Mental health care prides itself on providing evidence-based care. It wants to be able to advance treatment for patients through their response to evidence-based testing.
PROBLEM
Healthcare providers accredited by the Joint Commission require that a patient’s treatment plan be developed based on evidence-based testing. Mental health care sets goals based on the patient’s test scores and tests regularly to measure improvement.
Organizations are also required to review their aggregate data.
“We needed a way to look at our data from a bigger picture perspective and make sure we were delivering results,” said Stephanie Weatherly, DNP, RN-BC, clinical director of Psychiatric Medical Care. throughout its entire program. “We also want to use that data to create performance improvement projects that help move the needle for our patients and clinicians.
“Another reason we were looking for a software platform that could support us is because previously we had to do all of that work manually,” she continues. “Can you imagine when you’re taking care of dozens of patients, trying to collect that information across each patient record, put it into a spreadsheet, and do the legwork to make that data make sense? meaning requires a significant amount of time.”
PROPOSE
Mental Health Care Leaders were looking for ways to help their clinicians drill down to a more appropriate diagnosis for their patients.
“In the mental health world, something we have a lot of trouble with is discovering a patient’s true diagnosis,” Weatherly explains. “Some of the platforms we looked at only offered popular, evidence-based tests that were currently available, and these tests essentially worked like my spreadsheet.
“One of the things I was most excited about when we searched and finally found a provider was that they had additional evidence-based tools that we weren’t familiar with,” she continued. “These have expanded our ability to provide more specific testing to patients, allowing us to drill down into their diagnosis.”
Additionally, Mental Health Care has a very lengthy intake process. Patients need to come in and complete all paper exams, or staff will ask them questions and enter their answers into the EHR.
“We wanted to dramatically shorten our usage time,” Weatherly notes. “When you look at the youth we serve, they are very apprehensive about joining in the first place. By the time they complete our onboarding process, which takes two and a half hours, they are often exhausted.” strength for the day.”
Mental health care has decided to choose Proem, a company that markets clinical workflow software tools designed to help healthcare providers and clinical research organizations. screening, assessment, diagnosis, treatment and outcome measurement for people with mental illness.
Workflow tools collect data at every step of the behavioral health care process and provide clinical follow-up recommendations to help determine the next steps to take in patient care .
MEETING THE CHALLENGE
“Using clinical workflow technology from the first patient encounter, we get an accurate diagnosis, which helps advance the treatments we provide,” Weatherly reports. “We then use the provider’s evidence-based tests, specifically for patient diagnosis.
“It’s not a stereotypical approach,” she notes. “Each patient will receive the specific test that’s important to them and their needs. We’ve gotten a lot of exciting features from this provider and their technology that other providers don’t provide.”
With this technology, the organization was able to significantly shorten the onboarding time. The software automatically sends all questionnaires and intake forms to patients, including consents and other forms that patients must sign before arrival.
“Now patients can come in and start the intake process right away,” she said. “This change took about two and a half hours down to about an hour. This is a great satisfaction for patients.
“It really helps our staff because we can now see more patients in a day because we’re not so bogged down in paperwork,” she added. “Patients can complete paperwork before coming to our treatment center.”
The process looks like this: When a new patient appointment is scheduled, an intake packet is automatically sent to the patient, with the patient completing forms before the first appointment. That information is included in the EHR so it is now available to any clinical staff member who will work with the patient. Additionally, throughout treatment, outcome monitors will be sent to patients to monitor their progress.
“We also have an API built between our clinical workflow technology and the EHR, Lightning Step, which creates huge efficiencies for our team,” Weatherly explains. “We no longer have to upload anything to the EHR. This integration also allows our psychiatric doctors and nurses to see test results as soon as they are completed. We receive results in real time. real time without having to go back and forth between systems, which is great.
