Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

22 PATIENT EXPERIENCE What healthcare can learn from retail pop-up store success By Andrea Park F ormerly launched only to drive marketing buzz, short-term shopping experiences have now become legitimate sources of reve- nue for the retail industry, Bloomberg reported — indicative of an overall trend that bodes well for hospitals' ambulatory strategies. As recently as three years ago, retail pop-ups were used merely for "ex- periential marketing exploits, fash- ion-week stunts or e-brands making the leap to brick-and-mortar," per Bloomberg. Now, however, estab- lished brands turn to pop-ups not for gimmicks, but to reach consumers in a new, oftentimes more accessible way. Companies such as Bloomingda- le's and Lululemon, in fashion, and Glossier, in cosmetics, regularly rely on pop-ups to test new collections or potential new locations before going all-in. "There's definitely a lot of 'let's learn and iterate' mentality," Melissa Gonzalez, CEO and founder of pop-up architecture company The Lionesque Group, told the outlet. Not all pop-ups, however, are guaranteed successes. Brands must have enough existing consumer engagement and the operational infrastructure necessary to sustain the mini-expansion, "or else it becomes a very big hit to their bandwidth," Ms. Gonzalez explained. Ultimately, however, a well-executed pop-up experience can not only help an organization expand its foot- print, but also discover new ways to engage its audience. In healthcare, this translates to the implication that ambulatory facilities can offer patients a more manageable, accessible route to care, and allow health systems to reach more people without requiring the money and resources of an entire new hospital. n Northwell launches app to schedule at-home blood work By Andrea Park N ew Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health on Oct. 8 launched LabFly, a mobile app through which patients can schedule blood tests in their homes or at work. To use the app, patients or their caregivers create a user profile and upload photos of their insurance card and blood work prescription. They are then prompted to choose a day, time slot and location for the test. On the day of the blood work, LabFly will display the assigned Northwell lab expert's loca- tion as he or she travels to the patient's home or workplace. Test results will be available via the app within approximately four days of the procedure. Though lab tests are typically covered by most insurers, LabFly charges an additional convenience fee of $19.99 to cover transportation and sample collection. According to the health system, that fee will likely not be covered by insurance. LabFly, which was developed by the Northwell Health Labs division, is now available in the Long Island region. The app is expected to be operational across the health system's entire coverage area — including all five boroughs of New York City and Westchester — by the end of the year. n Penn Medicine study finds emoji buttons effectively gauge ED patient, clinician satisfaction By Andrea Park I nstalling touch-button terminals throughout a hospital's emergency department provides an accurate depiction of real-time patient and clinician sentiment, suggest the findings of a study from Philadelphia-based Penn Medicine. In the study, terminals were placed near physician and nurse workstations and by the patient exit in the ED. Each of the three terminals was outfitted with four buttons marked with emoji faces representing very positive, positive, negative and very negative feelings. Over the course of the five-month study period, the terminals recorded nearly 14,000 in- teractions. e majority came from clinicians, with the nurse workstation alone represent- ing more than 50 percent of the feedback. e researchers were able to draw connections between the recorded sentiments and real-time data concerning factors such as arrivals, length of stay, number of waiting pa- tients and more. erefore, they concluded, the terminals can serve as a reliable gauge of provider and patient sentiment in real-time, a significant improvement over past feedback methods such as post-visit surveys, which typically have low response rates. "is work suggests that we can collect real-time provider and patient feedback that we haven't previously been able to identify," said senior author Raina Merchant, MD, director of the Penn Medicine Center for Digital Health and an associate professor of emergency medicine at the university. "is can allow for support when things are going well and addressing challenges when they occur." n

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