Digital Literacy In Hospitals

Digital Health Literacy: Why It Matters For Hospitals

Hospital administrators have always been concerned with digital health literacy since medical computers were introduced into the workplace. The pandemic has only exacerbated these concerns. According to the World Health Organization, digital health literacy is defined as, “the ability to seek, find, understand, and appraise health information from electronic sources and apply the knowledge gained to addressing or solving a health problem.” While doctors, nurses, and all medical staff have no doubt gone through digital training, the same cannot be said for their patients.

Patients cannot be left out of the digital health literacy conversation, especially now. Countless at-risk patients rely on hospitals for their healthcare, but not all of them can regularly visit their local provider due to the pandemic. More senior patients may struggle with telehealth appointments. It is up to hospitals to ensure that their patients are able to easily and safely access the medical information they need.

Digital Health Literacy: Offer An Easy Online Health Portal

72% of US adult internet users seek out medical information online according to the WHO. While there is no doubt quality healthcare information on the internet, there is no substitute for a doctor’s first hand opinion. Create a health portal for your patients that contains articles and information. This portal can include tips on living healthy, as well as answers to some of the most common medical questions. Doctors and nurses can regularly update this portal. Include easy links in these pages for your patients to contact their doctors with further questions.

Give Patients Multiple Language Options

Many patients are digitally savvy, but not every patient speaks English as their first language. Patients may be more averse to seeking out the care they need via telehealth appointments if they are unsure how to even set one up. Create clearly demarcated buttons across your website to change the language. Include languages that are common to your area and the whole of the country.

Host Workshops For Digital Averse Patients

Your more senior patients may struggle with the basics of using their computers, such as using a mouse to interact with objects on screen. Hosting small workshops may greatly bolster their attempts at using computers for medical reasons. These workshops can go over the basics of using a computer to access medical information, digital health literacy, and appointments online.

Digital Health Literacy: Ensure Doctors Know Their Patients’ Limits

Doctors, through no fault of their own, project a sense of authority. It comes with the position. However, this projection of authority can make asking questions difficult for some patients. Have your doctors ask their patients if they know how to access telehealth appointments. Some may be averse to admitting the bounds of their digital health literacy at first. But together, your doctors and patients can make a healthcare plan that fits both these times and future ones.

Bridge The Digital Divide With Tangent

The digital divide doesn’t have to affect healthcare. Ensure that your patients are up to date on their digital health literacy so that their treatments can continue. Tangent is here to help ensure that your doctors can likewise access patient information, perform telehealth appointments, and more on their medical computers. For more information, contact Tangent Sales today.

Telehealth

Tele-Health, Tele-Medicine, and Tele-Patient Appointments On Medical Computers

This pandemic has not only changed the way healthcare operates, but also how it is delivered. Virtual appointments were scarce before 2020, often used as an auxiliary option for patients. Now nearly any appointment that can be done online is. Tele-health, Tele-medicine, Tele-patient appointments all play increasingly important roles in the hospital.

Despite their similar names, these types of virtual appointments couldn’t be any more different.

Tele-health On Medical Computers

Sometimes an appointment revolves simply around a doctor needing to speak with their patient. This could be for an annual checkup, or even a screener interview to see if further medical attention is needed. Tele-health is perfect for these instances.

For tele-health appointments, doctors use their medical computer as a virtual phone. This allows them to connect with patients face-to-face, while also having their medical records on hand.

m24t medical grade computer
Tangent M24T Medical Computer

The Medix 24T from Tangent comes with a built-in, front-facing camera. This high resolution camera is perfect for tele-health appointments and allows patients to see their doctors with the utmost clarity.

What Is Tele-medicine 

Tele-medicine takes the practical applications of tele-health one step further. In addition to patients having face-to-face time with their doctors, they also receive treatment. Treatment options with tele-medicine can vary, but are made increasingly easier with the right medical computers.