“Additionally, every team member in our program uses clinical workflow technology,” she continued. “One of the unique things about the way we deliver care at PMC is that everyone in our program is a clinician. enroll in our program and receive, as a clinician.”
Staff use Proem throughout treatment. They use it at every patient touchpoint during their individual sessions. They’re also reviewing that information in family meetings, so they’re learning it with the families. They then use this information one last time when the patient is discharged from the hospital.
“Another thing we like about our clinical workflow technology is that it allows us to let parents give their perspective on their child’s symptoms,” commented Weatherly. “At the time of admission and at any time after admission, we can send an assessment to the patient’s parents.
She continued: “It’s one thing for a child to say they miss school or their productivity has dropped, but we want to hear from parents about how they perceive their child’s decline in productivity. me”. “Our technology platform has the ability to gather input from many people about a patient’s progress.”
Staff also use provider screens throughout patient treatment. This data is fed into the platform’s dashboard, which staff can then share with patients so they and their parents can see how their health is getting better.
“We use technology this way a lot,” Weatherly speak. “When you’re a kid, it’s hard to know how well you’re doing or how much you’ve healed. We often see kids who say they’re not getting any better. We get the information up and show how they’re doing and the answers they gave before compared to the answers they give now. Then they can see they’re getting better.”
RESULT
“At the individual outcome level, this is a great tool for parents,” Weatherly reports. “Everyone loves charts and when you see a chart and it’s going in the right direction, it’s great in family sessions for parents to see how their child has changed for the better.
“On the non-clinical side, technology has helped us get really good reviews from parents and improve other engagement metrics that we need as an organization to succeed and continue raise our profile as well as raise awareness of the quality of care we provide,” she added.
For anyone who cares about people, they know that sometimes they may experience a negative development or a setback of some kind and that can make people feel as though they haven’t made progress. Come on, Weatherly record.
“This technology gives us something quantifiable to show to families and patients,” she said. “It makes all the difference in the world when they embrace the differences in their children. Children receive the same encouragement and rewards.
“From a board reporting perspective, what took me a long time to put together is now as simple as taking a few screenshots,” she continued. “This technology also gives me everything I need to be able to report aggregated data not only to our board but also to Joint Commission during our survey. We learned a lot from the data we collected in technology.”
Weatherly also emphasized the value of the breadth of therapeutic alliance built into the platform.
“It’s an important tool,” she argues. “By using this scale, we can see whether our patient is connecting with the therapist, which can guide feedback to the therapist. Additionally, we always performance rating. I use that scale to help me evaluate how well someone is working with patients.
She added: “Having our patients, our customers, let us know how they perceive us and our staff provides a great instant feedback loop that helps our therapists.” We change and improve.”
ADVICE TO OTHERS
Weatherly advises that the first step is to talk to the people closest to the patient and learn about their difficulties.
“How are they measuring progress in patients now? How are they showing patients whether they have improved and how much better they are? What your clinicians want and need They will be the users of whatever technology you decide on, so you want to make sure you understand the problems they are facing in your organization,” she said.
“Consider a wide variety of technology options,” she continues. “Find out what’s out there. Get recommendations. Find current customers of the vendors you’re considering and talk to those customers to find out how the product works for them. This will help you better understand how the product will work for you.”
It’s important to be open to getting a product that’s better than what one set out to do and might expect, she added.
“When I start researching something, I usually determine in advance exactly what I need,” Weatherly says. “When I do that, I can get cornered on something because I know what my problem is and what I want to solve. But sometimes the solutions can be bigger, broader and better a lot more than you think. It can be a lot more useful, but because you’ve thrown yourself into something, you don’t necessarily have to fully consider or evaluate all of your options and what they can do for you.
“Finally, really think about when to deploy and make sure you can deploy the technology on the schedule you need,” she concludes. “In other words, what is the appropriate timeframe for its implementation? For example, if you object to a Joint Commission survey, can you complete implementation within that timeframe? If no, do you need to explore other options?”
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