even before Covid-19 arrived, the healthcare industry was experiencing a nursing labor shortage. As a result of the pandemic, burnout, exhaustion, and fatigue are more prevalent. Add the increased need for medical care brought on by an aging population, and it’s clear that addressing the current state of nursing workflows should be a top priority for healthcare providers over the next five years. 

During Nurses Month, The Connected Care Team podcast featured three members of the TigerConnect team who discussed the pivotal role technology in nursing can play in reducing nurse burnout and improving patient experiences. The special guests included Cheryl McKay, Ph.D., RN, nurse executive; Ryan Bush, MSN, RN-BC, clinical nurse consultant; and Kourtney Govro, healthcare consultant.  

Listening to Nurses to Better Serve Their Needs 

Nurses are the foundation of the healthcare system, yet they face an increasingly difficult job in today’s work environment. Staffing concerns, working overtime, and keeping up with new technologies can challenge even the most resilient nurses. How do we support nurses and give them the tools they need to do their jobs better? The TigerConnect team members spoke about the importance of providing nurses with a platform and a voice to express their frustrations and using that feedback to improve nursing workflows. Actively listening and applying nursing informatics to the needs of care team members can help healthcare technology providers alleviate some of the burden nurses face and perhaps lessen burnout.  

“Research shows that the way that you help deal with compassion, fatigue, burnout is actually to allow nurses to communicate, allow them to speak, allow them to talk about the trauma they experience every single day.”

Ryan Bush, MSN, RN-BC

Giving Nurses the Tools They Need to Improve Workflows 

A big reason for nurse fatigue is sensory overload. Hands down, nurses prefer spending time with their patients to help them get better, but they are continually receiving rings and dings that pull them away from patient care. A clinical communication and collaboration platform helps streamline nursing workflows by sending the appropriate message to the right person at the right time, giving nurses time back to devote to patient care. The more time a nurse spends with a patient, educating them on their condition, helping them through the pain they’re in, or talking to a family member, the better the patient’s experience and the outcome will be. 

“Sixty-two percent of nurse calls do not require a nurse and that doesn’t allow the nurse to work top of license. So, she can’t go in, or he can’t go in and start doing the things that they need to do to care for patients because they get bogged down with concierge-level requests.”

Kourtney Govro

Integrated with the TigerConnect Clinical Collaboration Platform, TigerConnect Alarm Management and Event Notification can interface with nurse call systems to filter out non-actionable alerts and alarms, allowing nurses to focus on what’s important. By implementing role-based workflows with real-time data, the strain on nurses is reduced, lessening the instances of burnout, minimizing medical errors, and giving patients better quality of care.

To learn more about how healthcare organizations can give nurses the technology they need to be more productive and enrich patient experiences, check out the podcast episode.

Tags: Nursing workflows, burnout, skilled nursing, nurse workflows, Alarm Management, Clinical Alarm Management, nursing informatics, Alarm Fatigue, Nurse burnout