The three irreplaceable factors to effective patient care are communication, safety and comfort. In order to achieve these three things, it's essential for care teams to have the tools they need to treat patients. Patient room boards are one of these tools, and they can help care teams provide better:

Communication

Communication between patients and care teams is crucial to the treatment process, and it's at the root of every thought and detail we put into our products. From the layout of our patient whiteboards and the information fields included, to the images we use and everything in between, every detail of our whiteboards serves the needs of patients and care teams to help them better communicate.

Studies have shown that the most prominent communication barriers in the healthcare field are:

• Patients and care teams not speaking the same language

• Patient reluctance to communicate (this can be due to shame or many other reasons)

• Patients not understanding the information (particularly health terminology that is being communicated to them)

The unique benefit of using custom whiteboards during treatment is that each board is designed with these barriers in mind. Our InHarmony Changeable Glass boards were created with inserts that can be swapped out when needed (different inserts can have different languages to help treat a diverse range of patients). The vibrant colors and easy to read text provide callouts to important information and health terminology that patients need to understand about their condition, treatment, etc. Having the information communicated verbally while being written down also makes patients more likely to retain any information given to them.

Safety

While communication is crucial to treatment, safety is an absolute must. Patient falls are a persistent problem, and communication boards are an effective solution. Nurses can leave instructions on a patient's whiteboard that cover a patient's fall risk, allowing visitors and other care teams members to understand how much assistance a patient needs when getting in and out of bed, using the restroom or going for a walk. We recommend using color codes to quickly notify people of a patient's fall risk.

A few other safety-related pieces of information that can be placed on whiteboards include:

• Specific dietary restrictions

• A patient's need for glasses, dentures, etc.

• Allergies to medication, etc.

• Transfer instructions

• Bathing, grooming and dressing capabilities

These pieces of vital information must be prominent on a board. Placement, size and color matter, and we can help you layout your board to make it an effective safety tool in your patient rooms.

Comfort

HCAHPS scores are a large concern for hospitals, and how comfortable a patient feels during their stay has a substantial impact on the scores they give. Everything from how safe a patient feels to how well doctors and nurses communicated with them affect their comfort level. Patients who feel safe and well taken care of will not suffer the same levels of anxiety as those who are left in the dark on the details of their treatment.

In order to reduce patient anxiety and make patients feel more comfortable during their stay, it's important to keep them informed on the details of their treatment, the room they are staying in, etc. What are the things that patients want to know about? While each patient is different, there is a general list of things that patients generally want to know. These details make up some of the most common information fields we place on our whiteboards and include:

• The names of doctors, nurses and therapists

• Meal and medication times

• Discharge goals and dates

• Care and treatment plans

• Goals for the day

In addition to information provided by care teams, it's also common practice and very beneficial to leave space on whiteboards for patients to indicate their pain and discomfort levels as well as ask any questions they have about their care. This makes patient whiteboard communication a two-way street that results in the best care possible.

Get in Touch

To start building your communication boards today, get in touch with our team to talk about what you need from your custom whiteboards.