University of Missouri researchers are using a $1 million federal grant to help nursing home staffers transition from fax machines and voicemail to texting.
Kimberly Powell, an assistant professor in the MU School of nursing and the principal investigator for the research project, said an estimated $2.6 billion per year is spent on transferring nursing home residents to hospitals, and 60% of transfers are avoidable. Powell and her team are examining how texting can reduce delays in making care decisions, allow residents to be safely cared for in the nursing home, and reduce costly and sometimes traumatic transfers to hospitals.
