Nursing
Houston Hospice WOWs with New Technology
Digital Health Transformation Rolls into Hospice Care
By Suzy Martin, Volunteer Blogger
According to the recent article More Than Just Tech: How Houston’s Smart Hospitals Are Embracing Tech Innovations by Emily Reiser, “Texas Medical Center (TMC) member institutions are leading the nation in innovation and setting the standard for what smart hospitals can look like and how they will transform the healthcare landscape in the coming years.” As a TMC member institution, Houston Hospice is leading the way in Digital Health Transformation in the hospice care industry.
The 42-year-old nonprofit hospice organization implemented several new technology solutions that help doctors and nurses communicate more effectively with patients and families during fourth quarter 2021. In addition, admitting patients into hospice care is now streamlined and hospice field teams have greater access to online, on-demand, multi-lingual interpreters, as well as accurate procedural instruction available 24/7. Funding for this digital transformation effort was made possible by grants, donations, and the COVID-19 Economic Relief Fund.
Workstations on Wheels (WOWs)rolled into Houston Hospice to the excitement of nurses across the organization.
“I can’t wait to chart immediately so that I can continue to help others,” said Thomas Moore, RN, Director of Specialty Teams, and nine-year veteran of Houston Hospice.
Thomas Moore Director of Specialty Teams Houston Hospice
These eight mobile workstations help nurses document care and update electronic medical records EMRs in real time. Houston Hospice is the only hospice using WOWs in its Inpatient Unit and within its 13-county service area in Southeast Texas.
Prior to this update, nurses recorded notes on desktop computers at each of three nurses’ stations. Now that WOWs are being introduced, patient information will stay up to date which streamlines workflows. In addition to new technology, Houston Hospice uses hardware that is well known throughout the world.
The nurses at Houston Hospice also use iPads to chart notes and share confidential information securely within the seven-member hospice team called the Interdisciplinary Team (IDT). Faster charting means a better work/life balance for these IDT members. In addition, 60+ iPads (with more arriving in the future) and keyboards have been deployed for these health professionals.
Amy Morales, LVN, Houston Hospice with WOW.
Houston Hospice physicians also use secure electronic devices to assess the needs of patients and communicate updates instantly. “The [Houston Hospice] physicians use mobile laptops and iPhones, which work in much the same way as the WOWs to provide up-to-date information for the physicians during visits, to document the visit, email clinicians’ concerns about the patient, and to provide patients and families with information that they may be looking for from clinical information. I can email the nurses questions about the family’s concerns during rounds, and I often get a response before I leave the patient’s room,” said Thuy Hanh Trinh, MD, MBA, Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians, Fellow of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Wound Care Certified, Hospice Medical Director Certified and Team Physician, Houston Hospice.
When collaborating among team members, Houston Hospice relies on a healthcare platform that is secure and performs in real time, making high-quality care more accessible and efficient. The software increases accessibility to documentation and records and streamlines the admission process. Telehealth (seeing patients via video or audio) is also available to keep patients safe from others who may have viruses or other illnesses while caring for their unique needs.
WOWs, iPhones, iPads, and laptops are important components of improved patient management at Houston Hospice. To make these technologies work well with one another, the best software solutions must be utilized so that hospice patients and families will have the greatest care possible. To achieve this, the organization uses state-of-the-art cloud technology to obtain and share hospice information instantaneously, including everything from patient intake to documentation to scheduling, all on a secure network.
Houston Hospice nurses may find the need to research procedures specific to the needs of their patients. To accomplish these kinds of immediate goals, nurses have access to a software program that contains 1,800 procedures in various specialty settings. In addition, the program maintains compliance with current national guidelines and empowers nurses with the knowledge and confidence to make informed clinical decisions.
As Houston Hospice is a member institution of the world-renowned Texas Medical Center that hosts 10 million patient encounters annually, translation services are in great demand. The nonprofit has hired one of the best translation companies in the world to help communicate with patients from all over the world. The interpreter service provides 14,000 professionals, who are on demand interpreters and available via audio and video in 30 seconds or less.
