Digital Patient Engagement Decreases Cancellations for Children and Adolescents Undergoing Procedures with Anesthesia

THE CHALLENGE

This large children’s hospital recognized that its health information tools did not effectively meet the communication needs of its pediatric and adolescent patients and their caregivers. Children and adolescents scheduled radiology studies/procedures required anesthesia months in advance. Care teams often could not reach patients or their caregivers just before the procedure, resulting in high rates of same-day cancellations due to education gaps and failure to adhere to eating and drinking restrictions (NPO status) or illness. In addition, the patient portal limited the number of caregivers that could participate—a challenge as patients often had more than one caregiver. The organization needed a new solution.

THE PROJECT

The organization selected Twistle^® Patient Engagement by Health Catalyst to provide patient-centered, equitably accessible communication for the parents and guardians of pediatric and adolescent patients. Twistle is universally accessible and available asynchronously. Pathways launch automatically based on scheduling and admission, discharge, and transfer, feeds, enabling care teams to provide education that proactively addresses common questions. In addition, the organization can engage multiple caregivers in the education, providing personalized, step-by-step guidance to caregivers’ mobile phones to keep them on track with the plan of care. Pathway messages include reminders and specific instructions about NPO status pre-procedure, the importance of being in good health to receive anesthesia and complete the procedure, basic logistics information, and suggestions for improving comfort and decreasing anxiety. Caregivers can submit questions, which are automatically directed to the appropriate care team member for a timely response.

THE RESULT

Leveraging Twistle, the organization addressed a communication and education gap. As a result, the organization has more effectively engaged parents, guardians, and additional caregivers in patient education—critically important since every pediatric and adolescent patient has a non-patient participant involved in their care.

• >70 percent of all patients are actively engaged in reviewing and responding to messages from Twistle.
• Zero cancellations for failure to adhere to NPO requirements for patients who participated in the Twistle pathway.
• Hundreds of labor hours avoided, the result of automated patient communication and education.

“The Twistle pathway dramatically improved communication with our patient’s parents, guardians, and caregivers, and eliminated cancellations related to gaps in communication and education.”

VP, Children’s Services

ADDITIONAL READING

• Digital Patient Engagement Technology Addresses Gap for Pediatric Patients and Caregivers
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• Remote Monitoring and Digital Patient Engagement Improves Blood Pressure Control
• Digital Care Technology Enables COVID-19 Care at Scale
• Twistle by Health Catalyst