1. Educate and Engage Patients Before They Arrive
To identify at-risk or potentially infected patients (and to keep others at home), Providence looked to its IT teams to develop a coronavirus assessment chatbot that allows users to input symptoms. The chatbot helps users determine the best next steps, possibly avoiding a hospital or clinic, especially for nonurgent cases.
One option is to select an on-demand virtual visit with Providence’s Express Care. “A nurse practitioner can go through your symptoms,” said Compton-Phillips, noting that the organization’s “incredible” telehealth infrastructure has helped handle an influx of queries across 100-plus participating sites.
2. Promote Knowledge Sharing Between Clinics and Employees
With 51 hospitals and 120,000 employees across seven states, Providence teams communicate early and often. A pre-existing partnership with Microsoft offered an edge: “We have an array of tools to manage documents,” Compton-Phillips said. “We have hour-to-hour [coronavirus] updates … information available to everyone in our entire footprint.” Virtual grand rounds for staff are held as new information becomes available.
Additionally, coronavirus-specific updates to the organization’s two electronic health record platforms were implemented to help spot symptoms that necessitate testing and to track new cases. IT teams were able to build and implement an alert within eight hours.
READ MORE: Discover five ways healthcare tech is helping to tackle coronavirus.
3. Leverage Predictive Analytics to Anticipate Workflow and Needs
The arrival of COVID-19 in Seattle, a global business hub, wasn’t a surprise. Using predictive analytics, Providence used relevant data to inform a game plan before any U.S. cases were diagnosed. An analytics tool designed by Providence teams is allowing clinicians to map predictive models of likely new cases and to inform other healthcare organizations.