Synergia enables organizations, as part of delivering care in real time, to design roles and develop
the necessary skills to implement the best coordinated actions, given the best understanding of the
patient’s clinical situation.
Here are two illustrations of a caregiver possessing some clinical information that is pertinent to
coordination among others that do not yet possess the information. Instead of leading just to specific
treatment responses, it leads to a need to inform, adjust, and explicitly coordinate. The clinical data
creates the need to inform specific team members (playing specific roles that make them relevant). These
participants adjust their typical practice (e.g., extra vigilance of this kind, and conditions that trigger
future choices and communication). As needed, they specifically interact with others on given tasks inspired
by the clinical data (e.g., in contrast to typical practice, conduct a joint round and make sure you both
hear the same lung sounds).
Some see coordination as a simple matter of caregivers needing to do more, and do better, for every patient
and every caregiving act - coordination will somehow be unnecessary, or will be a side-effect, of working
harder. But working harder on all fronts is not the answer. After all, medicine is particularly noted for the
effort, diligence, and commitment of providers!
Some believe the clinical situation implies all that is needed about how activities should be coordinated.
But this is false. Understanding of and ability to infer from the clinical facts varies widely. And,
coordination is not about what I know, what my tasks are, and what I do. Coordination is
about what we know as a group, how our actions fit together, and how well we are poised to handle complications
(which haven’t yet appeared in the clinical data!). Coordination will not emerge just by giving everyone the
clinical data.
Instead, caregivers need to organize themselves, in real time, to best care for those patients with current
risks or other special factors. The team needs to be able to quickly and reliably adjust how care is delivered
- so they are on the same page and act in concert. Then, as in the above illustrations, patients that need a
bit more are the ones that get the extra attention they need.
Synergia provides a variety of services and technologies, all centered on improving the quality of
coordination and so effectiveness in healthcare delivery. