Stay Entertained, Informed, Connected -- While in the Hospital

TV system at Mercy San Juan helps nurses, too

Sacramento Business Journal - by Kathy Robertson, Staff writer -- Patients at Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael can play video games, access the Internet and watch new movies, satellite television or patient education videos from their hospital beds.

They can also tell housekeeping the room is too hot or rant about the quality of the food on a bedside interactive television system that helps hospital staff respond to patient needs.

The 260-bed acute-care hospital is the first in the Sacramento region to bring hotel-like entertainment to the bedside in a way that also changes how patients get health information and frees up staff to do other things.

Launched at Mercy San Juan in September by San Diego-based Skylight Healthcare Systems, the program operates with a wireless keyboard and remote control connected to television sets in patient rooms.

It's a patient-pleaser that shaves 19 minutes off the time nurses spend delivering education videos to patients, company statistics show. The number of patients with follow-up questions typically drops 90 percent.

Management at the hospital is still figuring out how to maximize use of the system, which can track patient statistics, hook into the hospital electronic medical record and allow patients to order meals from a menu clinically approved for their health condition.

"It offers a great mix of entertainment value, education and service recovery," hospital president Brian Ivie said. "Without it, a patient presses a button to call a nurse who is pulled from another patient because the room is too hot. It frees up nurses to focus on patient care."

Last week, Shannon Acebo was checking her e-mail from her room on the medical-surgery floor. Suffering from broken bones and an infection following an accident last year, she welcomed the diversion.

"It's much more enjoyable when you're stuck than watching daytime TV," Acebo said. "I hate daytime TV."

But Acebo does more on the system than check e-mail.

She's watched movies, played a word game, put in a good word on behalf of a nurse she thought was fun and conscientious -- and checked out a video about how to inject herself at home with the blood thinner Lovenox.

"It was helpful to watch someone else do it -- and not just see it sticking out of your stomach," she said.

William "Billy" Lee, the nurse applauded by Acebo, said videos such as the one on Lovenox help prepare patients for what they'll have to do at home.

"Any tools we have to reinforce education are useful," he said.

The plus of the new system is patients can watch the program when they feel like it. A reminder to watch the video may pop up during "Oprah," but the patient can finish the show and watch the video later.

Skylight Healthcare was founded in 1999 with an eye toward patient care and satisfaction. The digital information system is installed in almost 60 hospitals, including Sutter-affiliated Alta Bates/Summit Medical Center in Berkeley and Oakland.

The privately held company has strong financial backing from five venture capital firms focused on the health care industry that have reserved $10 million to $12 million to support national expansion.

The push comes at a time when patients bear more of their own health care costs and are becoming more involved in personal health care decisions.

Other companies vying for a share of the market include TeleHealth Services, a division of television rental company Telerent Leasing Corp. in Raleigh, N.C., that focuses on educational programs for patients and staff, and LodgeNet Interactive Corp. (Nasdaq: LNET), which offers interactive systems to meet the needs of the hospitality and health care industries.

Mercy San Juan spent $100,000 up front in hospital upgrades to prepare for the system, which costs about $16,000 per month. Skylight maintains the system and provides support around the clock.

Patient education videos are used most in the labor-and-delivery unit, said Nancy Mueller, director of guest services. A total of 271 videos were watched by patients in the hospital's two birthing centers in January, "Baby's 1st Month" being the favorite with 64 viewings. Eleven additional patients watched the video in Russian.