Spring 2010 - Arkansas Children's Hospital

EDUCATION
CareHub System
Is Transforming Hospital
Experience for ACH Patients
CareHub, a communication, education and
entertainment system available in each
patient room at ACH, provides education
opportunities and entertainment options
for patients and families.
Haley Curtis, a patient at ACH, enjoys using CareHub, a communication,
entertainment and education system placed at each patient’s
bedside in the hospital.
■ Kila Owens
Haley Curtis is used to being in the hospital.
As a cystic fibrosis patient, Haley has been visiting Arkansas
Children’s Hospital for several years. And she always thought her visits
were a little…boring.
“Let’s face it – being in the hospital isn’t fun,” she says. “But if there
wasn’t anything good on TV, and if a gaming system wasn’t available,
there just really wasn’t a lot to do.”
That all changed in 2007 when ACH introduced CareHub, a customdeveloped
communication, entertainment and education system placed
at each patient’s bedside.
The project was initiated by the hospital’s Education Council, which
includes representatives from several areas of the hospital, as well as
patient families. The council brainstormed ideas and worked with the
ACH information technology department to make the system a reality.
“For families who haven’t experienced it, it’s difficult to understand
how isolating a prolonged hospital stay can be for a child,” says Penny
Ward, nursing director of the ACH Adolescent Unit. “For these young
people, being removed from everyday contact with peers and families is
a great challenge. Today, kids are completely ‘hooked up’ – to the
Internet, to gaming. We needed to meet those needs because a hospital
stay can feel like an eternity.”
The project was piloted in the Adolescent Unit of the hospital and
rolled out hospital-wide six months later.
With a parent’s permission, CareHub allows patients and families to
communicate with family and friends back home. Also, patients can chat
online with other patients in their hospital unit, essentially forming a
mini-support group. Through CareHub, each patient has access to the
Internet, so patients and parents can send emails, correspond with work
or update patient websites.
CareHub also contains entertainment features such as an Xbox 360
gaming system and movies, games and music available on-demand.
Previously, gaming systems were shared between patients, which required
extensive cleaning after each use, due to infection control issues.
“The CareHub system far surpasses any other system of its kind,” says Dr. Chris
Smith*, associate medical director at ACH. “From entertainment to communication
to education, the system has had a positive effect on how kids view their time in the
hospital.”
CareHub helps ACH patients learn more about their disease or condition – both
during and after their stay in the hospital. Patients and families can access educational
videos through CareHub while the child is an inpatient at ACH. For patients and
parents dealing with new diagnoses, educational videos can improve their understanding
of the disease or condition.
Once they leave the hospital, patients can access videos and information available
on CareHub from their home computer through the ACH website.
“The external access to CareHub is a huge extension of our education plan,” says
Ward. “There is great support for patients while they are hospitalized, but they could
only take written material home. Access to education from home is very valuable
because needed information can be shared with others, such as the babysitter or
next-door neighbor, so they can know how to properly take care of these kids.”
Physicians also use CareHub to educate patients and families. Once a doctor
swipes his or her identification badge through a card reader for verification, he or she
can access patient records, x-rays and other medical information directly at the
patient’s bedside.
“Young patients are very visually oriented,” Ward says. “When you are talking to
adolescents and can pull up a picture of their lungs right there, it has a great impact.
This encourages patients to be involved in their own care.”
The placement of CareHub units in all patient rooms in the hospital has been a
great success.
“Connecting patients and families to the outside world, providing them with
entertainment options and teaching them more about their illness has really changed
the patient experience at ACH,” says Dr. Smith. “CareHub will continue to expand
to meet the needs of patients and families.”
CareHub has the stamp of approval from patients, including Haley.
“Being in the hospital is not like being in a five-star hotel, but CareHub definitely
makes being in the hospital a lot less boring,” she says.
*Chris Smith, MD, is associate medical director of ACH, medical director of the
PULSE Center, and vice chairman for education, associate professor of pediatrics
and director of hospitalist service, UAMS College of Medicine.
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