Case Studies
Dr. Calvin Olson, Gastroenterology
Sutter Gould of Modesto, Modesto, CA
The streaMed® Patient Education Solution by wired.MD® has been a time saving tool as well as a source of increased patient satisfaction for Gastroenterologist Dr. Calvin Olson and Julie Snead, RNP of Sutter Gould Medical Group, Modesto, California.
Sutter Gould Medical group is a multi-specialty group with a total of 140 providers including physicians and nurse practitioners located in ten facilities. Dr. Calvin Olson and Julie Snead, RNP at the Sutter Gould of Modesto facility have a weekly total of 40 consults and 15 procedures in two exam rooms and at an associated care center. Olson and Snead have utilized the streaMed Patient Education Solution for a period of eight months. Through Dr. Olson and his staff patients view streaMed videos and receive streaMed handouts from their exam room computers during their encounters.
Traditionally, most patient education at Sutter Gould of Modesto relates to procedures being performed and includes the risks and benefits of those procedures. Prior to streaMed, the education would come from doctor's or nurses's explanation, some handouts from the National Health Organization, or from a small text library. Before streaMed entered the practice, "I would do an individual explanation and my medical assistant would provide a handout to the patient and focus on getting them scheduled for their procedural appointment," said Olson.
Dr. Olson now uses streaMed once he has met with a patient and has determined a particular procedure is indicated. Olson asks patients to view a streaMed video explaining the procedure and leaves a handout of the same information to take home for additional review. When the video concludes, the MA schedules an appointment and answers any clarifying questions. Shannon the MA stated, "The questions patients generate after the video is complete are usually verification questions as they feel the video has made them comfortable. Patients have also reported feeling less anxious about their procedures after viewing the videos again from home.
Julie Snead, RNP illustrates two ways in which streaMed has helped save her time with both her English and Spanish speaking patient populations. Snead stated, "I would say that I would generally spend more time describing a procedure to make sure that they understood what was going on prior to using streaMed. Some patients require slower explanations and I find that the streaMed videos are at the pace that patients need. I try to slow down my explanations to their pace, but now I can simply say, 'Why don't you watch this video and it will give you what you are looking for.'" Snead went on to say, "The biggest time savings for me are the multilingual videos as I used to spend double the time with (Spanish speaking) patients to explain the procedure in Spanish.
Within Sutter Gould they have a significant Spanish speaking patient population and many on staff translators to assist in meeting the needs of these patients. Dr. Olson stated, "I would usually bring in a translator that was either a family member or a nurse from the clinic. The time associated with this was a problem on three levels. First, I had to find the translator, second, I remained presented in the room and third everything had to be said twice." Olson continues, "With Spanish speaking patients it increases the satisfaction tremendously. You can see the light go on. They just feel so much more comfortable with both the visuals and the explanation in their native language." Time savings was one of the factors that both Olson and Snead were looking for upon getting streaMed and have found that their assumptions of how the product would function in their workflow were correct. "I would say with a Spanish speaking patient I am saving an average of 10 to 15 minutes and with English speaking patients I am saving an average of 5 minutes," Olson verifies.
Snead and Dr. Olson both also utilize streaMed for documentation purposes as it has become regimen to record every element of their patient encounters. Olson states, "We document what videos are being shown and the handouts being provided. I do this through my notes, under the plan of my EMR, that a patient has 'visualized a streaMed video on Colonoscopy' and/or patient has 'received a streaMed handout on Colonoscopy.'" he continued, "I tell them specifically that on the handout there is a website address and an Information Prescription® Code that they need to use to watch the video from home; I bring that to their attention."
When asked how streaMed had effected the Sutter Gould of Modesto practice Dr. Olson replied, "It positively effected my practice by giving patients a more supportive explanation. The time that is used for the videos is time that I am traditionally not in the room; the patients come out of the experience better informed and with a better understanding of what is going to happen to them." Olson went on to state that, "The biggest incremental benefit for our practice is in the multilingual Spanish videos, because of the time savings with my patients and the increased satisfaction on their part."
