New Online ExitCare System Meets Your Health Care Information Needs

This week, Washington Hospital Healthcare System launched a new and improved patient education system called ExitCare, with important advantages for patients and the community. This is the first of two articles about ExitCare, which is designed to give you the power to become more informed about health and wellness topics affecting you and your family.

What is ExitCare?

As part of its Mission, Washington Hospital Healthcare System is committed to providing patients and the public with educational resources to improve patient care and promote better health throughout the community. Now, Washington Hospital has expanded and upgraded its library of educational resources through the new online ExitCare program, which replaces Krames Online.

ExitCare is a more comprehensive and higher quality system that gives patients and the community direct access to over 4,000 evidence-based documents in the best format for patient learning. You can access the material on the Hospital’s website at whhs.com, the same as with its previous patient education system. ExitCare’s extensive library of current, reader-friendly articles and references is updated and expanded on a regular basis.

Using ExitCare

Now, using your mobile or desktop device, you have direct access to a vast, searchable library of educational materials whenever and wherever you need them. As a patient being discharged from the Hospital or having a consultation at any Washington Township Medical Foundation (WTMF) clinic, your printed Post Discharge or After Visit Summary will be available in 13 different languages. Your doctor or nurse can also do a customized search of the ExitCare library to print out and give you more in-depth information about your specific condition. Educational materials on the Hospital’s website are available in English and Spanish.

As a Washington Hospital patient, you can also get information about your condition through the MyChart online patient portal, which is part of the Hospital’s electronic health record. MyChart gives you safe, secure access to important portions of your personal medical record.

“As physicians, we need to provide health education each time we consult with a patient in the clinic or discharge them from the Hospital,” explained general surgeon Kranthi Achanta, MD, chief of Washington Hospital’s medical staff. “The ExitCare system is a trusted resource that gives our patients a wider array of current and readable information they can take home or access online to answer most, if not all, of their questions.”

Many hospitals and health care systems in the U.S. provide online health education materials for patients. Dr. Achanta recommends the ExitCare system from Washington Hospital because it also gives local patients and residents information about resources available in this community to help meet their individual health care needs.

Dr. Achanta is on the Hospital team that researched and identified the new patient education system. Doctors from the Hospital’s medical staff collaborated with nurse managers and WTMF site managers to ensure that the patient information library includes materials that are peer-reviewed, evidence-based, and consistent with current medical practice and guidelines.

What’s Coming

By the end of this year, Washington Hospital will add video-based patient education to ExitCare with the release of more than 1,000 evidence-based video titles. The video library will include short clips that tailor the information to meet your personal needs. If you are a patient in Washington Hospital, you will be able to access the video library on the TV monitor in your Hospital room or using your mobile device. The Hospital is in the process of upgrading its TV system to support the new video-based library.

“ExitCare helps raise the quality of health care in our community by offering patients and residents a better resource for health education,” observed Dr. Achanta. “It gives people the power to participate more actively in their own health care, and this means improved outcomes for our patients.”

Learn more

To access the ExitCare library of patient education materials or for more information about Washington Hospital Healthcare System, go to whhs.com. For more information about Washington Township Medical Foundation, visit mywtmf.com. And, watch for the next Tri-City Voice article about the interactive inpatient function of ExitCare coming soon to patient rooms at Washington Hospital.