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The pandemic accelerated the adoption of technology for patient care, which has been transformative. This innovative technology supports a more patient-centered approach to care. According to an article published by the National Academy of Medicine, “The evolving digital foundation of a person-centered healthcare system is making it possible to envision a system that is more holistic, centers on the needs of the patient and their support structure, and embraces a longitudinal view of health, wellness, and social equity, in contrast to the mostly fragmented, reactive health care system that currently exists.”

The VP of Clinical Excellence at MDM Healthcare, Linda Robinson, MSN, BSN, RN shed some light on the situation in a recent interview. “I've been a nurse for over 35 years and things have changed considerably. It seems like it has been on the verge of transformation for years, but in a matter of months the pandemic broke down long-standing barriers and it just accelerated healthcare technology at a pace that we could never have imagined, and it was out of survival. We had to be able to track data and take care of patients in a way that we never did before. So, we were forced to make fast strategic decisions to meet demands during the pandemic.”
In this new post-pandemic healthcare landscape, patients' perceptions of technology have changed when it comes to their care. Robinson explained, “All of the new technologies that have happened during COVID have really opened the patient's eyes.” She outlined six areas of transformation highlighted below.

1. Shift to a Patient-Centered Model in Healthcare

The new healthcare model is a consumer-centered model. Robinson explained, “This is the new patient-centered model that drives self-care. These patient-centered models have been around for a while but have not always taken off as well as they should. However, with the use of technology, the patient is more engaged and empowered than ever. The patient is the captain of their care team,” she said. Patients can now use an array of services and apps and other technology to get the information that they need. “That really supports the four core principles of patient and family-centered care. It's going to be designed around the consumer's needs, not the hospital's needs. Hospitals used to be designed around the people that worked inside them now they are designed around the patient,” Robinson continued.
The shift to the patient-centered model is a proactive shift designed around prevention and well-being, rather than a reactive approach. “This is something we’ve been trying to move to in healthcare for years,” said Robinson.

2. The Rise of Telehealth

Many patients tried virtual care for the first time during the height of the pandemic. Most found it to their liking, and now millions of patients are opting for virtual visits. According to a recent McKinsey & Company report, “Forty percent of patients in May 2021 said they believe they will continue to use telehealth in the pandemic’s aftermath. In November 2021, 55 percent of patients said they were more satisfied with telehealth/virtual care visits than with in-person appointments. Thirty-five percent of consumers are currently using other digital services, such as ordering prescriptions online and home delivery.” Robinson expanded on why telehealth is empowering patients. “Patients are searching for answers on Google, and Google is great, but they really should get their health information from their provider because that is the best source of information, and it needs to be tailored to the patient. The information patients need concerning their care is not one size fits all.”

3. Change in Outlook About Data Sharing

Patients are now more willing to share genetic information. In fact, research recently published by PEW found that “81% of adults support increased access to health information for patients and providers and those survey respondents said that “the coronavirus pandemic made them more likely to support efforts that enable data-sharing among a patient’s providers and let people download their personal data from EHRs to apps on smartphones and other devices.” Robinson explained what this shift means about the future of patient care. “This is huge because this is something that patients have classically been very reluctant to do. One of the reasons this is so important is because this supports precision medicine or what I would call personalized medicine,” she said. The goal of precision medicine is to predict, prevent and treat disease, but it does it in a personalized way. “So, they're basically looking at your genetic makeup to find out what your treatment plan is,” Robinson continued.

4. Tech Helps Manage Chronic Conditions

According to a recent study published in the National Library of Medicine, “Innovative technology is central in reshaping chronic care. Technology is improving provider practice and helping patients live more successfully with chronic disease.” Those who are managing a chronic condition are more eager to embrace and see value in new technology. “If you think about these chronic disease patients, most of them are elderly, and most of them see on average more than seven different physicians. Research is showing that rapidly advancing consumer technologies that leverage mobile sensors, geolocation, tagging, personal profiles, and streaming data, illustrate information technology, and it’s really making a difference for these patients,” Robinson explained.

