This paper is focused on developing methodology and evaluation of the practicum project of implementation and utilization of Tele sitter. The goal of the project is to help understaffed hospitals insert Tele sitters as an effective method of cost-saving. Project objectives are understanding the weak chains of the medical nurse system in monitoring patients, educating the staff during the application of the innovative method in the hospital, and making it efficient within the practicum site acute setting. The methodology of the project involves gathering the primary data via interviews from the hospital staff already working with a fully operational method and identifying the shortcomings in the nurse chain system. Further on, the focus of methodology will be on developing the studying materials based on the information about weak chains in the method from the practitioners to avoid their mistakes. Finally, the methodology aims to install video monitoring units in chosen understaffed hospital’s emergency rooms and implement practices for staff. A similar method was used in the research by Cournan et al. (2018) that were valuing patient safety through video monitoring.
The identification of understaffed hospitals should be assessed by statistical data and the hospital’s budget. To gather primary data, hospitals using Tele sitters such as the University of California San Diego Health, Northern Westchester Hospital, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital will be interviewed with a set number of questions allowing to identify the disadvantages of the method. It is essential to ask the following questions:
- Have you ever experienced inadequate signal or interferences in the camera work?
- Have the patients ever been dissatisfied with the system? (If yes, what were their primary concerns)
- Does staff sometimes lose a sustainable amount of time for data transferring between Tele sitters and nurses? (If yes, on what occasions and what was the influencing factor)
- Are you satisfied with Tele sitters, and do you wish most of the hospitals implemented the system?
The data gathered from interviews can help enhance the further development of the project and can highlight the major weak chains in the system.
After gathering the possible shortcomings, the program for staff education should be upgraded according to the new knowledge. The staff education will be provided by one of the leaders in inpatient telehealth, the company AvaSure that is providing technology, clinical program, and data analytics (AvaSure, 2021). The supplementary information included in the theoretical education (3 months) will be organized and monitored by the hospital chief nursing informatics officer (CNIO) or nurse managers. AvaSure’s practical education will be used in the practical implementation of the program along with nurse managers monitoring their outcomes during 6 months. The installation of the equipment is part of the treatment with AvaSure. The success of staff’s education should be constantly evaluated by nurse managers by receiving feedback about the method, nurses’ major struggles, and perception of the practice process. The leaders need to receive the oral responses from nurses as it is more practical and employee-oriented (Duers & Brown, 2009). According to nurses’ feedback, managers can add to the practice schedule repetition of the material and detailed observation on most common struggles.
After finishing the practical unit, another 6 months of method improvement is required. During this period, the staff increases the speed and calculates the timing between the operations implementing the shortcomings from the hospitals possessing broader experience with Tele sitters. As soon as there are no interruptions in the working process and a full understanding from the staff, the program can be considered successfully inserted.
Formative evaluation of the program will include surveys of the patients that have experienced Tele sitters. The application forms for the patients will include questions assessing their general satisfaction from the method, the staff work, and the possible disadvantages they see in the method. Summative evaluation calculates the results of the surveys, and if more than 90% of patients are satisfied with the method and its implementation, the project can be called successful.
References
Cournan, M., Fusco-Gessick, B., & Wright, L. (2018). Improving patient safety through video monitoring. Rehabilitation Nursing, 43(2), 111–115.
Duers, L. E., & Brown, N. (2009). An exploration of student nurses’ experiences of formative assessment. Nurse Education Today, 29(6), 654–659.
Standard of care. AvaSure.