Communication and collaboration are critical to the overall success of a SPHM program, but are especially important when selecting, installing, and maintaining SPHM technology. Healthcare organizations are challenged to develop and use a variety of communication systems and tools to inform and engage the healthcare worker. Collaboration among leaders, managers, healthcare workers, ancillary/support staff, and healthcare recipients is woven throughout the ANA SPHM Standards.

Seeking input related to real or perceived barriers can increase healthcare worker engagement in using SPHM technology. SPHM research suggests that barriers are more likely to be resolved if addressed prior to implementation of SPHM programs. For example, Sharon is a part-time radiology technician who works at night, and believes that it is important to mention that the quality of the technology should be considered. She explains that some of the lifts are loud, intrusive, bulky, and aesthetically unpleasing. She knows this firsthand because of her night work and the transfers involved with stat radiologic procedures. Sharon explains that the facility where she works has a “quiet at night” delirium prevention initiative. The floor-based lift technology that was initially purchased was so loud, the nurses and transporters were discouraged from
using it. Sharon restates that quality should be as much of a consideration as price when considering 24-hour use of equipment.

A baseline assessment designed to identify the healthcare workers’ perceptions of risk, pain, and discomfort may help leaders and managers better recognize opportunities to collaborate with healthcare workers in SPHM efforts across units, disciplines, and practice settings by appealing to the healthcare worker’s personal concerns. Colleen Burgio at St. Joseph’s/Chandler Hospital in Savannah, Georgia, explains that an online employee survey has been helpful in better understanding baseline SPHM tasks and use of technology among healthcare workers at her facilities. The survey Burgio uses serves as an introduction to an organizational SPHM technology needs assessment, from the frontline user’s perspective (Burgio, 2013).

Other assessment tools may be helpful, such as a Patient Dependency Assessment or Patient Mobility Assessment. These data are often used to plan technology for an individual healthcare recipient. But consider a point prevalence study, which captures the dependency or mobility status of healthcare recipients on a particular unit. For example, in planning for assistive toileting devices, some facilities recognize that it was not the fully independent or fully dependent patients who were candidates for powered toilets. Rather, it was the partially dependent and partially immobile patients who were best served by this technology. In that case, during planning for equipment, this knowledge helped planning teams understand the number of healthcare recipients who on any one day were partially dependent and partially immobile, and thus a better calculation could be made in ordering such technology. For example, if 50% of healthcare recipients on an orthopedic unit met criteria for this technology and the unit was a 30-bed unit, then one could assume that the planning team would plan to purchase or rent 15 powered toilets. A regularly planned point prevalence survey might be performed quarterly to validate the data over time. Equipment selection and par levels can be an exciting and complex task.

Assessment-based criteria for use of technology, communication for use of SPHM technology, equipment storage, tracking, and maintaining equipment are all essential. Communication is a key element in this process. Common barriers to use of technology include inadequate quantities of SPHM technology, or technology that is difficult to use, incompatible, or improperly cleaned or maintained. Access to SPHM technology is another major barrier. Access issues may result when SPHM technology is located in an inconvenient place or difficult to use due to space restraints. Overcoming barriers requires teamwork across the facility or work setting.

What follows are selected ideas and insights on implementing the SPHM standard on selecting, installing, and maintaining SPHM technology. The ideas and insights are organized by the sets and subsets of the standards that are required by any facility: one specific to your organization as an employer, the other to your facility’s interprofessional healthcare workers. Organizational assessment and creative methods to best test and try out new technology, along with an action plan to introduce and maintain new technology, are part of this section.