5. Patients More Likely to Switch Providers

Today’s patients are more proactive and empowered about their healthcare and are now more likely to switch care providers than before COVID. Survey data published in February of 2022 stated that 69% of patients would switch care providers to have access to enhanced services. “Classically, patients have gone to one doctor their entire life, and have not changed their physician. However, now they're looking for answers and demanding more. They are knowledgeable consumers, and more likely to switch doctors if they are looking for one who offers virtual visits,” said Robinson. A recent Deloitte article suggests the COVID-19 pandemic forced changes on the healthcare system that will have lasting impacts, one of which is a more empowered consumer. It states, “The public health crisis has called on the system to provide consumers access to care from home, and in some ways, encouraged consumers to have more agency in making decisions about their health.”

6. Advancement of Technology

According to a recent Forbes article, “The emergence of digital technology, including cloud, mobile, and data analytics, is breaking down those barriers and providing richer, more effective, and less expensive patient experiences.” Consumers want a multi-touch, digitally enabled experience, and they're willing to shop for it. Enhanced patient engagement using patient technology also leads to better outcomes and supports health equity. Robinson shed some light on this topic. “We must learn how to expand our thinking and see how technology can benefit the patient and their loved ones. There is a wealth of information and engagement they get with the new technology. It closes those gaps in communication and provides a more efficient, streamlined experience. It does this not only for patients and their loved ones but for doctors, nurses, clinicians, and the healthcare organization.” Technology solutions such as Journey PX’s digital whiteboard, My Day Today and Connect, which allows for virtual visits and rounding, create lean workflows which support nurse wellbeing and aid hospital care teams which are struggling due to the nursing shortage.

Hospital room with beds and comfortable medical equipped in a modern hospital

New technological advancements, changing consumer attitudes, workforce shortages, and the COVID-19 pandemic have all led to a transformation in patient care in recent years. “We're on the brink of the future and it's exciting. "We are in a moment where innovators of technology can broaden their thinking and we can really make strides in every healthcare sector,” said Robinson.

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Listen to the full interview on the PX Space podcast available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.

Hospital workplace violence has been a problem in the healthcare industry for decades, but the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the situation. The VP of Clinical Excellence at MDM Healthcare, Linda Robinson, MSN, BSN, RN has been an advocate for the issue of hospital workplace violence throughout her career. She consulted with other state nursing organizations on healthcare workplace violence legislation. She co-authored a published national workplace violence research study for the National Emergency Nurses Association. Also, she has also been named an ANCC Magnet exemplar, which was obtained for workplace safety violence prevention work. These are just some of her many achievements as they relate to this topic. Robinson sat down with us for an interview to discuss the issue and suggest ways hospitals could combat the problem and move forward to a safer, healthier hospital environment. “I worked in the Emergency Department for many years, and I also worked in the ICU prior to that. Healthcare safety and security really became something that I was faced with early on. When I went to the emergency department, I was amazed at how violent it was, and so I have really dedicated a lot of my career to addressing the issue,” she said.

Incidents of workplace violence against healthcare workers had been on the rise before the pandemic. A report published by the U.S. The Bureau of Labor in 2018 stated that the issue was of growing concern in the industry and that healthcare workers were “ five times more likely to experience workplace violence than employees in all other industries.” This was the state of conditions leading up to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March of 2020. Robinson explained that the stressful working conditions at hospitals were intensified by the pandemic, which ultimately resulted in more verbal, and even physical abuse of healthcare workers. “I noticed the problem when I started at the Emergency Department in 2003, but since COVID, it seems to have just really gotten much worse. A lot of that has been caused by fear of the disease, and stress from the quarantine measures,” Robinson said. Staggering statistics continue to be reported relating to this issue. A recent article published by healthcare research group Press Ganey, revealed more than two nursing personnel were assaulted every hour in the second quarter of 2022. That equates to roughly 57 assaults per day, 1,739 assaults per month, and 5,217 assaults per quarter.

of nurses reported experiencing physical violence (Website)

Robinson noted that hospital violence comes in a variety of forms, all of which are dangerous. “Violence is not always physical. If you have apathy towards verbal abuse you create an environment that is conducive to the escalation of that verbal abuse to physical assault,” she said. Another aspect of the problem is the underreporting of incidents by healthcare workers. In many cases, nurses don't even report incidents of violence. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, workplace violence is a recognized hazard in the healthcare industry, and unfortunately, many more incidents probably go unreported. “Studies show us that 30% of nurses do not report incidents of workplace violence. Nurses believe it’s part of the job. In a lot of organizations reporting is voluntary, so there's a lack of reporting policy,” said Robinson.
Robinson stressed the need for hospital leadership to take action. “If you're in a leadership position where you can advocate for nursing and hospital safety, it is imperative that you do that,” she said. “If a nurse cannot give care or leaves nursing because of an injury or because they don't feel safe, then we're losing good nurses,” she continued.

