How Remote Sitters Interface with Onsite Staff

With MedSitter, a singular virtual sitter can observe up to ten patients at a given time; and by leveraging a series of technological innovations the sitters can communicate seamlessly and securely with individual patients and with onsite nursing staff.  

Remote observation provides hospitals with both staffing support and flexibility. Hospitals have the operational freedom to place their sitters either onsite within the facility, centralize at a multi-facility observation hub, or opt to leverage our supplemental MedSitter+ Staff service. In all cases it is vital to ensure that effective communication can be established between those performing the observations and the clinical team providing in-person patient care. MedSitter leads the market with our communications tools and capabilities.  

The ultimate goal of remote monitoring is to help prevent adverse patient events, like patient falls. In addition, virtual sitters can provide patient re-direction, instruction, and companionship. In the event that a MedSitter remote observer witnesses something that requires intervention, they can choose to directly communicate with the patient, leverage integrated phone and SMS capabilities, and remotely trigger an in-room alarm. 

1. Direct Communication with the Patient. MedSitter makes direct patient communication simple and quick. With the click of a button the virtual sitter can unmute their microphone and appear on screen in the patient room. Both the sitter and patient can see and hear each other, enabling a natural and human conversation. Time to response is critical in urgent situations when the virtual sitter may need to re-direct the patient away from a potentially dangerous situation. 

1. Telephony Support. When remote re-direction is not enough, MedSitter virtual sitters can notify onsite clinical staff. To make this process intuitive, the MedSitter platform can either call or text a contact’s phone (any device that can receive a 10-digit dial); whether that is the unit desk, nurse's phone, med tech, clinical communication device like those provided by Vocera™, or even security. Two different contacts can be configured for each patient and the sitter with a single click and notify them that a patient urgently needs attention. When making a phone call, the sitter’s headset is automatically converted to a softphone, and they can speak to the contact and provide valuable information while keeping an eye on the patient. This is an easy and reliable way for observers to get in touch with the nursing staff on the ground. 

1. Sound an alarm. The alarm is controlled by the MedSitter virtual sitter and is only used in situations where the patient is in imminent danger or is not responding to remote redirection. When the MedSitter alarm is heard, staff can be assured that need is real and verified. 

The MedSitter system was designed by clinicians, for clinicians. Our communication escalation process (verbal, telephony, alarm) effectively tailors itself into the variety of workflows that each hospital has, making it easy for a remote virtual sitter and onsite nursing staff to work together as one.  

If you are interested in installing MedSitter at your facility, fill out the form on our Contact Us page now.