NORTHRIDGE, Calif., Nov. 13 /PRNewswire/ — Northridge Hospital Medical Center (Northridge) credits TeleHealth Services’ TIGR on-demand education system as “the cornerstone” for the organization’s recent awards and top accreditation, all of which reflect Northridge’s commitment to ensure patient comfort as its medical experts provide superior levels of service excellence.
A 411-bed not-for-profit acute care facility located in Northridge, CA, Northridge recently announced it had earned the Gold Seal of Approval(TM) from The Joint Commission. Additionally, it has won 19 Avatar International awards for service excellence this year. TIGR played an integral role in more than doubling the service, quality of care and patient education scores.
“Our TIGR system serves as the cornerstone for our facility’s drive for exemplary service,” said Ruth Gonsoski, Perinatal Program Manager at Northridge, about the TeleHealth Services System. “Our on-demand education system provided the platform for winning all 19 Avatar awards for service, quality of care and patient education excellence throughout the hospital. Since the implementation of our TIGR system, our Obstetrics unit specifically won the award for the most improved unit for exemplary service in 2007. This was the only obstetrics unit recognized out of 283 hospitals considered for the award.”
Since the TIGR rollout four years ago, Northridge’s Obstetrics unit has experienced the largest jump in service scores within the hospital.
TIGR Exceeded Expectations
When Northridge, long known for revolutionizing healthcare, began looking to adopt an interactive patient education solution, their intent was to provide improved customer service and patient care while adding efficiency to clinical workflows. After a review of options, Northridge chose TeleHealth Services, the leading U.S. provider of interactive patient education systems, as its partner in patient education. TeleHealth’s TIGR system exceeded Northridge’s patient education needs, providing workflow efficiencies that allowed Northridge to develop and implement custom educational content. TIGR was the only platform that offered a three-tiered integrated solution for future expansion of the system. TeleHealth’s support, maintenance and financing services provided ancillary services that Northridge coveted in a business partnership.
The TIGR System assisted the unit with additional educational resources, and a greater assurance that mothers and newborns have the best opportunity to achieve the most successful conversion from the hospital to the home environment. Northridge also developed custom content that was implemented into the system on topics helpful for the transition. The evidence-based educational content included information to encourage and educate mothers about breastfeeding their infants, a growing state initiative within the information about effective neonatal care.
According to Gonsoski, in the four years since the TIGR System was introduced at Northridge, patient satisfaction scores for the Obstetrics unit have doubled due to the system’s ability to better empower the patients during their recovery process. This marked increase in patient satisfaction and “five-star” rating for high standards of patient care was accomplished by utilizing TIGR’s video content as a portion of their overall educational efforts.
Additionally, the TIGR System assisted Northridge in focusing on strategic objectives for operations and staff retention. The TIGR system exponentially enabled workflow improvements not previously possible, such as allowing nurses and clinicians to be able to spend more time at the bedside for patient interaction about their conditions. This reduction in non-clinical requests allowed clinicians to more thoroughly educate patients, reducing the probability of re-admissions. These efficiencies increased the hospital’s reputation of being a trusted provider of health information and services in the community.
TeleHealth Services Senior VP and General Manager Dan Nathan said, “Northridge Hospital Medical Center shares our commitment of educational achievement. Our partnership benefited greatly from exchanging information and ideas, and jointly addressing best practices to achieve increased levels of care and educational excellence. By partnering with facilities on regulatory standards and educational efforts, our TIGR system can facilitate large gains in service excellence while minimizing non-clinical workloads.”
About TeleHealth Services:
TeleHealth Services, headquartered in Raleigh, NC, is the nation’s leading provider of integrated communications solutions for the healthcare market: bedside access to entertainment, education and services; patient and staff video-on-demand education systems; hospital-grade televisions and accessories; education and entertainment content; system installation, maintenance and financing services. TeleHealth Services is a division of Telerent Leasing Corporation, which has been headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, since its founding in 1957. Telerent itself is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ITOCHU International, Inc., a U.S. company based in New York City and Global 500 corporation.
For more information on TeleHealth, call 800-733-8610, or visit at http://www.telehealth.com/.
Contact: Matt Barker Director of Marketing TeleHealth Services 919-772-8604 [email protected]
TeleHealth Services
CONTACT: Matt Barker, Director of Marketing of TeleHealth Services,+1-919-772-8604, [email protected]
Web Site: http://www.telehealth.com/
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