HIMSSCast: Patient sitters free up clinician time, helping to alleviate workforce shortages
Crothall Healthcare reports zero falls with injury from having a trained person in the room, says Lauren Prepchuk, head of Patient Observation.
Photo: Tetra/Getty Images
Trained patient sitters are taking some of the burden off of licensed nurses, says Lauren Prepchuk, head of Patient Observation for Crothall Healthcare.
Crothall, a support service provider, trains patient sitters, also called hospital sitters, to be with high-risk patients in hospital rooms. Patients could be high-risk due to mental health, behavioral health or substance abuse issues, or because they're at risk for falling, Prepchuk said. Children also feel more comfortable having someone in the room, she said.
The bottom line is significant cost savings for hospitals in having trained, but not clinically licensed employees, do the job of being with patients in need. Patient and nurse satisfaction scores have also increased, Prepchuk said. From a regulatory side, adverse safety events have decreased.
For more on the program, listen to Prepchuk's interview with Healthcare Finance News' Editor-in-Chief Susan Morse.
Talking points:
- Crothall has cross-trained patient-transport employees to be hospital sitters.
- Thirty-six hours of training consists of classroom and in-person lessons.
- There is also camera or tele-sitter support available.
- Safety events decrease, especially for patients at high risk of self-harm or those who have a fall risk.
- There's hard cost savings from freeing up nurses and paying sitters at a lower hourly wage.
More about this episode:
Virtual supervision ends, but virtual nurses should remain at end of PHE
Virtual sitters at Lee Health guard against danger to patients, help trim costs
UMass Memorial Health proves RPM virtual sitting is as effective as in-person care
What goes into virtual nursing?
Virtual nursing being considered by 83% of hospital leaders
Twitter: @SusanJMorse
Email the writer: SMorse@himss.org
