So, I am a little behind on posting. 🙂 I realized that I never posted this page that Christiana Care put up after my talk there in January. I was honored to talk to the award winners at their Excellence Awards ceremony. It was really inspiring to see so many people coming up with creative ideas to make patient care safer, more efficient, cheaper, and less stressful. It is an impressive organization. Here is a link to their story.
Recently, I was invited to speak on the main stage at the Dignity Health Patient Experience Summit.I met Sandy and Jacob at the Cleveland Clinic in May, and I was excited to get to work with them. I also got to meet Jason from the Beryl Institute after months of twitter conversation. 🙂
It was really great to see how all of their hospitals are embracing the patient experience. I am always inspired to see people trying to make it better for patients, and it makes me hopeful for better healthcare experiences for all patients.
I was so happy that the leaders were willing to take pictures with me and my Cure JM bracelet, and they were nice to learn about Juvenile Myositis and Cure JM.
I was honored to be interviewed at Community Health Network a few weeks ago, and they were kind enough to share with me the video. The video above is a shortened version of the interview. First, they played my original, “I am a patient and I need to be heard” video, and in the middle, they played my “Why does everything beep?” video.
The full length version can be found here if you want to see the entire thing 🙂
Thank you to the Community Health Network for having me at your event. It was a lot of fun to share my story and to get to meet an organization that is working so hard to deliver a great patient experience. I love your Patients First idea.
I was in a restaurant the other night when I went to the bathroom to wash my hands. The restaurant only had one restroom and it was full. However, there was this strange looking counter that had two holes in it and a sign overhead saying Handwasher. I was very confused as I had never seen such a contraption. It said to put your hands in the little holes and it immediately turned-on water with soap. It was very cool and only took about 10 seconds.
I started thinking… wouldn’t this be great for hospitals and doctors offices? And schools? People would be more likely to wash their hands with something so unique. It also takes less time and still accomplishes the same goal. I think it would be very easy for children to use because they don’t have to do any thing. The parents don’t have to worry about them actually washing their hands because there is nothing for them to do! It takes away anyone having to touch soap dispensers or water handles. It is very innovative and unique at the same time!
A few weeks ago, just before I went into the hospital, my mom signed me up for a new pharmacy program. She was so excited when it came in, and I thought it was cool. The pharmacy coordinates all of the prescriptions and refills and mails them to me in bubble packs. So, all I have to do is punch out the back of the bubble at the right time to take my meds. It also has the date, time, and the each of my medications that are in the bubble labeled on the back. So it is also great for helping me remember if I already took the my daily medications.
Before this, my mom was always complaining about having to go to the pharmacy and how they never could get the meds to be filled at the same time. We were always rushing to get something filled right before I ran out. Also, my mom really started hating having to fill up each pillbox weekly. It also helped me remember if I had taken them, but over time the labels wore off and the containers didn’t have the days of the week. So, I got less concerned about which container I took the meds from and just took a morning or a night container. The bubble pack is great because it has the date like Tuesday, February 4 10 am. So far, i have taken all of my meds at the right day and time with this system when usually I missed at least one dose of something every week or two before.
The other great thing is that the price is actually CHEAPER than the pharmacy we used before (a chain pharmacy). We will save $262 a year by having something easier to use! Also, they have a pharmacist who reviews all of your meds together to see if they see any issues or if they have any suggestions. It had been a while since I started some of the medications and they reminded us of some things to look out for.
I will keep you posted on this and how much I like it after using it longer, but so far HealthStat Rx seems like a pretty great idea to make taking your medications easier. Its was definately constructed with that patient in mind!
Another annoying thing in the hospital is the beeping. Why does the IV pump need to beep loudly in my ear when the nurse is the only one who can fix it? Doesn’t it make more sense for it to beep next to the person who can do something about it? It is especially annoying when I have a headache (which is after each of my treatments). With all of the technology today, surely there is the ability to make it quiet in my room but loud by the nurse?
Also, the nurse call buttons are getting fancier, but it appears that the hospitals aren’t really ready to handle them. For example, the pain button on the remote. It doesn’t do anything different than the Nurse button. If I push the pain button, shouldn’t the person answering know I am asking for something for pain?
And seriously, why does it call a person sitting at a desk who then needs to find the nurse? Can it not page the nurse and then she could pass it to someone else if needed? It is not only annoying to have to tell my problems to the speaker, but I also never know who is listening near the desk on the other end. And, to top it off, they sometimes turn off the light before my nurse comes so I am left waiting when nobody is coming (this is pretty rare as they really do try to come quickly, but it is always a concern because you don’t know if it is working).
Thanks to everyone who has been so supportive after my first video. I will keep making videos about good and frustrating experiences in healthcare. Please comment if you have ideas for a post! Also, I am at home now. I recorded this video during my recent hospital stay for meningitis, but I am recovering at home now.
This is a video I made which includes information on what I have done since the last video and what I plan on doing. Thanks for all the support! You have encouraged me to keep going with this and make more videos.
Thanks again,
Morgan<3
(P.S. The first video was originally posted on my moms youtube channel so I have re-uploaded it to a new channel that only I will use. The link to my new channel is here.)
After four nights in the hospital, I made this video expressing my frustration over the lack of sleep you get while admitted. I also talk about the importance of listening to the patients wants and needs. Have you had a similar experience that needs to be solved?
E-patient Dave wrote an article about my video on Forbes.com
Morgan Gleason 
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