Hospice is a scary word that often carries with it a negative connotation. Many patients and their families believe it’s a place you go to give up on life and throw in the towel. Patients often fear their medical care will be taken away and that they won’t be able to see their doctor for procedures they need.
Catherine Sapp is working to change this narrative. She’s the executive director at Avita Home Health & Hospice, a small nonprofit located between Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio, that provides home care and hospice services. Catherine and her staff help patients maintain independence for as long as possible while promoting wellness and autonomy.
“The number one thing we hear from patients and their family is I wish I would have called you sooner.” Catherine Sapp, BSN, RN, Executive Director of Avita Home Health & Hospice
Meeting Patients Where They Are With Unified Care Team Communication
In this episode of The Connected Care Team Podcast, Catherine discusses the importance of educating the public on what hospice care is really about and how TigerConnect improved care team communication during COVID-19 and made coordinating patient care easier.
Improving Hospice Communication With Secure Texting
Avita Home Health & Hospice adopted the TigerConnect Clinical Collaboration Platform in mid-2020 during the onset of the pandemic. At the time, they were using free platforms to handle their increase in text messaging. However, non-HIPAA compliant solutions limited the amount of information staff could include in their messages. With TigerConnect, Catherine found an easy-to-implement solution that her team could quickly adopt. This was crucial as the pandemic was stressful enough without having to spend a lot of time acclimating to a new way of communicating.
According to Catherine, TigerConnect’s HIPAA-compliant solution was a game-changer in how Avita care teams were able to communicate and serve their patients.
Establish specific groups so that home health, hospice, nurses, aides, and office staff get information specific to their roles
Quick new user profile implementation so that new employees are ready to work within minutes
Connected communication that keeps the medical directorin the loop regarding patient care
“We estimate saving four hours a week by implementing TigerConnect.” Catherine Sapp, BSN, RN, Executive Director of Avita Home Health & Hospice
Faster Workflows With Role-Based Messaging Automation
TigerConnect role-based messaging has allowed Avita to quickly message on-duty or on-call staff by role for better collaboration. Care teams can send messages via text, voice, or video. This functionality is a necessity in a hospice care setting when instantly reaching a medical director or a particular staff member is critical to patient care. It eases a patient’s tension and takes unnecessary stress off of clinicians. During the podcast, Catherine also talks about the benefit of having messages for a particular role saved so that the next person on duty can see prior communication regarding a patient.
Listen to the podcast episode to learn more about how Avita Home Health & Hospice takes advantage of the real-time communication possibilities with the TigerConnect Clinical Collaboration Platform.
