Skilled Nursing Care
Skilled care is nursing and therapy care that can only be safely and effectively performed by, or under the supervision of, professionals or technical personnel. The ACHA established National Skilled Nursing Care Week® to recognize the essential role of skilled nursing care centers in caring for America’s frail, elderly, and disabled. The theme for May 10-16, 2020 is “Sharing Our Wisdom.” The staff of skilled nursing care centers play a critical role in caring for residents and are facing many challenges in carrying out their roles during the pandemic.
The Benefits of Virtual Care in Skilled Nursing
A virtual care communication platform can help strengthen skilled nursing care’s commitment to timely, quality care. Staff can use a virtual care platform to ensure impactful and immediate communication with colleagues and the patient’s family members during their residency in the facility. A facility’s clinician can be “present” more frequently via video; additional clinicians and specialists can also connect with the patients and staff to ensure that the patients is receiving the care they need without requiring a transfer back to the hospital or to a higher level of care. When a change in the care plan is initiated, nursing staff can conduct virtual meetings to inform all stakeholders about the rationale for the change and the next steps. And, the patients’ nearby and faraway loved ones can be kept in the communication loop – whether via video, text, and/or email – and continue to “voice” their feelings to the patient.
Synzi’s Virtual Care Platform and Telehealth Apps
With Synzi’s virtual care, skilled nursing or skilled therapy can effectively and efficiently treat and manage a patient’s condition.
- Using Synzi’s telehealth app enables staff to bring in the needed care resources from beyond the four walls into a virtual visit. The virtual visit may include offsite or remote specialists (such as wound care or behavioral health), the referring physician, and also the patient’s family members into updates on the patient’s progress.
- Using Synzi’s secure messaging functionality, staff can safely and securely share PHI with colleagues, specialists, and the referring physician in order to provide updates on the patient’s condition and receive timely diagnoses and decisions
- Using Synzi’s text and email capabilities, staff can support their patients by sending an ongoing cascade of messages that not only helps the patient understand their condition but also provides emotional support to help alleviate feelings of isolation and loneliness.
Synzi is a critical component of the care continuum and can be used when the skilled nursing staff needs to evaluate whether a patient should be transferred to another setting or isolated in the case of the coronavirus. It can also bring in external care specialists (e.g., physical therapists) who are not necessarily on-staff (nor allowed to make onsite visits) to continue providing therapy while reducing the risk of transmission or infection.
Using telehealth can positively impact census/move-ins, patient/resident satisfaction, retention, and referrals as well as staff satisfaction and productivity. All of these measures improve overall outcomes – and attract the interest of referral partners who value skilled nursing care partners who can minimize the “revolving door” of readmissions and maximize patient impact.