Nearly all of Tangent’s medical computers feature front facing cameras to capture your doctor during tele-medicine appointments. These same medical computers can be used with remote monitoring equipment at your patient’s homes, directly feeding virtual information to your doctors.

Tele-medicine can also include remote wound treatment, where doctors carefully explain over a medical call how to perform a vital operation. This could entail an emergency surgery, or a routine medical equipment adjustment. In either case, having a high-resolution camera to capture all of the details being presented is central to your doctors’ success.

Tele-Patient: Virtual Visitors

Tele-patient appointments are the most unique among the three virtual visits. They can include services from both tele-health and tele-medicine appointments, but with the added benefit of visitors.

Patients are allowed and encouraged to have other family members or caretakers present during tele-patient appointments. These visitors can either be in the same room as the patient, or use their own computer to login from a distance. 

T-13 Medical Tablet From Tangent
T-13 Medical Tablet From Tangent

Tele-patient appointments offer a way for patients to feel at ease and cared for during these difficult times. They also promote social distancing while still allowing for quality healthcare.

Virtual Appointments With Tangent

The pandemic is in a star of limbo, where it’s unclear when its effects will dwindle. While the pandemic will surely pass, virtual appointments are here to stay. Hospitals need the best medical computers for their doctors to perform these visits. Learn more by contacting Tangent Sales today.

medical grade tablets from tangent

Medical Grade Tablets For Efficient Hospitals

The winter surge of infections is clearly coming to an end, with infections consistently trending downwards in the last few weeks. With vaccines being rolled out, and U.S. estimates suggesting that every American will be vaccinated by the summer, the end of this pandemic is within sight. However, until every American is vaccinated and variants of the virus are fully curtailed, the U.S. medical system needs to remain vigilant against the pandemic. 

Doctors and nurses need the right equipment to keep patients safe during these times. Equipment that can allow them to adapt to any circumstance or hospitalization rate in the hospital, and medical grade tablets are just that.

Medical Grade Tablets: Built For Adapting

The pandemic has proven that hospitals need to be extremely flexible, and capable of handling surges of patients previously unseen. One of the ways that hospitals have adapted is the widespread adoption of telehealth appointments on medical computers. Telehealth appointments have allowed doctors to virtually meet with their most at-risk patients without putting them in harm’s way. These appointments also save both doctors and patients time, allowing both parties more time to focus on other tasks.

T-13 Medical Tablet From Tangent
T-13 Medical Tablet From Tangent

Medical tablets bolster the time saving benefits offered by telehealth appointments. With medical grade tablets like the T-13 from Tangent, doctors can respond to emails, pages, and more from anywhere in the hospital. Doctors can effectively prepare themselves for telehealth appointments from their medical tablet with ease, transitioning into these appointments seamlessly with the T-13’s powerful front-facing camera.

Medical Grade Tablets: Safe And Secure

Tangent knows that patient privacy is a top priority for hospitals, and has designed their medical tablets accordingly. In addition to meeting all privacy requirements, Tangent medical grade tablets also come equipped with the Medication Witnessing technology, MedWitness. MedWitness allows medical professionals to use their medical grade tablets to witness medication usage and disposal easily and securely. MedWitness integrates directly into your hospital’s clinical workflow, and is compatible with Cerner Millennium® and integrated with Imprivata Confirm ID™.

medical tablet
Tangent Medix M8

MedWitness allows medical professionals to securely use their badges for this process, without needing multiple complex passwords, saving them valuable time.

Medical grade tablets from tangent are also equipped with hot-swappable batteries. These swappable batteries allow tablets like the T-13 to run on a nearly 24/7 basis, without needing to be plugged into an outlet. 

Tangent Medical Grade Tablets: Upgrade Your Hospital Today

Doctors and nurses have been relying on their medical grade computers throughout this pandemic. Medical tablets give your medical professionals the same power seen in their medical computers, but in a sleek and mobile package. Learn more about Tangent’s lineup of medical grade tablets today by Contacting Tangent Sales.

