Your medical staff works hard to provide each patient with the high-quality, personalized care that they deserve. As hospitals admit more high-risk patients that require 24/7 monitoring, hospitals need to find new ways to free up nurses and non-clinical staff who are typically tasked with watching these patients. Hospital sitters can help you bridge the gap between your staff’s workload and the consistent quality care you want to give your patients.
A hospital sitter is a trained professional who provides around-the-clock personalized care to a patient, observing their condition, keeping them company, and communicating with clinical staff about their condition throughout their stay. Here’s are a few ways patient sitters can help in your hospital.
Helps Clinical Staff Better Manage Responsibilities
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Your diligent and skilled nursing staff juggle a lot of equally important tasks: monitoring patients’ conditions, administering medicine, helping patients get exercise, completing administrative tasks, handling emergencies, and much more. Having to keep a closer eye on at-risk patients or trying to spend more time with patients who seem lonely can take away from being able to effectively manage all of their responsibilities.
Hospital sitters make these tasks easier to manage because the staff trust that some of their most at-risk patients are being watched over by trained care professionals. This extra assistance allows patients to stay under close monitoring and get more personalized attention, enabling nursing staff to better manage multiple patients and check in on accompanied patients as needed.
Promotes Patient Safety
Your facility may have any number of at-risk patients, such as those with an altered mental state, who may be more likely to self-harm, who have debilitating injuries or are recovering from a serious surgery, or who cannot adequately care for themselves alone. A hospital sitter can monitor an at-risk patient, prevent accidents, and de-escalate dangerous situations, ensuring the patient remains safe during their recovery.
Since they can also closely monitor a patient’s condition, a hospital sitter is able to identify signs of a decline in health and alert the medical staff immediately. This can make getting at-risk patients the emergency treatment they need more efficient.
Provides Reassurance to Loved Ones Who Can’t Always Be There
Your patients’ loved ones may trust your medical team to provide the best care possible, but a hospital sitter can further solidify their trust and comfort in the personalized care the patient will receive. In addition, some patients’ loved ones cannot be at the hospital with them all the time or at all. Hospital sitters help alleviate concerns over a patient feeling lonely during recovery.
Makes Patients Feel More Comfortable During Their Stay
Psychological stress is connected to less efficient recovery and longer hospital stays, both of which can worsen a patient’s psychological state. Hospital sitters sit and talk with their patients, play games with them, and comfort them when their loved ones cannot be with them. These professionals are key to helping patients stay in good spirits and remain mentally and emotionally stimulated, all of which can make a hospital stay and the recovery process more bearable.
Having as much help as possible is vital to ensuring good patient outcomes and maintaining your facility’s effectiveness and efficiency. By contracting hospital sitters, you can alleviate strain on your staff to provide the best possible care and make your hospital a more comfortable and safe environment for more patients.
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