Seeking Recovery For Addiction
Recovery can often be a lifelong journey. For those who have courageously chosen to seek out recovery, the process may not be easy, and it can have a significant impact on family and loved ones. Addiction treatment is a critical time in someone’s life as they delve into this process, often undergoing stabilization from drugs, alcohol or other related afflictions. Similar to mental health, treatment for substance recovery disorders looks different for every individual. Those who suffer from conditions like depression, bipolar disorder, and substance abuse all require unique therapies tailored specifically to their lifestyle — and the current severity of their condition.
Inpatient vs. Outpatient Treatment
Substance disorder treatment facilities can be inpatient or outpatient, depending on the needs of the patient, and typically incorporate a combination of therapies and medication to help aid in the first steps of recovery. The rise in available treatments for different types of addiction recovery gives patients and their loved ones various to address concerns through a personalized approach.
However, this increasing variety can also cause some confusion among those seeking treatment. Understanding the difference between inpatient and outpatient care, including their respective benefits, can help patients to make the right decision for their recovery journey.
Benefits of Technology
Technology can play a major role in addiction treatment facilities, providing staff with more efficient workflow processes and communication tools. The use of technology in recovery treatment settings can provide daily insights and analytics that help to monitor residents at every stage in their recovery. Reporting on compliance, behavior, sleep, vitals, detox measurements are invaluable to an organization, often caring for several individuals at a time.
Health information technology has emerged as one of the most efficient, cost-effective, and safest alternatives to traditional methods in improving patient safety and quality care. With new technological advancements and a constant evolution of resources, there is an evident rise in healthcare providers investing in technology to better support both the patient and staff experience.
Proactive Rounding in Recovery
One of the most important aspects in addiction recovery treatment is the daily structure it provides. Those in recovery are closely monitored by trained staff who are committed to helping them re-establish healthy routines and habits that are free from self-harm. Rounding practices are common in both inpatient mental health and substance abuse treatment, however, proactive, timely rounding ensures that safety is always a top focus and helps to eliminate opportunity for sentinel and non-sentinel events.
Depending on the addiction, some residents may undergo a detox or withdrawal period, to stabilize their body and brain, which requires a heightened level of supervision from staff and medical directors. When responsible for monitoring these critical patients, staff will increase the frequency of their rounding, to ensure the patients wellbeing and more closely monitor their vitals/detox measurements. Rounding with technology makes for a seamless, streamlined approach to documenting important patient information and supporting staff workflow daily.
Rounding Compliance with ObservSMART
An important component of monitoring vulnerable patients is rounding compliance, ensuring that each required round on a patient is done within the appropriate time frame, and at the appropriate distance. Patients — and the friends and family who care about them — deserve to know that they can trust their healthcare providers to provide the highest level of care with the appropriate amount of supervision.
The ObservSMART solution is the only patient safety technology that supports staff with both rounding compliance and vitals/detox documentation, allowing for customizable time intervals, proximity, and measurement scales to be set by leadership.
Technology is Evolving
No one person’s journey battling addiction is the same but seeking support through an inpatient stay can have a profound effect on what success can look like in recovery. From a patient satisfaction standpoint, the experience providers can offer with the help of technology can create more consistent interactions with staff, allowing patients concerns to be addressed and wellbeing to be prioritized.
From an organizational approach, leaning into new technology will maximize the recovery process, potentially save lives and emphasize the great responsibility staff have in providing quality care. In order to maintain workplace satisfaction in recovery, staff should be equipped with the necessary technology to perform their jobs efficiently and without error.
Learn more about how the ObservSMART technology can improve patient safety, mitigate risk and support staff workflow in complex patient-care settings.