Tangent Medical Computers for Meedical vaccinations

Streamlining Hospital Vaccination Programs With Medical Computers

With President Joe Biden having announced that the country will have enough vaccines for every American by the summer, the end of this pandemic finally appears within reach. But having enough vaccines for everyone and actually utilizing them are two different things. Already we have seen countless examples of pharmacies and hospitals being forced to waste precious vaccines as they fail to use them.

Hospitals need to prepare adequately to safely and effectively administer vaccines to the entire population, without having them go to waste. This logistical problem has proved to be a hurdle, but it is by no means impassible. Tangent is here to help hospitals with their vaccination efforts with medical computers.

Utilize Time Saving EHR Solutions

Medical computers are proving to be indispensable when it comes to vaccination efforts. But the software running on your medical grade computers is just as important. Electronic Health Record systems are crucial to determining a patient’s eligibility for vaccinations. EHR systems can help hospitals automatically alert patients to their eligibility, and can streamline the vaccination process.

Contact your EHR software vendor to see what their game plan for vaccinating is, after all there is no point in reinventing the wheel. 

Create A More Efficient Sign In Process With Medical Computers

One of the potential chokepoints where vaccinations can stall is when medical professionals are required to constantly sign in and use passwords to access patient records and witness medication dosages. This process can be time consuming and laborious, but most importantly it can cost valuable time that can lead to vaccine spoilage.

With Tangent’s MedWitness sign in solution, this is no longer a problem. Doctors, nurses, and anyone administering injections can use this technology to sign into their medical grade computer using just their badge. This RFID enabled solution allows for vaccinations to happen as quickly as possible.

Keep Patients In The Loop

Above all, keeping your patients in the loop is crucial. Patients need to know when they are eligible to be vaccinated and when they can expect to receive an appointment. With Tangent Medical Computers, there are a number of ways to accomplish this. Chatbots, automated text messages, and even email solutions can help your patients feel safe and comforted by the knowledge that their hospital has a plan for them.

Be Prepared To Vaccinate With Tangent

Vaccines are becoming more accessible with each passing day. With estimates suggesting that the U.S. can reach herd immunity by the Summer, now is the time to act. Preparing your hospital for an influx of vaccinations can be challenging, but it doesn’t have to be impossible. Tangent is here to help hospitals around the country meet their vaccination targets. Learn more by contacting Tangent Sales today.

tangent medical computers for remote monitoring

Remote Patient Monitoring With Medical Computers

During this pandemic, telehealth has seen an unprecedented rise in its use. The federal government, in collaboration with private companies, have made telehealth more accessible than ever before. But telehealth is only one half of the picture. While patients of all backgrounds can make use of telehealth to virtually see their doctors, some patients require more care than these appointments can offer. That’s where remote patient monitoring comes in. Remote patient monitoring bridges the gap between telehealth appointments and physical appointments, allowing doctors to remotely monitor the vitals of high-risk patients without needing them to go into the hospital.

Why Remote Monitoring With Medical Computers Is Important

Since the beginning of this pandemic, protecting those most susceptible to infection has been a top priority of every healthcare facility. People with disabilities, the eldery, and those with pre-existing conditions have been found to be at higher risk for severe cases. At the same time, these groups are those who rely on hospitals for routine medical care the most. 

Telehealth appointments have allowed these patients to consult with their doctors. But it is remote monitoring that gives them the true care they need. Hospitals like Mount Sinai have made use of remote monitoring to measure the vital signs of patients in their own homes. This allows patients to have their vitals checked and sent to their doctor’s medical computers back at the hospital for analysis. The same tests that patients relied on pre-pandemic are then available to patients without putting them at-risk.

Will Remote Monitoring Stay After The Pandemic?

