During the COVID pandemic, cardiac surgery volumes fell to around 54% of pre-pandemic levels.1 While this in some cases represented hospitals curtailing non-urgent procedures, it is also the result of patients' concerns about being exposed to the novel coronavirus in a hospital setting. With vaccinations well underway and pandemic restrictions lifting, convincing cardiac patients that it is safe for them to undergo non-urgent procedures is a challenge facing providers nationwide.
Enter microlearning videos. During the coronavirus lockdown, Americans' consumption of online video spiked and has remained high since. Online video is now part of everyday life, making it the ideal medium to carry the message that it's safe to come back to the cardiologist's office, without adding to the hospital or clinic staffers' already-tight workdays.
Why Patient-Focused Video is Effective
Next to Facebook, YouTube is the most popular social platform in the country. But unlike Facebook, YouTube's demographics do not decline precipitously with age: it reaches 77% of Americans aged 36-45, 70% of those 46-55, and 67% of those 56 and older.2
Microlearning videos — like those from Mytonomy — can provide access to quality healthcare information for patients, helping educate and reassure them that now is a safe and opportune time to undergo any procedures they may have delayed during the pandemic:
- Help reassure patients and articulate all the steps their health system and caregiver are taking to keep them safe;
- Help patients gain a better understanding of one’s disease and/or chronic conditions;
- Help cardiology patients get comfortable with their care team and understand their options, what they need to do to prep for a procedure and how to care for themselves afterward;
- Even support healthy lifestyle choices as it relates to diet, exercise, sleep hygiene and mental health
Video Helps Patients Help Themselves
Pandemic aside, the need for patient-focused cardiac health education is urgent: the American Heart Association estimates that by 2035, nearly half the population of the U.S. will have some form of cardiovascular disease, with an associated price tag of $1.1 trillion (up from $555 billion in 2016).3
Hackensack Meridian Health, New Jersey's largest health network, introduced Mytonomy's Patient Experience Cloud® and video content to its coronary artery bypass graft care program. When patients were offered the chance to opt-in to the video program, 89% of them signed up, and afterward, they reported a 95% satisfaction rate and a 41% increase in their HCAHPS scores.
How Does Microlearning Work?
Microlearning videos are designed to deliver essential information to patients in an appealing format, short enough to encourage patients to watch all the way through. Keeping production values high — well-written scripts, attention-grabbing graphics, and relatable on-camera talent — make sure patients are not merely engaged: they're entertained.
Each video is essentially an extension of the patient's care team, answering questions and addressing concerns, without increasing clinicians' workloads. These videos are an on-demand resource that patients can refer to multiple times if needed, surmounting the hurdles of access and convenience in patient education.
Mytonomy makes accessing its video library easy through its proprietary software platform that integrates seamlessly with a provider's existing network. There are no apps to download or offsite web addresses to learn, making the process of watching videos frictionless for patients. The Patient Experience Cloud® for Cardiology is a comprehensive bundle of microlearning videos, combined with condition-specific surveys and communication campaign capabilities. The solution's 228 videos span an extensive breadth of cardiology conditions and procedures, including:
- Coronary Artery Bypass Graft
- Cardiac Catheterization
- Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement
- Congestive Heart Failure
- Left Ventricular Assist Devices
- Electrophysiology topics
- Structural Heart Surgery
- Cardiac diagnostics tests
Videos are broadcast-quality and white-labeled to be branded by the clinics using them, so patients will be guided in a closed loop from the provider's access point, through the video, and back to the provider.
In addressing the dual patient-care hurdles of access and education, digital communication strategies are going to be a critical part of the solution. Please reach out to info@mytonomy.com to learn more about how we can help.
1 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003497520306937
2 https://blog.hootsuite.com/youtube-stats-marketers/
3 https://doi.org/10.1161/CIR.0000000000000659
About Mytonomy
Mytonomy® helps healthcare organizations give patients what they need to care for themselves – in the palm of their hands. Mytonomy engages patients in their care with attention-getting, broadcast-quality micro-learning videos and a powerful suite of communication and survey tools. Orchestrated by an intelligent, novel healthcare CRM, Mytonomy adapts to each patient to deliver a tailored experience. This is a foundational element in driving digital transformation and a new model of virtual care. As a result, Mytonomy enables organizations to achieve better results and helps patients get healthier.
