Video visits as a form of family visits in the hospital are slated to continue, some experts assert, as a key method for driving patient satisfaction.
November 4, 2020
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, clinicians at Orlando Internal Medicine were faced with an impossible situation. The organization was going to have to shut down family visits for the sake of patient safety, but leadership knew this was going to tank patient satisfaction.
“We deal with some really sick patients and we had to shut everything down overnight,” Pradeep Vangala, MD, an internist at Orlando Internal Medicine, told PatientEngagementHIT. “It was a very difficult decision, both for us and our patients, as well as families who could not see the loved ones. And then we had a big problem. More of a consequence of that, which is inability or difficulty communicating with family members, which obviously is a really important aspect of the patient care, so that got severely interrupted as well.”
Vangala and his team at Orlando Internal Medicine, which treats patients across the care continuum from acute settings to long-term care to outpatient practice, were not alone in this decision. Data shows that most organizations had to make some sort of change to their family visitation policies as part of the COVID-19 lockdown in March.
Per figures in Michigan, nearly every organization made at least some type of change to family visitation policies. Some organizations limited visitors to only one family member and for only certain types of visits, while others implemented a tight family visitor lockdown.
Anecdotal evidence shows that this was the story across the country, including in Orlando. Vangala and his team began with a strict prohibition on family visitors before opening up to only one visitor per patient. Now in November, Orlando Internal Medicine allows more visitors who are subject to coronavirus screening, donning of face coverings, and restrictions within the physical space of the organization’s hospitalist groups.
But in the beginning, these family visit shutdowns were deeply upsetting for everyone, Vangala said.
“I remember family members would come and visit their families, especially the ones that are there on the first floor, and would literally come and visit the family members through the windows,” he recounted. “But all this comes from the concept of zero harm. You don’t want to do anything that in any way would harm the patient. That is of paramount importance.”
“But it was very heartbreaking and we were really hoping that we could start the family visits back as soon as we could,” Vangala added.
The boom of telehealth would prove to give Vangala and his team the respite they’d been hoping for. Just as video visits were proving essential in continuing patient access to care at the onset of the pandemic, they would also be helpful in connecting patients—and their clinicians—to family members and loved ones while the organization’s doors remained closed.
“If there is a silver lining to the whole COVID-19 pandemic, it’s the advancement in medical technology and the telemedicine platform. COVID-19 really acted as a catalyst,” Vangala said. “And that way we’re very happy because in the short run, we were able to still connect with family members, get patients to connect with family members.”Read More in Original Post Here