Remote monitoring will more than likely stick around long after this period has subsided. Remote monitoring has always been one of the next innovations bound to hit the medical space, and the pandemic has simply accelerated this. Mount Sinai originally started their remote monitoring efforts all the way back in 2014. With this in mind, it only makes sense for other hospitals to begin to accelerate their own remote monitoring efforts by investing in the necessary architecture.

Tangent medical grade computers are the best medical computers
M24T Medical Computer For Remote Monitoring

At the backbone of this architecture is the medical computers your doctors, medical assistants, and nurses use every day. The same medical computers that they use for telehealth appointments can be used for remote monitoring data retrieval, however not every medical computer is built with these applications in mind. Medical computers from Tangent are designed with both telehealth and remote monitoring in mind. With built-in front facing cameras, microphones, and high-bit color monitors for better diagnostics, medical computers from Tangent are perfect for both telehealth and remote monitoring.

Remote Monitoring With Tangent

Tangent has built its line of medical computers for the future, and the future is telehealth and remote monitoring. Bring your hospital into the digital age with the best medical computers for the task. Contact Tangent Sales today for more information.

Tangent Medical Computers For Medical Cart Use

When times are uncertain, one constant that hospitals can always rely on is the quality of their Tangent medical computers. Recently, Belfast City Hospital was in dire need of medical carts. Tangent worked closely with Hospital Services Limited and Touchpoint Medical to quickly deliver 15 quality-made medical carts directly to the hospital. 

This is just one of the many hospitals and medical centers that Tangent has supplied sanitary medical computers to during this pandemic. With Tangent medical computers, hospitals can host an army of medical carts capable of operating on a 24/7 basis.

Tangent Medical Grade Computers Built For Medical Cart Use

What makes a medical grade computer perfect for medical cart use? Namely, having it be built from the ground up for medical cart use. Medical computers like the Medix T-13 are custom built with medical cart usage in mind.

The Medix T-13 comes equipped with a 13″ display, and an Intel 8th generation processor with 32 GB Ram to quickly and accurately show vital medical information. A lightweight magnesium chassis ensures that this medical computer, when attached to a medical cart, is easy to maneuver around the hospital.

Tangent Medix T-13

Tangent knows that hospitals are thin on resources currently, which is why medical computers like the Medix T-13 are designed to have their essential performance available 24/7. With hot-swap battery technology, the Medix T-13 can operate on a 24/7 basis without needing to be plugged into a wall outlet. This allows your hospital’s medical carts to be used anywhere in the hospital, regardless of power availability. This can be vital for hospitals experiencing impacted capacity.

The Medix T-13 has many customization options to allow hospitals to tailor the medical computer to their unique needs. Options like barcode scanners, RFID readers, and carrying handles are available for hospitals to use.

Safe and Sanitary

Now more than ever, medical staff are rightfully aware of how disease can spread throughout the hospital and doing everything they can to combat this. Tangent wants their products to always do more good than harm, and that is why their medical computers feature antimicrobial enclosures.

With antimicrobial enclosures, Tangent medical computers mitigate the growth of harmful pathogens on their surfaces. They also sport sealed screens, which support infection prevention protocols and minimize cross contamination. These sealed screens can also be used while wearing gloves, maximizing their effectiveness.

Tangent: Medical Carts Made Easy

Tangent has successfully delivered numerous medical carts to those who need them most, and they can help your hospital just the same. Tangent can work directly with your staff to furnish them with the right equipment, customized to your hospital’s unique circumstances. Learn more by contacting Tangent Sales today.

tangent medical computers for emergency use

Medical Grade Computers For Emergency Care

While case numbers fall and plateau in some areas of the United States, the ongoing pandemic is still ravaging the country. ICU capacity is beginning to increase in some areas, but many remain close to or at 0%. Hospitals and emergency services need to use this small reprieve to boost their capacities for another potential surge in cases. With medical grade computers, hospitals can be prepared for surges in case numbers and emergency situations.

