Vidatak
Acute Care Communication Boards

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BEST NURSING PRACTICE as described in Lindgren & Ames (2005), Henneman, Dracup, Ganz, Molayeme & Cooper (2001) & (2002) for mechanically ventilated patients can achieve decreased length of ventilator days as well as decreased length of ICU stay by an average of 2.7 and 3.6 days, respectively. Multidisciplinary team collaboration that incorporates effective communication with the patient is necessary for achieving these stated outcomes. "Give the patient paper and pencil to determine if handwriting is legible. Picture and alphabet boards can be useful as well... one such tool is the EZ Board." The Vidatak EZ Board is distributed internationally and sold through the AACN as the only research-based communication tool shown to reduce frustration and improve patient satisfaction.

There is no better time than now to take action that will improve patient satisfaction with care. Under the direction of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) developed a survey instrument called the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS). This assessment tool is designed to measure and publicly report patient perceptions of care so consumers make informed decisions when choosing a hospital. Improve patient satisfaction in your hospital.  Train your staff to provide the Vidatak EZ Board to all nonverbal and non-English speaking patients to ensure optimizing their outcomes and ability to participate in their care.

For patients who cannot speak and non-English speaking patients, The Vidatak EZ Board is available in 17 languages and designed by patients from evidenced-based practice research addressing the needs of numerous patient populations. All non-English boards are bilingual with English subtitles. The front of the board is divided into various categories to include: I am, I want, I want to see, and I want to clean. Under each category is a list of words specific to that category from which the patient can point, circle, or check. The front also includes a section of alphanumeric symbols. Attached to the front of the communication board is a pen holder and dry erase pen. The back of the board includes a pain scale and human diagram. It also includes a category of pain descriptions and sensory perceptions that guide the practitioner to use discretion when addressing pain or discomfort.

For the healthcare provider who truly cares about what their patients are experiencing, Vidatak provides one of the best solutions for intervening with impaired communication. Prepare your staff and your facility for our evidence-based EZ Picture Board to be released early 2008. Join us today.

Here is what a patient told us.

Standards of Care 

The Joint Commission 2008 National Patient Safety Goal 13 states, "Encourage patient's active involvement in their own care as a patient safety strategy."  13A states, "Define and communicate the means for patients and their families to report concerns about safety and encourage them to do so." 

We are working closely with the Joint Commission and collaborating research findings to help improve their Standards of Care with respect to patient communication by requiring health care practitioners to assess, intervene and evaluate their intervention in such a way that assessment scoring will show improvement or warrant a referral for auxiliary staff resources such as interpreters, speech language pathologists, etc.  The State of California is following this lead and developing a statewide policy to do the same.

Evidence Based Practice

The Vidatak EZ Board is the only clinical, research-based, communication intervention for the voice disabled patient.  It was actually designed by mechanically ventilated patients!  Clinical research at UCLA Medical Center has shown the EZ Board used with proactive nursing care that engages the patient and patients family can reduce patient frustration, increases overall satisfaction with healthcare, and most importantly, can improve the use of pain and anxiolytic medication. Please click here for further instructions.

Our new EZ Boards are 17 x 11, two-sided, dry-erase boards with new research-based content and now come individually shrink-wrapped with pre-assembled with marker. Today, the EZ Board is used in over 1,000 hospitals throughout the US as well as healthcare facilities in Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and India.

Recommendations

We recommend the boards be stocked in preoperative rooms for preoperative teaching, recovery rooms, ER's, ICU's, rehabilitation units, head and neck suites, nursing homes, hospices and general medicine units where there may be patients who are unable to verbally communicate or cannot speak English.  We also recommend the boards be made available through your interpreter/translation department for non-English speaking patients.

For the safety of your patient and increased utilization of your EZ Boards, you may also want to invest in our beside rail holder to allow for easy access and storage of your patient’s communication board.  Much like the call light, keeping this board within reach empowers the patient and promotes autonomy.  These holders are durable and reusable.

Please click on the savings analysis link (top left) for a detailed summary and a sample calculation of how implementing the Vidatak EZ Board into standard practice hospital wide can save your hospital hundreds of thousands of dollars with reduced sedation, length of ICU and hospital stay and reduced FTE’s. 

You might also be interested in item 622250, the EZ Board Holder. Made of durable acrylic, this reusable bedside rail holder allows the patient easy access and storage of their EZ Board. Click on image to enlarge
$23 each

About Our Boards and US!
Indoff CT is a master at producing quality custom printed dry erase boards.