Helping patients achieve autonomy through adaptive technology
OPPORTUNITY
As one of the world’s leaders in spinal cord and traumatic brain injury rehabilitation, Craig Hospital in Denver, Colorado, aids patient recovery through world-class treatment, state-of-the-art facilities and a caring, family-oriented environment. “Our patients stay in Craig Hospital for months at a time, so their TV and entertainment is critical to their recovery,” says hospital Director of Information Systems Chris Watkins. That’s why, when an urgent need for help maintaining and upgrading the hospital’s interactive patient television system with adaptive technology arose, Watkins turned to 27Global.
Solution
Craig TV, as the hospital’s system is known, is an electronic patient whiteboard controlled by a familiar television remote. In addition to maintaining the electronic whiteboard, 27Global implemented adaptive technology in patient rooms. Working in collaboration with Craig and Encore Electric, 27Global integrated the Craig TV UI interface to a Crestron panel that can be wholly controlled by infrared (IR) and radio-frequency (RF) adaptive technology to operate the blinds, lights, thermostat and TV – something that is especially empowering for paraplegic patients or patients with limited mobility.
27Global supported the transition of Craig Hospital’s electronic health records (EHR) from MEDITECH to Epic, adding enhancements to Craig TV along the way. They used Iguana and Summit interface engines to integrate to the new EHR system, which allows the hospital to display personalized messages, goals and recreational therapy calendars for each patient, as well as prescribe educational videos. During the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, Craig Hospital was able to quickly react and display up-to-date information on new policies and procedures through the TV system’s electronic whiteboard.
27Global replaced aging set-top-box hardware with new Windows 10 Byte3 mini PCs from Azulle. The mini PCs are fully-featured and provide a flexible and supported platform for future development. The television channels are delivered to the new mini PCs with a solution utilizing ATX UCrypt, ATX Versative Transcoder and Wowza Media Server hardware and software products.
“27Global helped us come up with additional creative, out-of-the-box solutions to ensure our patients can access our TV system, educational content and adaptive environmental controls.”
-Chris Watkins, Director of Information Systems, Craig Hospital
Results
27Global’s flexible resourcing lets Craig Hospital ramp up and down as needed. Not only does 27Global perform ongoing maintenance of the system, they’ll continue improving upon it, with future plans involving voice control, iPad apps and more. 27Global’s solution for Craig TV saved the hospital a significant outlay of unbudgeted expenses and improves the patient experience for the duration of their stays.
“27Global has been a great support of Craig Hospital. They really lend an ear, an understanding for what the customer is going through and always have creative solutions to help us get to a better place.”
-Chris Watkins, Director of Information Systems, Craig Hospital
