Nurses are natural healthcare innovators. Their hands-on, frontline experience gives them the power to pioneer new and transformative technologies that move the industry toward new standards of equitable care.
It’s this closeness to patients that allows nurses to see where and why gaps in patient care exist and to develop solutions that prevent patients from falling through them. As digital solutions expand and enhance personalized care, nurses’ insights are essential in developing scalable digital innovations and improving continuity of care.
One example is Streamline Flow, a digital solution for identifying, tracking and managing patients throughout their healthcare journey.
Cofounded by nurses Kelly Ayala, DNP, APNP, BSN, and Shannon Hattenhauer, RN, BSN, Streamline Flow creates a centralized workspace for healthcare teams, seeking to simplify workflows for patients referred to follow up imaging or complex care services.
Inspired to solve the problem of ‘patient leakage’
The platform was borne out of Ayala and Hattenhauer’s experiences working in a pulmonary clinic. Patients were being evaluated for lung cancer, but then dropping from the continuum of care after being referred for follow up screenings.
For example, a patient might be referred to a clinic for a CT scan, but the scheduler may reach out only once or twice. If the patient doesn’t schedule, the referral may be closed, and it’s possible that the patient isn’t contacted again.
The challenge, as Ayala shared, is that some aggressive types of lung cancer progress very quickly, with a ‘doubling time’ of just a few weeks. In other words, it can take less than a month for a tumor to double in size, which drastically affects the patient’s treatment options.
Ayala and Hattenhauer developed a solution that establishes guardrails for patients who miss an appointment or don’t follow up on a referral. Streamline Flow displays patients at risk for falling off their care plan, with risk status identified by the treatment team and automatically updated when patients are not proceeding through next steps as expected.
All members of the healthcare team are represented in the workflow, which allows nurses – who quarterback much of the patient care coordination – to delegate work to schedulers or support staff, while following up with providers as needed.
Streamline Flow keeps patients in the loop, too. A mobile application allows them to see their next steps, stay connected with their healthcare team, and advocate for themselves.
A progressing innovation journey
What began as a patient tracking system with sticky notes evolved into a tech platform that integrates with EMRs and shows hospitals and health systems the true costs of losing patients. Ayala and Hattenhauer refined their idea for several years and were inspired to develop the product after Ayala attended a hackathon hosted by Johnson & Johnson and the Society of Nurse Scientists, Innovators, Entrepreneurs and Leaders (SONSIEL) in 2019.
“It really activated me,” said Ayala. “I came back feeling like we could create this thing ourselves.”
Even so, the team knew that they would need tech partners to get Streamline Flow up and running. Following an initial round of fundraising, Ayala met software developer Paul Robke and designer Linny Klein of Ignite Ideas, a product development and services partner that supports technology development, with a particular focus on nursing workflows. With the operational support of Ignite Ideas and leadership from Amanda Schleede, who now serves as CEO of both Ignite Ideas and Streamline Flow, the team completed its first health system pilot with more to follow. Now, the company has a patent pending with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Exposing the inequities of care gaps
Beyond simplifying healthcare workflows and reducing patient risk, Streamline Flow has also uncovered meaningful insights from patient data that demonstrates the impact of social determinants of health, such as housing and food insecurity, on patients’ ability to remain in their care plan, and in 2023, Kelly Ayala received the Equity-Minded Nurse Practice Award from the Campaign for Action, an initiative aimed at ensuring access to high-quality, patient centered care for all Americans by strengthening the nursing profession.
The solution helped to show how factors like living in a rural area or in isolation impact the length of time between evaluation and diagnosis, delaying potentially life-saving care and worsening health outcomes.
“It shouldn’t matter where the patient lives or their circumstances,” says Hattenhauer. “All patients should be able to get the same level of care.”
Bringing nurse-led ideas to life
Do you have an idea for a healthcare solution that improves workflows or the workplace? A nurse hackathon provided Ayala with an opportunity to connect with like-minded innovators and bring her solution to life, and yours could be next!
NurseHack4Health unlocks nurses’ natural innovation, curiosity, and passion. Want to learn more? Tune into the 2024 NurseHack4Health Pitch-A-Thon on Oct. 15 to cheer on nurse innovators as they pitch their ideas for a thriving workforce and healthy work environment, with the opportunity to receive up to $150,000 in grant funding! Learn more at nursehack4health.org, and stay tuned for future NurseHack4Health events!
