In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s more important than ever to recognize the vital importance that nurses play in our society today. From attending to patients in need to advising healthcare systems, nurses are a key cog to the functioning of an efficient clinical team.
To celebrate the recent National Nurses Week, we sat down with our own Khrystal Landrum, RN to learn more about how she helps TAGNOS elevate the hospital environment using her unique background as a nurse:
What is your role at TAGNOS?
Khrystal: As TAGNOS’ Clinical Solutions Manager and a former bedside nurse, I apply my clinical experience to help develop adoptable solution offerings that are focused on improving the patient and caregiver experience.
What was your motivation to become a nurse?
Khrystal: Growing up I was curious and inquisitive and always wanted to know why and how things worked. I loved the challenge of learning how all the body systems work together. Being able to apply that knowledge to care for people when they needed it most was so rewarding. As I’ve grown in my career, I find myself gravitating more toward the responsibility of being an advocate. Patients in hospitals are at their most vulnerable and I love making sure they get the care and attention they deserve. To do that I advocate for the nurses that are providing that care, making sure they have the time to do what they love – caring for patients- and hopefully easing some of the administrative burden that seems to land on their plates more and more these days.
How do you provide value to TAGNOS using your prior expertise?
Khrystal: I started my career in adult ICU and was fortunate enough to gain experience in pediatric ICU, ED, and specialty areas such as infusion centers and Interventional Radiology, so I have experience in a variety of clinical environments, most of which were high intensity and required constant attention to detail.
For the last 4 years I’ve worked in product implementations closing the gap between end user adoptability and business needs. All that trend mapping for critical care patients has made it easier to branch into helping build out our analytics tools.
At TAGNOS, my prior professional experience allows me to apply a clinical lens that helps develop their products. I try to put myself in the end-user’s role and approach our solutions with that perspective in mind. I often ask the questions that matter most to the majority of clinical staff: Is this going to have a positive impact on patient care? And Is this going to make my workload lighter so I can focus more on patient care?
How does TAGNOS orchestrate hospital excellence?
Khrystal: I believe TAGNOS takes a lot of the manual workload off clinical staff. By capturing data more accurately and delivering actionable reporting and notifications more efficiently, TAGNOS is able to illuminate what teams/departments are already doing well, as well as where they can improve. In the end, this allows for root-cause analysis from which improvements can be made.
Within the hospital ecosystem, C-Suite leadership is constantly focused on the numbers, meeting the regulations, and increasing revenue while the clinicians just want to take care of patients. TAGNOS helps automates data capture from multiple sources so staff can focus on patient care, while department directors, clinical staff, ancillary staff, patients, and their families are kept “in-the-know” with real-time updates to dashboards and mobile notifications.
How can TAGNOS assist with the COVID-19 pandemic?
Khrystal: I think that TAGNOS can make a dramatic difference for hospitals under stress from COVID-19. In addition to proximity monitoring and hand-washing modules, TAGNOS is also able to automatically notify loved ones and family members as they make their way through the surgical process. Patients that are directed to wait in their cars before triage or being assigned a bed are also notified via mobile when they are ready to be seen. This simple aspect of mobile communications alone can have a great impact on healthcare systems struggling with overcrowded waiting rooms.
With our national healthcare system still under pressure, it is more important than ever to rely on the expertise and skills of our healthcare professionals as we navigate these uncertain times. We look forward to leaning on Khrystal’s unique perspective as we continue to support hospital systems with clinical workflow solutions.