Many advocates in the industry including Robinson point out that there are no federal laws protecting healthcare workers from this type of violence, and that part of solving the issue is a legislative response. A recent report published by the American Hospital Association (AHA) states, “Hospitals, health systems and their employees have expressed a strong interest in the enactment of a federal law that would protect health care workers from violence and intimidation, just as current federal law protects airline and airport workers. Congress should enact the Safety from Violence for Healthcare Employees (SAVE) Act, which provides protections similar to those that exist for flight crews, flight attendants and airport workers.” In addition to a legislative response, a Sentinel Event Alert, which was revised since the COVID pandemic, was published by the Joint Commission. It created standards for a framework to guide hospitals and critical access hospitals in dealing with violence.

Robinson drew on her expertise as a longtime advocate for the issue and explained that there are several things that hospitals can do to establish safer working environments. “Hospitals need to talk to their staff and give them a seat at the table so that they can be honest about what's happening. Safety is everyone's first priority, and there should be a zero-tolerance policy for violence,” she said. It's very important that we take it seriously and we intervene, and we offer services to staff who have gone through workplace violence incidents,” she continued. Robinson also suggested that hospitals focus on teaching staff how to identify and prevent dangerous conditions in the early stages before the violence escalates and injuries occur. She also suggested hospitals analyze the conditions that contributed to violent incidents after they occur, implement a behavioral emergency response team, educate workers on de-escalation techniques., and invest in security infrastructure.

The Role of Technology and How MDM Healthcare Can Help

Robinson suggested that the innovative use of technology could help improve conditions in the hospital environment, which would also help to reduce violent incidents. “I think that's where MDM comes in and I'll tell you that's one of the reasons I’m there. I'm passionate about patient and family-centered care, and patient experience, but again, I am a passionate advocate for nursing. It's so exciting to be working with technology that can really help give people a better quality of care,” she said.
Technology helps nurses work more efficiently, which is even more beneficial in light of the current nursing shortage. “Nurses can't be everything to everybody. They can't be in that room all the time, they have a number of patients to care for. When you think of patient engagement technology, it provides a lot of information in that room that really helps the patient not have to call out to their nurse constantly,” said Robinson.

Information sharing also keeps patients and families calm by providing them peace of mind. Vital health data can be shared in real-time using Journey PX’s digital whiteboard solution, My Day Today. “The digital whiteboard has a patient’s daily plan of care, everything that's going to happen, and many other important answers to patients' questions. On that digital whiteboard, but then also within that system, there is a whole lot of information about the hospital,” said Robinson. A variety of questions are answered by the patient engagement technology, the technology also allows patients to access services such as meals, housekeeping and entertainment. “It keeps tension down and fosters a more positive work environment, as patients don’t need to call their nurse for everything they need,” Robinson noted. This technology also helps calm the confusion and frustration that can sometimes be felt by a patient's family and care partners as it also keeps them informed.

The sharing of vital information is only one of many technology solutions used in Journey PX, which helps cultivate a more tranquil hospital environment. “Another thing I would mention are the distraction pieces that are available in Journey PX solution My Stay, This solution includes access to calming videos on demand to help patients relax, and a vast library of Hollywood and patient education videos to help keep patients entertained,” said Robinson. Journey PX also allows the hospital to send out vital safety messages to each patient when an emergency takes place, such as a hurricane, tornado, or other crisis. In addition, the technology provides a reminder for patients when visiting hours are coming to a close so they can obtain a visitor’s badge for essential family members if needed. Robinson knows that technology can make a difference in creating a safer environment at hospitals. “Those prompts can go out to every patient at the facility, really transforming the environment,” she said. Keeping patients connected with loved ones and care providers virtually is another technology solution that helps create a more pleasant hospital environment. The Journey PX Connect platform enables video calling for patients, care teams and families. This solution is another example of how technology can help in decreasing a patient's fear and frustrations while in the hospital. “The ability to do that innovatively with a patient engagement technology solution is pretty endless. At Journey PX we ask hospital organizations to provide us with their key quality and safety issues they want to address, and we brainstorm with them and design the solution to meet their needs and to meet their patients and their staff's needs,” Robinson stated.

