In Honor of American Heart Month, TeleHealth Services and Local Hospitals Ask Patients to Watch More TV

Online, February 18, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Raleigh, NC - February 18, 2010 - TeleHealth Services, the nation's leading provider of interactive patient education and communication solutions for hospitals, is working with local hospitals to educate patients on better heart health in support of February's American Heart Month. Increasing awareness of heart conditions and prevention tactics during American Heart Month, TeleHealth's TIGR system provides on-demand delivery of health education content via the hospital room television. This patient engagement has been proven to drastically decrease heart related re-admissions and provide increased positive outcomes for cardiac patients.

"Video offers unique advantages in the field of patient education and TIGR enables an optimal education session through the delivery of the condition-specific video content," said George Fleming, CEO of TeleHealth Services. "Patients have access to important and informative health programming right from their hospital bed and American Heart Month allows us to really make a difference in the outcomes and future well-being of our client hospital's patients. We are very excited to be the catalyst for raising awareness and better educating patients on common heart conditions, available medications, diet and exercise - information that could lead to better heart health."

TeleHealth Services provides interactive patient education systems to hospitals around the country, engaging patients and their families in the recovery process. The hospital-approved educational videos can be prescribed per a specific diagnosis via the EMR, clinician entry, or requested by the patient and are free of charge over the hospital's television system. Videos are available on many different types of common health conditions and can be obtained in English, Spanish and other languages as well.

"TIGR is an effective means to deliver consistent patient education and give patients and their families an active role in their recovery," said Nancy Edwards, Patient and Community Education Coordinator at Underwood-Memorial Hospital. "Our cardiac videos are some of the most popular and widely prescribed content and TIGR has been an integral technology in our efforts to reduce cardiac readmission rates."

The American Heart Association estimates that more than one in three Americans is living with one or more types of cardiovascular disease. In addition, the AHA reports that of the women surveyed in 2006, the majority of respondents reported confusion related to basic cardiovascular prevention strategies. The videos on TeleHealth's TIGR system are prescribed by facility staff to combat common barriers - such as language and attention span - to a patient's complete understanding of their condition, including heart disease, stroke, heart attacks and recommended practices before and following a heart surgery. Providers can even prescribe a quiz following a video to gauge the patient's level of comprehension.