Tech upgrades at UC San Diego hospital give patients more control

A new hospital in San Diego is using iPads and Apple TV to give patients more control of everything from accessing their health records to adjusting the temperature in their rooms.

San Diego Health’s Jacobs Medical Center, which opened in November, started the program to reduce nurse workload and improve patient satisfaction.

In addition to accessing their medical records, patients can use the iPad to control window blinds and adjust the temperature of their room. That means nurses and medical techs are inundated with fewer requests, according to TechRepublic. 

The tech-driven approach keeps patients informed of changes to their health, allowing them to access lab results or find out when their next medication is due, the article notes. As FierceHealthIT has reported, allowing patients to access their medical records can reduce inaccuracies, although some physicians have raised concerns that laws are limiting what information patients can view.  

Using a third-party mobile device manager, the hospital overcame privacy and security concerns by creating a system in which each iPad is automatically wiped clean after a patient discharge without any intervention from the hospital’s IT team.

Recently, hospitals have been integrating mobile devices to assist with patient handoffs and in the operating room, although security continues to be a major concern.