The issue of hospital workplace violence is complex and combating the problem requires a variety of actions be taken, such as those outlined above. At MDM Healthcare, we are proud to know our technology solutions can help be a part of a comprehensive strategy to address the problem. For Robinson, her passion for this issue and years dedicated to it have been fueled by her love for her patients and fellow nurses. “I always tell nurses this: as far back as 1893, nurse and advocate Florence Nightingale, had the intent to allow nurses the autonomy of purpose to advocate for patients. However, she also said to advocate for the nursing profession, and that's something that frontline nurses, all nurses must do,” she said.

Listen to the full interview on the PX Space podcast available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.

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The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality makes an important distinction: that patient experience is not the same as patient satisfaction (although the concepts are related).

Patient satisfaction focuses on a person’s expectations and to what degree they were met. So, two different people could receive the same care but, because of their differing expectations, can have different levels of satisfaction.

Patient experience, meanwhile, focuses on the interactions they have with the healthcare system: doctors, nurses, and more. These range from the patient’s ability to seamlessly get timely appointments, information, and more. In other words, improving the patient experience is in your control while patient satisfaction is connected to the experience but is filtered through each individual patient’s perspective.

When evaluating your patient experience delivery at your facilities, focus on how well the patients receive “care that is respectful of and responsive to individual patient preferences, needs and values.”

Now, here are six reasons why your facility should focus on patient experience.

#1 The Right Thing to Do
Short and simple! Providing a quality patient experience is the right thing to do.

#2 Better Health Outcomes
Quality experiences can lead to more positive health reports. One study focuses on people hospitalized because of a heart attack—and a year after discharge, they have, on average, more positive outcomes if their patient experience was positive.

#3 Patient Loyalty
Just like with any other type of relationship, patients are more loyal to their healthcare providers when they receive a good experience. One study shows that patients who received the lowest quality of experience were three times more likely to switch physicians than those who received the highest quality.

#4 Staff Satisfaction / Lower Turnover
Healthcare staff don’t want to provide a poor quality experience for their patients. When healthcare facilities provide their clinicians and other employees with what they need to provide better care, they’re more likely to stay. One hospital focusing on improving work-related systems and processes reduced employee turnover by 4.7 percent.

# 5 Reduced Malpractice Rates
One study shows that, as the quality of patient experience drops, the chances of being named in a malpractice suit increases. When using patient-reported scores to calibrate this, each one-point drop in scoring increases the risk of a lawsuit by 21.7 percent. Looked at from the opposite perspective, the risk of a lawsuit drops by that amount each time that satisfaction with the patient experience increases.

#6 People Value Engaging Patient Education
According to a National Research Corporation (NRC) survey, cited by the National Library of Medicine, patients value physicians who explain things well. In fact, that’s the most important criterion for choosing a doctor. Poor levels of patient education can lead to unrealistic expectations—and then dissatisfaction when expectations aren’t met.

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Lack of Physician Time
In a national survey by The Physicians Foundation, only 11 percent of patients felt as though they had enough time in a physician-patient appointment to receive the highest standards of care. (Fourteen percent of physicians said the same thing.) So, on the one hand, 90 percent of patients believe that a solid relationship between a patient and physician is the “most essential element of a quality health care system,” but time is clearly being perceived as a significant barrier.
The solution: interactive patient education.

Components of Interactive Patient Education
Interactive patient education makes educational resources available to patients at their bedsides. This information can be delivered in the hospital as well as in a discharged patient’s home through interactive technologies, and educational materials are targeted to the patient’s specific conditions and treatments.

Interactive patient education is, as the name implies, interactive—and it’s also patient-centric, providing numerous benefits.

Benefits of Patient-Centric Care
Healthcare services that put the patient in the center—such as what can happen when quality patient education technology is used—lead to better informed patients. This, in turn, allows them to better understand their health conditions and treatment options, leading to better decision making by the patient.

