Healthcare systems are struggling to protect staff while providing care and comfort to COVID patients. Properly managed, voice assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant can help.
Specifically, hospitals are trying to keep COVID room visits to a minimum and make clinicians more effective when they are in isolation rooms like those used for infected patients. This lets workers reduce exposure to the virus and avoid having to continually take on and off gloves, masks and gowns. They’re required to wear such Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) around COVID patients, but it’s time-consuming — and PPE is in critically short supply.
Once in an isolation room, clinicians are frequently cut off from the rest of the hospital. Gloves keep them from using their mobile phones and they’re trying not to touch regular telephones or “pillow speakers” -- the TV-remote-like devices attached to the bed. Some are resorting to workarounds like baby monitors or writing on whiteboards to show through a window.
Voice platforms like Aiva use voice assistants and mobile technology to help clinicians in a few different ways:
- Smart routing and context. When a patient simply says what they need, Aiva understands and instantly routes their request to the most appropriate caregiver, providing full context on what’s being asking for. This cuts down on trips into the room because providers already know what’s needed and can often deliver it in a single visit.
- 2-way communication. When they receive patient requests, a nurse can respond immediately. This reassures the patient they’ve been heard, but it also lets the nurse address many requests quickly and remotely, saving room visits for more urgent needs. Nurses can also save visits by proactively sending voice messages into the room, like alerting the patient that their doctor is on the way or that it’s time to take their medication.
- FAQs and patient education. Many nurse visits are simply to answer a question or deliver information like medication side-effects or discharge details. At a time when clinicians are stretched to the limit, Aiva can supplement their efforts by delivering these types of information instantly upon patient request or on a scheduled basis drawing from their health record.
- Smart Room controls. Nurses spend a surprising amount of time helping patients turn on and off lights, adjust the temperature, open blinds and operate the TV. Aiva enables patients to control all of these devices with just their voice, so nurses can focus their visits on more urgent patient needs.
- Staff-to-staff requests. When they’re in an isolation room, clinicians can use Aiva to communicate hands-free with other staff on the floor or around the hospital, like asking for a respiratory therapist or more supplies. This speeds up response time and lets them get more accomplished in a single visit.
America’s hospital workers face unprecedented challenges caring for an increasing number of COVID patients. Please reach out if you’re interested in discussing how voice platforms like Aiva can protect your clinicians while improving patient well-being.