Thuy Hanh Trinh, MD, MBA, Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians, Fellow of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Wound Care Certified, Hospice Medical Director Certified and Team Physician, Houston Hospice.
“The visually-enhanced translation services have been an excellent resource to help connect our patients, their families and our hospice team members,” Trinh said. “Having the mobile translation system with visual contact makes communicating with patients and families easier and more personable. The translator may be better able to address the patients who have difficulty expressing their needs, such as those with slurred speech, when the translator can see the movements of the patient’s mouth and body language.
“For example, one of my patients spoke Cantonese, but I was unaware of which Chinese dialect when I made the request. I had requested the Mandarin translator, who recognized the patient’s dialect even though the patient was speaking with a muffled voice, and she was able to refer me directly to the Cantonese translator for the patient’s support. I think the translator’s ability to see the patient made a difference in realizing what was needed during the visit. The visually enhanced translation system has been a great asset to ensure our hospice team can address the patients’ and families’ needs at any time of day or night,” Trinh said.
As Houston Hospice continues to find new ways to help patients and their families, the use of advanced technology continues to play a key role. “Technology used by Houston Hospice is designed to improve communication between doctors, nurses and patients,” said Scott Watson, IT Manager, Houston Hospice. “This improved care coordination allows for the care of patients remotely and saves time for both the doctor and patient.”
When working to advance technology in the healthcare industry, speaking with colleagues about best practices adds value to the organization’s progress. “We are collaborating with a hospice in Tyler [Texas] to share best practices for healthcare technology implementation,” Watson said. “As we continue to share valuable insights with one another, we will improve hospice care for patients across Texas, the U.S. and even the world.”
As a subject matter expert in IT, Watson has made a prediction that technology in the hospice environment will only get faster and easier to use.
Houston Hospice WOWs with New Technology and its compassionate care is unmatched, reaching hundreds of patients daily. It continues to offer vital services for patients and families, using state-of-the-art practices and procedures. As the organization continues to reach new patients and families who could benefit from hospice care, it will continue to look for new ways to advance hospice care for patients of all socio-economic backgrounds, ethnicities, and beliefs, regardless of their ability to pay.
For more information about Houston Hospice, visit https://www.houstonhospice.org/what-we-do/services/
Houston Hospice Virtual Tour
Established in 1980 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Houston Hospice’s mission is to provide uncompromising, compassionate, end-of-life care to patients and families in our community. Join us in the Houston Hospice Virtual Tour.
As a member of the prestigious Texas Medical Center, we work closely with doctors, hospitals, and assisted living facilities to provide a holistic approach to hospice care. We are proud to say that we care for the whole patient and their families across 10 Texas counties. In addition to our specialized approach, you will have opportunities to be with your loved one when they truly need you the most. Take a virtual tour of our facility, located at 1905 Holcombe Blvd., Houston, Texas 77030. Here, you will see our private rooms, serene chapel, and The Garden at Houston Hospice, maintained by The Garden Club of Houston. We also provide care for patients at home or their facility of choice. To find out more, give us a call 24/7 at 713-468-2441 , or visit our website at www.houstonhospice.org.
About Houston Hospice
Houston Hospice is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides compassionate, end-of-life care to all patients and families across 10 counties in the Greater Houston Area. Established in 1980, we are the oldest, largest, independent, nonprofit hospice in Houston and a member of the Texas Medical Center.
Nurses Week 2020
Houston Hospice 
‘s Our Nurses
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National Nurses Week starts with National Nurses Day on May 6, 2020 and concludes on May 12, 2020 with International Nurses Day, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, who is credited with founding modern nursing. The week-long celebration has been established as a recognized, annual event for appreciating health care workers, but you already knew this long-established, nursing-history fact. I bet you didn’t know that nurses make up over 50% of the global healthcare workforce, and on January 31, 2019, the Executive Board of the World Health Organization (WHO) endorsed a call for 2020 to be officially recognized as the ‘Year of the Nurse and Midwife’. Finally, a whole year dedicated to nurses, and it’s about time. Wouldn’t you say?