Benefits continue from there. People who receive interactive patient education are more likely to consistently follow their treatment plans while being less likely to stop taking their prescriptions. Treatment compliance naturally creates efficiencies that can lower costs for patients and healthcare facilities while reducing provider liability. This can also boost patient satisfaction.

What’s most important to more fully realize these benefits: high quality patient education software.

Journey PX: Patient Education Software
Journey PX solves the problems associated with time-pressured physicians, allowing healthcare professionals to provide premium care by leveraging the power of quality patient education technology. When interactive patient education is readily available, patients can turn to this instead of searching for it on Google. Reliability of information found by surfing the web is uncertain, if not worse than uncertain—with inaccurate information having the potential to harm the person’s treatment.

Interactive patient information found in the Journey PX data, though, is continually updated so it always contains the latest in medical developments. So, when your healthcare facilities use this technology, you can share information with your patients with confidence.

Additional benefits of Journey PX include how it:

Can help healthcare facilities to overcome language barriers: When a patient is unable to understand instructions because they aren’t presented in a language they’re comfortable with, providing quality care can be extremely challenging. To address that issue, Journey PX is available in numerous languages with closed captioning available for the hearing impaired.
provides seamless access to relevant information: Journey PX is easy and convenient to use. Our cloud-based technology makes the system accessible through any mobile device, just about anywhere around the globe. It’s easy to implement in healthcare facilities, and intuitive for patients to use.
Fulfills all of your patient education technology needs
This is a turnkey solution that provides the entire range of interactive patient education needs.

To discuss how Journey PX can help your healthcare facilities to provide world-class education to your patients, please contact us online or call (800) 359-6741.

The issues facing nurses today are something very dear to the heart of Linda Robinson, the VP of Clinical Excellence at MDM Healthcare. Robinson reflected on the concepts of resilience and well-being as they relate to the current struggle hospital care teams are facing. “I have been a nurse for 35 years, and I was at the bedside for at least 28 of those years. I used to think that when the Emergency Department was falling apart and they needed help and they would say, Hey Linda, can you pick up four hours? We're getting killed here, We're diverting to another hospital. I'd say to myself, I can do this, another four hours can’t hurt me,” she said. “Overworked nurses often don't realize that they are putting their own mental health and health at risk,” she continued.

Nursing leaders continue to discuss the concepts of resilience and well-being as they relate to their profession. “Resilience meant to me that I had strength, perseverance, and resolve. It was a never give up kind of word,” stated Robinson, and she emphasized that there has been a shift in the healthcare community towards focusing on the well-being of nurses. Robinson explains the impact of the pandemic in 2020 resulted in the current situation many hospitals are facing today, nursing burnout which has led to a nursing shortage. “The inexperienced nurses at the beginning of COVID hit the ground running, and they're probably still running, wondering, is this really what I signed up for? If you look at the definition of resilience, It's the capacity of a person to maintain their core purpose and integrity in the face of dramatically changed circumstances. The question is how do we move that inexperienced workforce forward? We can not leave nurses behind on an island or hung out dry. They can't be in that room with a full code all alone. They need a team behind them. That team is the hospital, nursing leadership, and management,” she said. The focus now has to be on nurses' well-being.

Robinson believes that the way to positively impact nurses is through leadership, mentorship, and readily available, effective resources. Technology is one resource that can dramatically improve working conditions for nurses, helping to optimize their time and enhance their ability to assist patients and work with their team. “At MDM, our experienced team is dedicated to healthcare innovation and transformation. The power of technology in healthcare settings is most impactful when incorporating clinical nurses, and bedside nurses. We know that nurses are the cornerstone of the healthcare system, and right now they're stretched thin during this unprecedented time, and we want to help support them,” Robinson said.

Journey PX, our patient engagement solution has the capability to support care delivery by leaning down clinical workflows, automating the patient education process, offloading non-clinical tasks, and offering the capability of video connect into the patient room. This reduces exposure while still maintaining that face-to-face personal contact sentiment. We can help save nurses and the healthcare team valuable time and steps during this critical period.

