Jen Foley knows how hard it can be for a patient who cannot verbally express their needs or questions.
The brand manager for Orlando Health had an experience with her father Arthur in 2009 where he woke up from surgery and could not communicate with words. After trying and trying, he stopped and slumped his shoulders.
Foley asked the health care system he was at if it had a chart or another communication device, but it didn't, so she made a simple ABC chart on one side and common questions on the other side, and he spelled out the word "glasses," because he wanted his eyeglasses.
"When family members are in the health care environment and the patient is vulnerable, you are thinking about their health care needs, but this was a personal need," Foley said. "Once we were able to understand him from there, he asked more questions, and we'd fill in the sentences as he wrote the words."
When Orlando Health created its Foundry program — which focuses on taking team member ideas and turning them into products or other innovations — in 2018, Foley submitted an application based on that story and was accepted in the research incubator's second-year cohort.
That led to the Arthur App, an IOS application that can be run off an iPad and is being used throughout the Orlando Health system. The app comes in multiple languages and can be used for conscious patients with conditions like a stroke, ALS or temporary speech impairment from an intubation or other reason.
The app converts text to communication and covers everything from simple needs like a pillow to more complex questions like if a patient will be OK or where their loved one is. The patients also can convey pain levels for certain parts of their bodies and can use a whiteboard to draw items or a keyboard for words.
Carl Pfeiffer, the lone employee for the Arthur App, mentioned that easier communication with employees is helpful, especially for nurses. The incentive to use it is that the app saves nurses time throughout the day, instead of having to ask multiple yes or no questions.
"If you can give them 20 minutes back, the nurse can go to the bathroom, they can have a sandwich or get some water," Pfeiffer said. "What will that do for the nurse? It will make them happier, a lot more fun to be around and provide better care."
Success stories include a stroke patient being able to joke with her family with the app, so they knew she was cognizant. The nurses asked another patient, who was kicking off his sheets, to use the app and found out the patient — who had lost his legs — had pain.
Long term, the goal is to have the app available to patients in their homes. In addition, the team wants to expand the app to other operating systems like Android and mobile phones.
The system is offering limited complimentary access to other health systems that want to pilot and evaluate the app here.
The University of Minnesota highlighted that some of the benefits of good communication in health care include better decision-making and improved team coordination.
Sign up for the Business Journal’s free morning and afternoon daily newsletters to receive the latest business news affecting Orlando.