Presenting! 
Today’s modern nurses are Frontline Heroes, from all walks of life, and with more strength and courage than you can shake a stethoscope at. “Houston Hospice places tremendous value in our nursing team,” says Jim Faucett, President and CEO, Houston Hospice. “Our highly skilled RN’s, LVN’s, and Nurse’s Aides epitomize hospice care excellence and are the cornerstone of Houston Hospice. Without them, we would not be able to provide the team-oriented, medical care that our patients deserve. For their faithful compassion and commitment to the needs of our patients and their families, I want to extend my deep appreciation and a Thank You to our entire Nursing Team,” continued Jim.
People of TMC
The Texas Medical Center interviewed our very own, Gabrielle Staten, RN, BSN, associate patient care manager, IPU. “We’ve been able to allow family members to visit their dying loved one when hospitals couldn’t,” stated Gabrielle. Click here to read the entire piece, highlighted on the TMC website.
Employee Committee Lights the Way
National Nurses Week Spotlights Most Trusted Profession
Published in nurse.com by Eileen Williamson, MSN, RN
You are celebrated during National Nurses Week for the many contributions you make to the nursing profession and the healthcare of our nation. The word “excellence,” in fact, is one we hear more than any other during Nurses Week.
Learning Has Shaped Oncology Nurse’s View of Patient Care
Published in oncnursingnews.com by Jean Sellers, MSN, RN
There is an old proverb I’ve heard many times, attributed to several sources: “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” Although I was anything but ready to face the concepts of death and dying, in 1990, my teacher appeared. He was 59 years old and presented to the emergency department with sudden onset nausea and vomiting, along with a severe headache. I vividly remember standing outside the thin curtain separating his stretcher from where I stood, dumbfounded, as the doctor introduced the words “temporal mass” and “cerebral edema” into my life.
I wasn’t a nurse then. I was a mother to 2 young girls, and I was not prepared to take care of the man behind the curtain. He was the greatest man I had ever known, the same man whom I would forever refer to as my first patient. My father. His diagnosis was an aggressive glioblastoma, and he lived 9 months from that day. I was forced into a crash course on surgery, radiation therapy, and end-of-life care. His final 2 months were spent in my home. The man who defined a “good day” as 18 holes on a golf course was now confined to a hospital bed in my guest bedroom, wearing diapers.
My family came together with the best of intentions, but we never quite had the conversations we needed to have. Some family members refused to acknowledge he was dying, and others viewed hospice care as giving up. Some did not want to treat his pain with narcotics for fear he would become addicted. I was desperate to find anyone who could help me ensure that my father would not suffer, which finally led me to call the hospice answering service—and brought another teacher in to my life.
The hospice nurse returned my call later that evening. Nothing could have prepared me for the way it felt to feel so completely heard and understood in the midst of that terrifying time. She listened to my concerns, fears, and confusion. She became my lifeline and helped my family to have the difficult conversations exploring what a “good death” could look like and what my father would want.
Read the rest of this entry »
NHPCO Highlights Importance of Hospice in Healthcare Since 70s
November begins National Hospice & Palliative Care Month. National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) writes that hat began as primarily a volunteer-driven, grassroots movement in the 1970’s, is now an integrated part of our nation’s health care delivery system that provides care to more than 1.43 million Medicare beneficiaries and their families every year.
“Enacted as a demonstration in 1978 and a Medicare benefit in 1982 as our nation’s first coordinated care model, hospice programs have served millions of Americans and their families with compassionate care to relieve pain, manage symptoms, support patients and their family caregivers, and provided bereavement services for individuals following the death of a loved one,” said Edo Banach, president and CEO of NHPCO. “The benefit has been invaluable to patients and lifesaving for families.”
