Views from a Nursing Student on Benefits of the Multidiagnostics

In the acute care setting, patients can either have STAT or PRN lab orders, but whether the test is urgent or scheduled does not change the time in which the results are obtained. Blood tests are an essential component of medical care, and until now they have been a very scheduled and lengthy process.  In the acute care setting, having test results available on the Electronic Health Record in seconds not only provides the patient with the most efficient care possible, it also reduces a patient’s length of stay in the hospital, which both benefits the patient and the hospital.  Having a product that allows test results to be accessed in such a quick period of time, so effortlessly, will not only benefit healthcare professionals, but also help the patient tremendously.

 

In the outpatient setting, the healthcare system is burdened by follow up visits and referrals and a huge area of disconnect between the patients and their lab work makes things even more difficult.  This disconnect is mainly due to the fact that a patient is much less likely to follow up and pay another co-pay just to receive their lab results.

 

As a senior nursing student with clinical experience in many areas of the hospital, I know that this product will completely change the way lab tests are obtained in both the inpatient and outpatient setting. For example, a patient with high sodium levels who is being replenished with fluids around the clock used to have to wait to have their sodium levels checked every day at 6am, but now with the ability have point of care test results this patient will be able to have more accurate and up to date test results while the doctor is present.  This would allow the patient to get out of the hospital as soon as possible and instead of waiting until the 6am results come in the next day.

 

Doctors will also benefit from this product due to its quick and efficient processing, which allows results to be developed in 20 minutes, so the doctor will be able to assess the patient and obtain their lab results, without having to leave the floor. Having a point of care diagnostic tool implemented in the hospital setting will completely change the way lab results are obtained, making it a more quick and efficient process.

Why We Do What We Do--and How We Keep Doing It

When you're involved in a startup, it's easy to get caught up in the day to day.  Between paperwork and meetings and the mundane things in the corporate world, you can simply fall into a routine of just getting the job done.  However, that stalls innovation and prevents you from accomplishing the mission of the company.  

Here at Group K, we wanted to expand, innovate, and grow continually--to really create a culture that would allow these things to replace what what's mundane.  We created two goals/missions/mindsets to stop ourselves from falling into that trap.  

The first is that we never forget our mission, and we never forget the patients or experiences that have affected why we think about Group K like we do.  We each have different reasons for why Group K matters to us, and why we joined the team, but the common themes are these reasons: improving patient care and quality of life and easing the burden on healthcare providers so that they can more efficiently administer better healthcare.  

With these missions in mind, the second is that we also try to frequently "shake it up" a bit so that we continually remember our vision and strive to revise any of our practices if they don't fit the vision.  We change because we care, because at the end of the day it's people that matter, and that's at the heart of our mission.

So though our motto may be that we can complete a diagnostic test in 20 minutes or less, our true mission is helping and caring for humans--patients and providers alike.