Medical Grade Computers For Emergency Care

When it comes to medical grade computers, reliability is everything. In the field or in the ICU, your patients need the most reliable medical computers around to ensure their wellbeing. That’s why at Tangent, we build our medical computers to be as reliable as possible. Each of Tangent’s medical grade computers are designed to last. With IP rated front panels that can withstand regular washings, Tangent medical grade computers can thrive in any hospital environment. 

Medical grade computers like the M24T from Tangent also feature fanless cooling systems. Without fans, Tangent medical grade computers can operate for longer periods of time without needing maintenance. What’s more, Tangent’s fanless medical computers can help restrict airflow in the hospital and help keep infection risks to a minimum.Tangent’s medical computers also come with antimicrobial coatings for an extra layer of protection. This coating mitigates the growth of harmful pathogens on the surface of the medical computer, allowing doctors and nurses greater ease of mind when using them.

Tangent’s commitment to the health of patients everywhere extends past simply delivering our medical computers to hospitals. We back out medical computers with extensive warranties that can cover them for three and a half years. In addition, Tangent offers comprehensive and U.S. based customer support for our products on a 24/7 basis. No matter when or where you need help, Tangent has you and your hospital’s back.

Prepare with Tangent

While there is light at the end of the tunnel, there is still a long drive ahead of us. Tangent wants to help your hospital succeed during these trying times, and has the technology to do just that. Contact an expert at Tangent Sales today for more information.

Are Medical AI Tools Worth Using In Hospitals?

Medical AI Tools are rapidly becoming mainstream features in hospitals, especially during this pandemic. These tools can help doctors make diagnosis, or simply advise them on treatment plans. Recently, the Health and Human Services Secretary, Alex Azar, proposed permanently ending FDA oversight on certain medical AI tools. Azar is recommending the end to this oversight in part because there are few complaints against Medical AI Tools. But is this truly the case?

Medical AI Tools During The Pandemic

Like many procedures, FDA oversight has looked very different during the pandemic. Many medical products and tools that regularly receive oversight have been granted emergency approval, including PPE and Medical AI Tools.

But due to the nature of using Medical AI Tools, the lack of complaints against them should not be taken at face value. Doctors will use Medical AI Tools to help guide them to making a diagnosis, and thus patients will only hear from their doctors about their diagnosis. There is rarely time where a patient will directly know about, or form opinions on Medical AI Tools.

Should Hospitals Use Medical AI Tools If They Do Not Have Oversight?

The question of whether or not certain Medical AI Tools will receive oversight is still up in the air. Ultimately, the decision will fall upon the incoming Biden Administration, who will have the final say. Currently, the proposal includes 91 products, including PPE, that can potentially receive exemption from oversight.

With Medical AI Tools, oversight may be something that hospitals would want to see remain the standard. Medical AI Tools have been found to cause hospitals to become worse at detecting illnesses like breast cancer. Research has found that some breast imaging software has not improved certain hospitals’s ability to detect breast cancer.

However, it’s worth noting that this particular software came out in 1998. Medical AI Tools, and AI in general, are becoming more advanced with each passing day. With this in mind, alleviating pressure on certain Medical AI Tools to be constantly overseen may help bolster medical innovation.

In either case, Medical AI Tools have found themselves to be indispensable in the hospital, and during this pandemic. The FDA has previously admitted Medical AI Tools emergency-use status for the pandemic, showing how critical these tools have become. With or without oversight, Medical AI Tools will continue to be used in the hospital, and your hospital should be ready.

Tangent E24B Medical Computer
Tangent E24B Medical Computer

Running Medical AI Tools takes a powerful computer, and Tangent has a large selection to choose from. From the widescreen M24T medical computer to the blackout-resistant E24B, Tangent has your computing needs covered. Contact Tangent’s Medical Computer department today to speak with an expert on how to effectively set up Medical AI Tools in your hospital.

 

Should Hospitals Continue Using Telehealth Appointments After The Pandemic?