NHPCO offers a snapshot of hospice care with representative statistics from the current edition of its report, Facts and Figures: Hospice Care in America (PDF):
- 48 percent of Medicare decedents were enrolled in hospice at the time of death (in 2016).
- Median length of service was 24 days.
- 5 percent of patients received care for 90 days or less, while those receiving care for more than 180 days accounted for 13.6 percent.
- Cancer was the most common principle diagnosis, accounting for 27.2 percent of patients; increasing among the patient populations is a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s or dementia which accounts for 18 percent.
- 98 percent of care was provided at the Routine Home Care level with 55.6 percent of RHC days taking place in the home.
NHPCO provides a valuable abundance of resources with data and statistics on hospice. The organization is integral to a broad spectrum of efforts in leading the public’s understanding of hospice and palliative care and advancing the ever more vital role of hospice across the healthcare industry.
In addition, this month honors the home care and hospice community including the millions of nurses, home care aides, therapists, and social workers who make a remarkable difference for the patients and families they serve.
- In 2018, home care providers will travel about 8 billion miles to deliver the best health care in the world’
- Ninety percent of Americans want to age in place, and home care is the preferred method of health care delivery among the disabled, elderly, and chronically ill; and
- Home care provides high-quality, compassionate care to more than 5 million Americans annually.
As we approach the giving season, November is the perfect time to recognize their efforts.
How do you celebrate your calling during National Nurses Week?
Published in Nurse.com by Jennifer Mensik, PhD, RN, FAAN
Make a Nurses Week resolution to recognize each other every day.
One of my favorite sayings about nursing is our ordinary is actually extraordinary. We provide an amazing service to the public, whether in hospitals, clinics, long-term care or in the community.
Being a nurse is not something we turn off completely at any time. It doesn’t stop at the end of our shift like many other professions.
We are there to help at a moment’s notice because we care. That perspective of caring is always with us and we believe we are doing what any other person might do in the same situation — that it was our job.
We have become so accustomed to the caring we do and the miracles we assist with daily, that what we and our colleagues do “daily feels” as if it is our job. As nurses, we also don’t like to take credit as we should for the healing that we assist with. Absent our caring, people would not heal and get well, and that is special.
Enter Nurse’s Day and Nurses Week. Celebrated since 1965, the original intent was to raise awareness of the important role of nursing, which mark our contributions to society. Nurses Week was first unofficially observed in October 1954, the 100th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s mission to Crimea.
It was later changed to May 6 and officially recognized by President Ronald Reagan in 1982. The American Nurses Association expanded the holiday into National Nurses Week, celebrated from May 6 to May 12, in 1990. Over time, this week became the one time of year we as nurses truly expect we should receive external recognition for our contributions.
Organizations may do a variety of things to recognize nurses, ranging from giveaways to receptions. But does this serve the original intent of this week?
Have we all moved away from recognizing the important role in nursing that the outcome of our caring results in one week of food or tchotchkes a year? I am speaking here for administration and all nurses alike.
Let’s make a Nurses Week resolution to recognize each other more than once a year
What if each week throughout the year, you, your unit, department or organization decided to recognize yourselves? What if we recognized each other and ourselves daily? How do we give our gratitude to other nurses? How do we show our caring to others? How might this type of recognition look?
I asked many of my nursing friends how they should celebrate themselves and each other and here are some ideas:
Nursing retreats designed just for nurses by nurses. My colleagues and friends at the Arizona Nurses Association have organized this retreat for four years straight!
The DAISY recognition program is a formal program healthcare organizations can participate in to recognize the work of nurses. This program exists in all 50 states and 18 countries!
In our daily manager and administrative huddles at Oregon Health and Science University we discuss staff who deserve recognition. Clinical and non-clinical staff and managers know to escalate stories so individuals are recognized. There always are several staff members mentioned daily during these huddles.
