Surgical teams at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., have started sending real-time updates to families whose children are undergoing surgery in an effort to improve communication and ease anxiety, FierceHealthIT reports (Hall, FierceHealthIT, 9/6).
The 283-bed hospital began testing the text-message program, called MyCareText, in March and recently rolled it out to all pediatric patients receiving outpatient procedures.
"By providing real-time text updates to families through the surgery, we can communicate more efficiently, and hopefully help alleviate some of their concerns during their time at Children's National," said Rahul Shah, the hospital's medical director of perioperative surgeries (LeFave Grace, Modern Healthcare, 9/5).
According to a hospital release, the service is available in English and Spanish (Children's National release, 9/5).