New tool is connecting patients with their doctors to improve care
Nick and Shacreya Lee spent nearly a year in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at M Health Fairview Masonic Children’s Hospital with their son, Brave. After being home for only four months, they’re back in the NICU with their daughter, Faith, who was born Aug. 31, 2023, four months prematurely.
While many faces at the hospital are familiar to the family, one thing is notably different and more efficient: Nick and Shacreya now know the rounding schedules, the daily visit where doctors assess patients' conditions and discuss treatment plans. Armed with this knowledge, Nick and Shacreya are now able to better plan their time between the hospital, work, and at home with Brave.
This improvement in care is due to a new communications tool developed by Michael Pitt, MD, a pediatric hospitalist at Masonic Children’s Hospital. Pitt saw a persistent problem: families like the Lees lacked awareness of providers’ rounding schedules, meaning they may miss the critical daily visits.
To fix this widespread issue across all hospitals, Pitt, who’s also a professor in pediatrics at University of Minnesota Medical School, and his partners John Sartori, PhD, an associate professor in electrical and computer engineering at University of Minnesota, and Chelsea Klevesahl, a brand and marketing strategist, developed a groundbreaking solution. They created a technology that sends real-time notifications to patient families, guiding them on when to join doctors for rounds.
Improved patient communications and care.
The communications tool, called Q-rounds, underwent a successful pilot at the Masonic Children’s Hospital NICU last spring. The results were remarkable, with a near tripling in family presence and involvement during rounds – an important factor as research shows that family engagement leads to better health outcomes. Family members now have the flexibility to care for their other children, go to work, or simply eat breakfast, while knowing when to be at the hospital for rounding.
“The whole point of rounds is to talk about your child’s health and care,” said Shacreya, who gets a text message notifying her of rounding schedules. “You don’t want to miss that or have to choose between work or being present to talk with the doctor.”
Family members are also given the opportunity to join rounds virtually if they can’t be there in person. Since the tool’s launch in the NICU last spring, more than 1,000 families have joined rounds virtually.
“Being present at rounds should be a right, not a privilege, for families,” said Pitt. “We want to ensure families know when we are rounding so that they can participate in the most important discussion of the day on their child’s health and care."
Masonic Children’s Hospital, part of M Health Fairview Pediatrics, is the first in the nation to use this cutting-edge technology. Due to its success, hospital teams plan to extend its implementation to other units within the hospital.
“This new technology is an excellent example innovation focused on the experience of patients, families, and clinicians,” said Sameer Badlani, MD, executive vice president and chief digital officer at M Health Fairview. “As a health system, we are committed to scaling innovation and transforming the way we deliver care.”
‘Healthcare is a team sport.’
The positive impact of the innovative tool extends beyond families to the entire care team, benefiting nurses, social workers, and interpreters, allowing them to also have insight into doctors’ rounding schedules. Since the implementation of Q-rounds, nurse presence has tripled for the entirety of rounds, which is important as nurse presence for rounds decreases harmful errors by nearly 40%.
“Healthcare is a team sport,” said Pitt. “Everyone should be present, and that’s the whole purpose behind this new innovation.”
Pitt holds a financial interest in Q-rounds, which he is seeking to commercialize.
