UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital – Patient Technology Technician

UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital, like other hospitals across Colorado and the country, noted an increase in technology integration into the health care space. And while increased technology and innovation routinely allows for improvements in effective and efficient patient care processes, the increased use of technology may also result in the focus and time of bedside nurses shifting towards technology and away from direct patient care.

To address this concern, a quality improvement project was implemented to establish the Patient Technology Technician (PTT) program on three acute care units with the goal being to reduce the time burden of technology for bedside nurses. Tasks not requiring nursing education, knowledge, or training were removed from nursing roles and reassigned to the PTTs, as were responsibilities that did not add value or added unnecessary time burdens.

Some successes for the PTT program include the following:

• Outcomes were assessed by self-reporting of technology time burden.
  • In the pre-implementation survey, 10-14% of bedside nursing staff were somewhat or very satisfied with time spent managing technology.
  • In the post-implementation survey, 92-96% of bedside nursing staff were somewhat or very satisfied with time spent managing technology.
  • In the pre-implementation survey, 64-83% of bedside nursing staff reported often or frequently fixing, managing, or looking for technology.
  • In the post implementation survey, 4-16% of bedside nursing staff reported often or frequently fixing, managing, or looking for technology.

In summary, the PTT program was deemed a success in significantly reliving the technology time burden for bedside nursing staff and this new innovative role is now deployed in all health system hospitals. To learn more about the PTT program, please contact Amy Hassell ([email protected]) at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital.