H
etland ENT was overwhelmed by
its volume of phone calls to and
from patients each day. The
Bismarck, N.D., surgery center
tried an online patient portal, but
only a small percentage of patients opted to use it,
so missed connections were frequent. Also, leader-
ship thought the portal didn't provide the personal
touch of a phone call, so it needed a third option.
Enter the patient-messaging app Hetland ENT
started using in 2018. The results were immediate.
More than 90% of patients — including the older
ones who facility leaders were concerned might
resist — bought in and began using the app. In no
time, Hetland no longer needed two full-time
employees to make phone calls all day.
Fast forward to 2020, when the messaging sys-
tem was no longer considered a mere time-saving
luxury. COVID-19 made it a necessity. Not only
did patients want to know that it was safe for
them to have surgery, but staff needed to ensure
patients didn't have the virus in order to green-
light elective procedures.
"The app has been the easiest way to communi-
cate with our patients during the pandemic," says
Hetland's Facilities Director Stefanie Parker. "We
effectively and efficiently explained what our expec-
tations were of them in terms of knowing whether
they had any COVID-19 exposures."
The facility could tell patients about its new
cleaning and infection prevention protocols, what
the facility was going to look like and how things
were going to be different than what they were
expecting, or had seen in the past.
2 6 • S U P P L E M E N T
T O O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 1
Adam Taylor | Senior Associate Editor
Closing the Communication Gap
Engagement apps help patients and providers get — and stay — on
the same page during the entire episode of surgical care.
PERSONAL CONNECTIONS The ability to text patients and their families is more important than ever in a time when loved ones can't enter your facility.
Surgery
Center
of
Fairbanks
