Trinity Health to Test Glass Enterprise Edition's Potential for Advancing Supported, Tablet-Free Virtual Care
Livonia, Michigan (PRWEB) July 19, 2017 -- Trinity Health will soon be testing the capabilities of an initiative that combines home visits by secondary caregivers with the innovative internet capabilities of Glass Enterprise Edition (Glass), and the advanced video technologies of swyMed, a provider of video telemedicine technologies. The program will help Trinity Health determine how the technologies might be used to increase access to primary care physicians and advance people-centered care.
The clinical simulation of the technologies will take place at the Loyola University Health System in Maywood, Illinois, where the organizations are hoping to create a solution that could potentially help address challenges including future physician shortages predicted by the Association of American Medical Colleges.
“These innovative technologies have the potential to better leverage the skills and expertise of our physicians and secondary providers — such as medical and nursing students — in order to increase access to primary care for people in our communities,” said Capers Harper, manager, Virtual Medicine, Loyola University Health System. "This simulation will bring providers into the home in a real-time interaction with the patient, the in-person caregiver and the virtual medical provider. Our hope is that this combination approach will significantly benefit our patients."
Glass is a very small computer with a transparent display that clips onto glasses or industry frames. It brings information into your field of view so you don’t have to switch focus between what you’re doing with your hands and the content you need to see to do your job. swyMed offers video telehealth solutions. The combination makes it possible for secondary providers to do assessments of recently released and chronic care patients — in real time and in the comfort of the patient's home — without the burden of having to hold a video camera or a tablet.
When the clinical simulation begins, it will engage some of Loyola University Health System's former patients as volunteers, and connect them with the visiting secondary providers, namely medical, nursing and pharmacy students previously trained within the health system. These students, overseen by nurse leaders or practicing physicians, will bring the technologies directly to patients during their high-tech/high-touch home visits. They will also serve as a meaningful link between the patient and their physician.
"There is no doubt the technologies are very exciting, but it's the promise of being able to provide improved access to better, more people-centered care that is most energizing to those of us working in Trinity Health's Innovation Program," said Anna Marie Butrie, VP, Innovation, for Trinity Health. "This project combines old-fashioned house calls and high-technology to help patients thrive."
It will also provide valuable experience to future full-time medical professionals.
"Caring for patients in their own homes is rewarding and educational for students in the healthcare industry," Harper said. "It helps them relate and empathize with patients and ensures that care transitions are smooth and medications are taken correctly. This could improve the chance of positive outcomes for patients with complicated health histories.”
The clinical simulation will start in late summer and Trinity Health will determine further implementations based on its examination of results.
About Trinity Health
Trinity Health is one of the largest multi-institutional Catholic health care delivery systems in the nation, serving diverse communities that include more than 30 million people across 22 states. Trinity Health includes 93 hospitals, as well as 120 continuing care programs that include PACE, senior living facilities, and home care and hospice services. Its continuing care programs provide nearly 2.5 million visits annually. Based in Livonia, Mich., and with annual operating revenues of $16.3 billion and assets of $23.4 billion, the organization returns almost $1 billion to its communities annually in the form of charity care and other community benefit programs. Trinity Health employs about 131,000 colleagues, including 5,300 employed physicians. Committed to those who are poor and underserved in its communities, Trinity Health is known for its focus on the country's aging population. As a single, unified ministry, the organization is the innovator of Senior Emergency Departments, the largest not-for-profit provider of home health care services — ranked by number of visits — in the nation, as well as the nation’s leading provider of PACE (Program of All Inclusive Care for the Elderly) based on the number of available programs. For more information, visit http://www.trinity-health.org. You can also follow @TrinityHealthMI on Twitter.
Eve Pidgeon, Trinity Health, http://www.trinity-health.org, +1 734-343-1270, [email protected]
Share this article