Sharing a patient room, not the TV remote
In a hospital room, the TV isn’t just noise in the background. For many patients, it’s company, comfort and a way to feel connected to normal life.
“Especially when we have people here for a long time, it takes their minds off things,” said Danielle Hanson, discharge flow nurse with the post-trauma unit at UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies.
High patient volumes recently required double occupancy in some rooms on the unit. The rooms each have one TV, which would normally mean patients have to agree on what to watch.
Putting patients first, Hanson partnered with patient experience colleagues on a creative solution. Now, each patient who shares a room gets their own digital tablet. With headphones and their own screen, patients can watch what they prefer without needing to compromise.
Hanson knows what it’s like to be a patient on the unit, because she was one – nine years ago, just before she started working there: She was walking on a sidewalk and slipped on some ice, broke ribs and had a collapsed lung requiring a chest tube. She spent about a week on the MCR trauma unit.
“On the unit, I got to meet a lot of nurses and aides, see how they communicated and worked. It was really impressive. Just the culture of the unit was amazing,” she said. “They always made you feel like you were not a burden – like you were their top priority – and made me feel like I was the only person here.”
They had an opening for a nurse, and a couple charge nurses encouraged Hanson to consider applying.
“At first it was a joke, like, ‘I should come work with you guys.’ And they were like, ‘No, really. You should apply,’” she said. “And I did.”
Before the injuries, she worked at UCHealth Longs Peak Surgery Center in Longmont. She was hired to the Medical Center of the Rockies position while on leave and returned to join the post-trauma team, just a few months after they cared for her.
Today, as the unit’s first dedicated discharge flow nurse, Hanson works to help patients go home sooner. She collaborates with colleagues to pursue mobility goals, helping patients build their strength to ensure it is safe for them to discharge. She also champions initiatives to help ensure patients avoid infections.
“Danielle has had an immense impact on our quality metrics, capacity and throughput, patient experience and (the) mobility initiative,” said Austin Erhart, post-trauma nurse manager at MCR. “We all adore and depend on Danielle for our success.”