Telehealth has become synonymous with healthcare during this pandemic. Hospitals around the country are using telehealth services on their medical computers to continue caring for their patients. GlobalData has found that 79% of medical specialists are now using telemedicine in the hospital. This is in part due to federal regulators and the private sector making telemedicine easier than ever to implement in hospitals. But will telehealth remain after the pandemic has subsided?

Telehealth After The Pandemic

Telehealth has become an integral part of how hospitals treat patients. Patients have become accustomed to the appointments, which do not require them to spend time driving to the hospital and waiting for the doctor. In fact, 9 out of 10 patients who used telehealth for appointments had a positive experience.

But these appointments were only made possible by sweeping federal action at the beginning of the pandemic, and are at risk of being taken away. The American Medical Association has previously called for the pandemic-related waivers that make telehealth possible to be expanded with the Telehealth Modernization Act. With this legislation and other similar ones being brought to the house and senate floor, it’s looking likely that telehealth will become a permanent fixture in the hospital setting.

Continuing Use Of Telehealth After The Pandemic

Hospitals should expect to continue making use of telehealth after the pandemic. While the service has been primarily used by at-risk patients, widening its availability can help hospitals reach more patients. With advanced medical computers from Tangent like the M24T, doctors can rapidly see numerous patients back-to-back. The primary benefit of the use of medical computers for telehealth is this saved time, for both doctors and patients. Doctors do not have to wait for patients to be roomed, and can quickly switch from one patient to the next without having to walk through the hospital.

Medical PC
Medical Grade 24″ Computer For Telemedicine

Telehealth With Tangent

Tangent has always designed their lineup of medical grade computers to be telehealth-ready, and during this pandemic this design-choice has been greatly utilized. Learn more about how Tangent can help your hospital in its telehealth efforts by contacting Tangent Sales today.

 

tangent medical computers for surges

Meeting Surging Hospitalizations With Medical Grade Computers

While vaccinations have begun across the world, it will take months for the ramifications of these injections to have an effect. Until then, the pandemic is still on, and currently more threatening than ever. A recent CNN article dove into the hospitals of L.A. County in California, and gave first hand accounts of the crisis unfolding there.

One top County health official said that they were on “brink of catastrophe.” as of December 31, 21,449 Covid-19 patients were in hospital beds in California, with 4,500 in ICU beds. CNN reports that L.A. mayor Eric Garcetti said, “We are still going to have our toughest and darkest days, it’s so critical we change our behavior.”

The picture in California is grim, and can easily be painted across the entire nation in the coming months. Hospitals around the country need to prepare now for a situation like California’s to happen in their own backyard. With the new, intensely-more infectious U.K. virus variant being detected in the United States, a rise in cases seems unavoidable.

Meeting Surging Hospitalizations

The name of the game is preparation, and Tangent is here to help. While it may seem like medical grade computers are not a good way of preparing for surging hospitalizations, this could not be further from the truth. Medical grade computers like the M24T from Tangent free up doctor’s time, and allows them to see more patients in small time frames.

antimicrobial computers
Tangent’s Medix M24T Antimicrobial Computer

Medical grade computers by Tangent are lightning fast, and designed for rapid use. With them, doctors can do their clerical work faster and easier by using their adaptive touchscreens. Telehealth appointments can be done quickly and safely without doctors needing to waste time fumbling with older computers.

What’s more: Tangent’s full lineup of medical computers are antimicrobial. Their enclosures have been treated to mitigate the growth of harmful bacteria on all surfaces. Combined with IP rated water resistant touch screens that can easily be sanitized, Tangent medical computers are designed to be an aid in medical settings.

Meet The Pandemic Head-On With Tangent

This pandemic has forced hospitals to make difficult decisions and adapt on the fly. Tangent understands the concerns of hospitals and how to help them get through this challenging period. With Tangent medical computers by your doctors’ sides, they can feel safe and confident in the days ahead. Contact Tangent Sales today For more information.

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