NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens Enhances Patient Experience With LG Smart TVs & TeleHealth TigrPX Software

New interactive platform puts patients in control of their entertainment and health education while helping deliver personalized care.

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NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens has embarked on a journey to improve patient experiences by installing new LG Smart TVs in each patient’s room. The new TVs deliver a personalized welcome message and easy access to information and services at its facility in Jamaica, New York.

“We took on a challenge that is now bearing tangible results,” said Dean Mihaltses, Queens hospital’s interim CEO, in a press release of the project that began three years ago. “What started as an upgrade of our TV service turned into much more. Now we can offer patients important education, too, and continually enhance their comfort and overall hospital experience through new technology.”

When NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens began its journey, it had been taking an analog, low-def satellite TV feed and distributing it to old-fashioned CRT TV sets in patient rooms.

Today, the hospital has a network of about 250 high-definition smart TVs from LG Business Solutions USA, integrated to communicate over the facility’s existing coaxial cable infrastructure and running TigrPX patient-engagement software designed and implemented by healthcare TV solutions provider TeleHealth Services.

Greg Mahabee, Manager of Special Projects, Department of External Affairs, said in a press release, “We knew if we could create a quality platform that’s easy to use and puts patients in control, they’d be more comfortable. And what works here in Queens can eventually be used across our entire hospital system.”

The NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens solution is built around the latest UL-hospital-listed LG 32-inch Pro:Centric health care TVs (model 32LT662M), designed to work with most pillow speakers, including with the hospital’s new Curbell Medical models supplied by TeleHealth Services, and run TeleHealth’s TigrPX system using their built-in LG webOS software.

 

Digital Education

NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens adopted 32-inch flat-panels HDTVs based on room dimensions to help patients clearly and comfortably see everything on-screen.

The team at TeleHealth Services integrated RF distribution technology with all the TVs so they could receive not only entertainment channels from the new Spectrum TV cable head-end, but also the digital education and information content delivered through TigrPX over the hospital’s network.

“We recommended the LG TVs because they’re designed especially for healthcare and are ideally suited for running our interactive platform without any extra media devices,” said Jim Stratos, TeleHealth Outcomes Manager overseeing the NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens rollout, in a press release. “Our system runs on the hospital’s data backbone then jumps off, if you will, and makes that last stretch to the in-room TVs over coaxial cable. So, we didn’t have to run wires or open ceilings and we could install the system safely, under challenging circumstances, without disrupting patient care.”

The new pillow speakers enable patients to operate the LG hospital TVs and TigrPX system.

TeleHealth Services programmed an intuitive, tiled home screen giving users access to TV content, hospital information, such as pharmacy hours, locations and more, a set of programmable preferences and a catalog of patient education.

The TigrPX System

The TigrPX system interfaces with the hospital’s admission, discharge, and transfer (ADT) system to identify who is in each room, and they communicate back and forth with nurses’ station computers so staff can assign appropriate content to each patient and monitor whether they watch it.

When the system launched in October 2020, TeleHealth had built a library of about 250 education videos in English and Spanish, as well as with closed captions. Today, the content library has doubled.

“One of the best things is that the system is flexible and allows us to produce our own videos,” said Marzya Sdrewski, Associate Executive Director of Operations at NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens, in a press release.

The hospital’s content library already includes important patient information about COVID-19. “Previously, there would be lots of information to give patients just as they were leaving the hospital,” Sdrewski said. “Now, with the new interactive TV system, we have a chance to start educating them much earlier. We can schedule videos based on their prognosis, including content that helps reinforce prescribed treatment or medications they should be taking. There are even videos to help them relax.”

Improved Patient Satisfaction

The nursing staff has embraced the LG hospital TVs and TigrPX system because the solution helps them deliver personalized care to more patients.

The hospital’s patient satisfaction scores have already improved, and early indications are that patients enjoy and use the system, so nurses know people are getting the health education they need.

Ultimately, nurses may spend more time treating patients and less time going over important information since the patients are now able to use the LG/TigrPX solution to watch and comprehend the material.

“With COVID, going into certain patient rooms can take extra time. We have to gown up and put on PPE, if necessary,” said Sherley Gebara, Associate Director of Nursing at NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens in a press release. “The new system helps us improve our workflow and enhance the care we give patients.”

Looking ahead, NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens is planning further enhancements with its LG-based TigrPX solution. Plans are underway to integrate it with the hospital’s electronic medical records system, enable patients to request services via the interactive TVs, and expand the education library to include videos in more languages.

The hospital also plans to install LG TVs in more care spaces, including its ambulatory surgery unit, cancer center, post-anesthesia care unit and other locations.

“The LG hospital TVs and TeleHealth TigrPX solution give our patients different ways to educate themselves without nurses handing them a whole bunch of information,” said Sdrewski. “Some are visual learners; some are auditory learners. I’m looking forward to after COVID when more patients can sit with family members and watch videos together and ask pointed questions about their care.”

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