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Sentinel Event Alert published recently by the Joint Commission outlined
Five Key Ways to Support Health Care Workers

1. Foster open and transparent communication to build trust, reduce fears, build morale, and sustain an effective workforce.
2. Remove barriers to health care workers seeking mental health services and develop systems that support institutional, as well as individual resilience.
3. Protect workers’ safety using the National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) Hierarchy of Controls framework.
4. Develop a flexible workforce; evaluate the work being performed and determine if it can be performed remotely.
5. Provide clinicians and others with opportunities to collaborate, lead and innovate.

Listen to the full interview on the PX Space podcast available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.

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We recently sat down with the VP of Clinical Excellence at MDM Healthcare, Linda Robinson to discuss how patient engagement drives hospital quality and safety initiatives. Robinson, an award-winning nurse, has worked in the patient care industry for 35 years. She has done extensive research in the area throughout her career. “When we have patients become active participants in their care, that is when they start to understand what they need to do to get themselves better. I would say to patients, healthcare doesn't just happen to you, it’s happening with you,” she said. Robinson illustrated the idea that humanizing care means empowering, educating, and engaging patients in their care to support the patient experience. “That's bringing humanity into the care at the bedside, and that really helps us drive quality and safety. All those things are fundamentally important for patients today,” she said.

One tool healthcare providers have today to help drive better outcomes and elevate the patient experience is technology. Technology plays a role in helping to empower patients and develop that patient experience, especially as it relates to quality and safety. “The healthcare industry should be open to embracing technology. The rest of the world outside the hospital walls is really embracing technology and hospitals are just now starting to do that,” Robinson said. “What I think is really exciting is that technology has the ability to be in that patient room. Even when the healthcare staff or the clinicians are not. So, it can help personalize, humanize, and demystify the healthcare experience because that information is in the room in real-time and at their fingertips,” she continued. She further explained that while technology is an amazing tool for healthcare providers when it comes to dealing with patients, it should be intuitive. “Technology should be very simple to use. A patient should not have to learn how to use something in the room when they’re sick and frankly overwhelmed. It should be as easy as working a television remote,” she said.

One type of technology that is changing the landscape for acute care facilities is digital whiteboards. A digital whiteboard, unlike the grease board on the wall, is kept up in real-time, and it's there for the patient to view throughout the day. Digital whiteboards connect with hospitals' EMRs and are updated in real-time which provides vital information to hospital care teams, patients, and their families. Robinson explained how digital whiteboards are used to enhance the patient experience and drive better quality and safety outcomes. “When patients go to the hospital so many times, they don't know what's going happen. They think: I don't know, nobody tells me anything. Technology can help us hard-wire bedside shift reports. Every patient should get a bedside shift report. They are one of the biggest drivers of quality and safety. Patients can be assured that the technology the digital whiteboard displays in their room is going to be up to date. They can see tests that are ordered, activities that they need to do, and the goals that have been set for them,” she said. Digital whiteboards also provide patients and their families with key information and answers to any questions they may have. This information at their bedside comforts them, keeps them informed, and really transforms their care. It’s a win-win situation for both patients and hospital care teams as Robinson explains, “These technology tools help drive quality and safety from a patient's perspective, but then also from a healthcare provider's perspective.”

Technology is now allowing patients to become more empowered by getting educated on their conditions. “Delivering information in a timely manner in digestible bites for the patient at home, and at the bedside really makes a difference in their care. It not only drives health literacy, but it increases outcomes. It also keeps hospital costs down,” said Robinson. Robinson described how the technology works. “Let's say a patient comes into the hospital and, upon admission, there is a screening for a fall. So, a fall score is done, and the patient has a high fall risk. As soon as that is documented within the EMR, a video about preventing falls in the hospital can automatically be sent to that patient. That patient then gets a prompt on their television set that says: “you've been ordered a video about your health. Would you like to watch it now, or would you like us to remind you later?” The patient can watch it now by pushing 1 on their pillow speaker or remote, whatever is in the room for them to use for their television or they can say, remind me later. If they say, remind me later, it can be customized to remind that patient,” she explained. One of the biggest benefits of the technology used in Journey PX solutions is that they provide care facilities with a better means of exchanging vital information in real-time. “It's closing gaps in communication, and we know that when we close gaps in communication, it improves clinical outcomes. It keeps them safe, and it drives quality within their care,” said Robinson. “You're giving them the information they need and that's how trust is built, and that's what has them coming back to your organization as well,” she continued.

