Getting ready for surgery can be time-consuming and stressful: scheduling a pre-assessment, going to the hospital for testing and arriving early the day of the procedure to fill out forms and sign a mountain of consents.
But the process has been easier for patients scheduled for surgery at the Jane and John Justin Tower at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth, because they have the option to slide through the process by completing many of those steps online, from the comfort of home.
“This all started with the Consumer Forums held several years ago,” said Maureen Bottom, director, Patient Access, at Texas Health hospitals in Fort Worth, Azle and Cleburne. “A lot of people talked about automation, wayfinding and making the check-in experience easier. Patient Access had been working on the idea of kiosks, because we saw them in airports and stores. Forum participants indicated that they would use electronics.”
The pandemic pushed the idea along even further, as consumers got used to using technology for virtual medical visits and documentation.
“I don’t know if people would have been ready for this much automation in healthcare a couple of years ago,” Bottom said. “But Texas Health Physicians Group did thousands of virtual appointments, and the vast majority of people coming to our vaccine clinics signed their consents online through MyChart.”
Texas Health Fort Worth, along with other hospitals, does virtual pre-assessments using Doximity to get patient histories, a practice begun during the pandemic. Patients then get an invitation to join MyChart, which allows them to complete their consent forms online.
“After they’ve done their pre-assessment and have come in for their lab work or other testing, they get what we call their ‘golden ticket,'” Bottom said. “It’s a paper that tells them what time to be here and where to go. When they arrive, they go straight to the kiosks.”
The golden ticket includes a bar code that patients can scan to print out their wristband.
“They’re basically announcing they are here for service,” Bottom said. “We finalize the arrival with positive patient identification, then put the wristband on them and show them where to go and where their family can wait for them.”
Assistance is available at the kiosks, she added. Just like at the airport, there will always be someone there, ready to help.
“And, of course, we’ll always have an option for people who prefer to do their pre-assessment visits at Texas Health Fort Worth and fill out their consent forms with us in person,” Bottom said.
The new process makes what can be a stressful time a bit easier, Bottom said.
“We knew we wanted the Justin Tower experience to be different,” she said. “This makes the morning of the procedure go more smoothly. People feel like they’re moving faster, like we’re ready for them.”
The golden ticket is just one way Texas Health is improving the patient experience, said Scott Phillips, vice president, Virtual Care Center.
“We plan to expand this to our other hospitals,” Phillips said. “We’re also looking at other ways to make the process more convenient for consumers. For instance, we’re working on allowing patients to get their pre-procedure testing done at the Texas Health facility closest to them, rather than having to go to the hospital where they’re having surgery.”
Texas Health Fort Worth has started that process already, Bottom said, allowing some patients to get their testing at Texas Health Neighborhood Care & Wellness Willow Park. They hope to add Texas Health Neighborhood Care & Wellness Burleson next. Both the Willow Park and Burleson facilities are departments of Texas Health Fort Worth.
Ultimately it all comes back to focusing on the consumers’ preferences.
“Our goal is to meet people where they are – whether that’s online or in person, at the hospital or at a location of their choosing,” Phillips said. “No one enjoys surgery, but we want to make their experience as seamless and pleasant as possible.”