Celebrate little victories, such as when a patient finds solace in music or speaks for the first time after visiting with a therapy dog. This might be just part of your routine day, but it is yours to celebrate. Take a moment to reflect on how your caring was part of this patient’s victory.
Write a letter to the editor in a non-nursing-related newspaper or magazine that reflects positively on the nursing profession.
Have a nursing school reunion.
Attend your state nursing association conference.
When we do not stop to recognize ourselves and others, we are not supporting ourselves or each other. When we don’t support each other, individually we can burn out and experience compassion fatigue, which makes it harder to provide a healing environment for those in our care.
Patients and families can tell when we don’t or can’t care any longer. Worse yet is we start to exhibit bullying behavior to others, instead of compassion and caring our colleagues and fellow nurses need just as much.
Nurses Week shouldn’t and can’t be just the only time we recognize, celebrate and demonstrate the importance of nursing. Each of us need to commit to a Nurses Week resolution to celebrate our profession, ourselves and each other each day!
Jennifer Mensik, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, is division director of care management at Oregon Health and Science University and instructor for Arizona State University College of Nursing and Health Innovation DNP program. She also is treasurer for the American Nurses Association. Formerly, Mensik was vice president of CE programming for Nurse.com published by OnCourse Learning. A second-edition book she authored, “The Nurse Manager’s Guide to Innovative Staffing,” won third place in the leadership category for the American Journal of Nursing Book of the Year Awards 2017.
Preventing the Flu: Good Health Habits Can Help Stop Germs
From the CDC and nurse.com
The single best way to prevent seasonal flu is to get vaccinated each year, but good health habits like covering your cough and washing your hands often can help stop the spread of germs and prevent respiratory illnesses like the flu. There also are flu antiviral drugs that can be used to treat and prevent flu.
- Avoid close contact.
Avoid close contact with people who are sick. When you are sick, keep your distance from others to protect them from getting sick too.
- Stay home when you are sick.
If possible, stay home from work, school, and errands when you are sick. This will help prevent spreading your illness to others.
- Cover your mouth and nose.
Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing. It may prevent those around you from getting sick.
- Clean your hands.
Washing your hands often will help protect you from germs. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand rub.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth.
Germs are often spread when a person touches something that is contaminated with germs and then touches his or her eyes, nose, or mouth.
- Practice other good health habits.
Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces at home, work or school, especially when someone is ill. Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage your stress, drink plenty of fluids, and eat nutritious food.
A nurse.com article by Sallie Jimenez focused on item #4 and shared a study concluding that hand washing decreases chances for the illness to result in deaths. Jimenez writes that “In the midst of what may be one of the worst flu outbreaks in a decade, new research reinforces the importance of proper hand hygiene protocol.”
Her article references the following: A study published in the February issue of the American Journal for Infection Control found hand washing saves lives — not just in hospitals — but all healthcare facilities, including nursing homes. Researchers looked at 26 French nursing homes from April 1, 2014, to April 1, 2015, discovering consistent measures encouraging staff and visitors to wash their hands reduces mortality and antibiotic prescription rates, according to a news release from the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology highlighting the results.
During the course of the study, which included 13 nursing homes randomly assigned to an intervention group and 13 assigned to a control group, a program was implemented targeting nursing home staff, visitors and outside care providers, the news release said.
As part of the program, hand sanitizer became more readily available in both pocket-sized containers and dispensers and the idea of proper hand hygiene was promoted through posters, events, work groups and education.
“The measures resulted in a lower mortality rate of 2.10 deaths per 100 residents, versus 2.65 in the control group, with a notable 30% decrease in the mortality rate during France’s major influenza outbreak in early 2015, according to the news release.”
Although the CDC stresses the single best way to prevent the flu is to get vaccinated, proper hand washing and cleansing — either with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer if soap and water are not available — also is recommended.