Listen to the full interview on the PX Space podcast available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.

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Assessing the Situation

The American College of Nursing reported a concerning problem for the healthcare industry, a nursing shortage which began prior to 2017 but was further impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Linda Robinson, the Vice President of Clinical Excellence at MDM Healthcare, has been a nurse for over 34 years and went back to work as an experienced nurse during the pandemic. She states,

“Truly the profession I have worked in for 34 years is forever changed. During the pandemic, healthcare workers were dubbed by the media and the community as superheroes. However, the reality was much harsher. The COVID-19 pandemic left healthcare workers, especially nurses, feeling bruised and battered. I saw it many times when I was working during the pandemic, I heard it, I felt it, and I can tell you many of them did not feel like heroes. They felt like they were coming to work and they were fighting an unwinnable battle and they couldn’t escape it.”

Recent research from a national survey of nurses conducted by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) reveals that during the past few years, “the health of nurse work environments has declined dramatically.” The report indicates that among many key factors, nurses have perceived a decline in communication and collaboration in their work environment and appropriate staffing (the right number of RN staff with the right knowledge and skills) to be major concerns. It states, “The impact of this further decline in the appropriate staffing of nurses is likely to have long-standing effects on nurse well-being and patient safety if not corrected expeditiously.” The study also reveals a dramatic decline in how nurses rated the quality of care in their organizations and work units.

The Experience Complexity Gap

Robinson states that the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated an already difficult problem. “Nurses started leaving the workforce in very large numbers. We had experienced nurses leaving due to burnout. New nurses were entering the workforce, and they were unprepared for the intensity of the pandemic. The mentors were not available, and new nurses didn’t have the advantage of the new hire training and preceptorship that they normally would have received. Many times, these new nurses were put right on COVID floors to take care of COVID patients, and they were just simply unprepared for that. Because of all this, we saw a worsening in the experience complexity gap, which is really the heart of the nursing shortage.”

Robinson referenced solutions outlined in the framework to optimize healthcare performance, which was developed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in 2007 and recently revised. Robinson explains what used to be the triple aim to improve healthcare system performance, a framework built around reducing costs, improving population health, and patient experience, has now evolved to the quadruple aim, to include healthcare team well-being into the framework.

Bold Changes

The new healthcare landscape with all of its challenges is transforming rapidly in healthcare,” said Robinson. She referenced a study recently published by McKinsey & Company on retaining the healthcare workforce. It states, “Organizations may consider how to leverage digital tools and adapt care models. Although the experiences of 2020-2021 have impacted every profession, few have been more impacted than the nursing workforce. The trauma and moral distress of the past years have exacerbated work force vulnerabilities, but also provide a unique opportunity to accelerate changes (for example, technology-enabled care models) and make bold investments in what the future of nursing could look like.”

Robinson suggests the future of nursing rests on transforming care delivery models and leaning down clinical workflows for healthcare teams, which can be accomplished today using new technology.

“Largely nurses were underappreciated, and I think it’s come to the forefront from the pandemic. We really must take care of our nurses and ask ourselves: how are we helping them with work-life balance? Also, how are we helping them with workflow optimization? That’s something that we work very diligently on at [MDM Healthcare’s cloud-based patient experience platform] Journey PX because we really want to be that partner that helps lean down nursing, clinician, and provider workflows. Our goal is to help them do what they do better and give them the ability to have a presence in the room, even if they’re not actually in the room.”

The McKinsey study suggests these changes would be embraced by nurses and patients alike. It states, “As hospital systems contemplate new ways to embed virtual elements into nursing workflows to improve safety, quality, and efficiency, they are likely to find an enthusiastic workforce. Roughly two-thirds of frontline nurses are interested in providing virtual care in the future.”

The study also suggests that the impact of technology has the capacity to help change care delivery models will result in reducing the need for nurses. It states,

“for every 1 percent expansion of capacity, created through changes in care delivery models, technology-enabled productivity tools, or alternative sites of care settings for patients, the number of nurses needed would decrease by about 25,000.

