Dive Brief:
- NYU Langone Health will launch its new children’s hospital and inpatient pavilion June 24, giving doctors and patients access to an array of new digital health tools and what it calls state-of-the art technologies.
- The 160,000-square-foot Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital-34th Street features 68 single-patient rooms, a pediatric intensive care unit, congenital cardiovascular care unit, surgery services and a childrens' emergency department. More than 400 doctors in 35 specialties will provide inpatient and outpatient care.
- The Helen L. and Martin S. Kimmel Pavilion adds 21 stories and 830,000 square feet to NYU Langone’s hospital space and includes 11 patient floors and 374 single-patient rooms.
Dive Insight:
Despite interest in smart room technologies, U.S. hospitals have been slow to adopt them, largely due to lack of capital or the infrastructure to support such prescient innovations. Still, for hospitals that can afford it, smart patient rooms can have payoffs.
IBM and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center pioneered the concept back in 2005 with the idea that such integrated technology would increase workflow efficiencies and enhance patient care and satisfaction. When 131-bed Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital opened in 2015, it offered smart beds that track patients’ movements and interactive systems for patients.
NYU Langone officials touted the pavilion and children’s hospital — representing more than a decade of planning and construction — as “the most digitally advanced new inpatient facilities in the country.”
“We’re extremely proud of technological systems we’ve built and deployed, which are truly first of their kind and represent a step forward for the medical field. Patients expect a digital experience in their daily lives, and now they expect it from their care teams and hospitals,” Nader Mherabi, senior vice president and vice dean and chief information officer at NYU Langone, said in a statement.
Among the new digital technologies are MyWall, which lets patients manage daily needs like ordering meals and viewing entertainment via a tablet. Patients can also learn about their care team and plan and adjust room lighting and temperature.
To free up staff to care for patients, robots will deliver meals, linens, supplies and medications, and dispose of hazardous wastes.
A new management system allows surgeons and other care team members in operating rooms to visualize cases in real-time and interact with pathologists in the lab. Another feature helps clinicians provide better patient care and improve productivity and communication via a suite of digital apps.
There is also an intelligent call system to keep nurses connected with patients and their care team and cut down on response times and errors.