Case Studies
Cheryl Warren and Mary Riley, Health Educators
ValleyCare Health System, Pleasanton, CA
Cheryl Warren and Mary Riley of the ValleyCare Health System's Ryan Comer Cancer Resource Center, located in Pleasanton, California, believe that wired.MD's streaMed Patient Education Solution is going to fill the gap between medical texts written for health care professionals and the one-on-one consultation offered by health care providers.
ValleyCare Health System's Ryan Comer Cancer Resource Center, named for a local student who passed away after not receiving a then controversial bone marrow transplant, was gifted money raised by Ryan's mother and the community, intended for Ryan's treatment. In fact, the library of this small community hospital, which provides care to San Jose and San Francisco, receives grants for the majority of its tools. The library currently has six publicly accessible computers, including one multimedia computer used by staff members for burning CDs.
This hospital library has 6000 cataloged items including models, journals, VHS tapes, DVDs, and search databases such as Health and Wellness Resource Center and MdConsult. They also run streaMed on two computers; one in their media center and the other in the resource center. Resource center managers Cheryl Warren and Mary Riley, RN have noticed technology trends moving away from VHS, which they believed would be costly for them to replace. streaMed, however, actually saves money because VHS tapes are expensive to keep updated and families often forget to bring them back, creating a loss to the library. With streaMed, families can watch videos at the hospital or in their own homes as many times as they like.
Cheryl Warren believes "another benefit of streaMed is the concise format of the videos. Patients get the information they need without being overwhelmed with outdated material."
When asked about the range of video selection Ms. Warren states, "For us the patient is the catalyst in relationship to which video titles are chosen. wired.MD has a number of titles I can't find with other vendors, such as 'Dry Eye Syndrome'. wired.MD also deals with orthopedic procedures, like Hip Replacement, which benefit our aging patient population. We also have various support groups whose coordinators direct any newly diagnosed patients to watch the videos."
At the resource center, patients are encouraged to watch videos both at the onsite library as well as at home. Time spent watching videos allow staff time to gather handouts and additional information for the patient to bring home. "This is a good way to make sure that they get information in a steady flow...starting with the video and then moving them onto articles and into journal searches," says Ms. Warren.
The resource center's large group of Hispanic patients that utilize the library has also made streaMed a necessity. "wired.MD has the best selection of Spanish handouts; the language keeps within the literacy levels of the patients. We provide the handouts just after the video is played," states Warren. "I am hoping that streaMed is going to be the solution to VHS and DVD for us. People want fast and concise information and we are a visual society. I would rather take my book budget and put it into streaMed, as I have been impressed with the handouts and the videos. As we move forward people are going to move toward this type of patient education with visuals and print vs. a book format that is often lengthy and too jargon-filled," tells Warren.
streaMed strives to provide information to patients in the most concise and direct format. With so much information readily available on the web it is hard to know what to trust. Besides, most people don't have time to sift through so much information to find what they are looking for. "Within the resource center we are filters for information. We can't make decisions for people or diagnose them. But the more we listen to people and get an idea of their learning style the better we can get the information they are looking for. The videos save time because the information is concise, the visuals make it easy to understand and the graphics make the patients feel so much better about what to expect. This product frees up our time to spend with other patients," says Warren.
Warren concludes by saying, "wired.MD is a company that stands behind their product. They have always been available to walk us through the technology. I believe that of the various products we have looked at, wired's videos are of the highest caliber that people are coming to expect. This is a great product and I truly feel this is the direction that patient education will be moving in the future."