As the healthcare industry recognizes the need for change and embraces technology solutions, there is some renewed hope that hospital care teams can recover from the challenges they have faced in recent years.

“Nursing truly is a calling. They’re at our sides at birth throughout our lives, during illness, hardship, and even death. We really have to hold onto our nurses and take care of them,” says Robinson.

Listen to the full interview on the PX Space podcast available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.

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Listen to the full interview on the PX Space podcast available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.

Linda, you have over 34 years of nursing experience in patient- and family-centered care, and patient engagement technology. You’re an accomplished national speaker and among your many awards, you have been recognized as the ANCC Magnet Nurse of the Year and the recipient of the Healthcare Hero Award from the Cincinnati Business Courier. How have you used your incredibly accomplished background to help develop the Journey PX platform?

I started working in patient engagement technology when I was working as the administrator of a program called Partners in Care at a large hospital system in Northern Kentucky.

I had been tapped to do some research on patient and family-centered care for the facility, and after looking at all the findings from the research, I was then asked to be the administrator of patient engagement solutions. I found out very early on that you really needed to combine the two because the patient engagement technology was only going to assist [with patient and family-centered care.]

When I started working in the field of patient engagement technology, I was very successful at driving utilization of the system, and I think it's because we really personalized care, and worked very closely with patients and families.

One of Journey PX’s missions is to elevate the patient experience. How has the JPX team developed the product along those goals?

Often, I would think what's most important to the patient is what I thought was most important to the patient. However, many times I was incorrect.

It's not always what's the matter with the patient, but it's what matters to the patient. We really need to let the patients and their families be our guides. So that's something that I brought with me to MDM, seeing the possibilities of what technology can do and the difference it can make for that patient. So, personalizing, humanizing, and demystifying that healthcare experience for them. Many times, patients are in their rooms alone. They're frustrated, scared, tired, and overwhelmed. What they need is information. Therefore, one of the first things that I worked on with the team at MDM Healthcare was to make sure that the Journey PX solutions were intuitive. [Journey PX solutions] provide that source of information that comforts the patient.

Can you explain how the JPX product has aided in the interoperability of hospital care teams and why that goal is so important?

In addition to focusing on in-room solutions for the patient, we also focus on providing clinical efficiencies for hospital care teams.

I think every nurse is passionate about being an advocate for the patient, but we also must be an advocate for our profession. Coming out of this pandemic—even before then—there's been a nursing shortage. Now in 2025, they're saying the nursing shortage could be down 250,000-400,000.

We have got to adopt some technology to help us do what we do to support patient satisfaction and to support our quality and safety initiatives. Journey PX helps support those initiatives.

Nurses need that extra hand. They need something that helps them do what they already do, but even better, and save them some time. At MDM, we focus on clinical efficiencies—whether it's clinical workflows at the bedside or within the hospital’s electronic medical records.

Can you explain why in-room, patient-focused technology is so essential for patient care today?

Humanizing care in a virtual way is something that we focus on at MDM Healthcare. I went back to work as a nurse during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and I can tell you it was chaos. If you worked in bedside care, you were covered with two N95 masks and a surgical mask over that.

We had nurses bringing in baggies with their cell phones inside because patients couldn't see their families and many patients died without seeing their families and their family seeing them. We want to make sure that no patient ever has to die alone. The Journey PX cloud-based solution provides a way to connect people virtually through a secure connection via their television set. If patients just want to reach out and talk to their family and connect that way, they can with the Journey PX Connect solution. Psychologically, that does so much for a patient, it provides so much support.

Another example is our digital whiteboard, which we call My Day, Today. So whiteboards are the boards in the rooms, they're the grease boards that we nurses put our name on and we put some facts on there. Unfortunately, many times those boards are not updated, and patients aren't given updated information in real-time. Our digital whiteboards provide up-to-date information, most of it flowing straight from the hospital’s EMR. The My Day, Today solution provides information that’s personal to the patient, education that's specific to them, and relevant information, which keeps them interested. It also gets them ready for discharge.

I'm extremely excited about what I've been doing with MDM Healthcare. I feel that we are on the cusp of the future with our product, which is exciting. It’s been great to be part of a team that brings years of expertise and research to the table to help develop Journey PX.

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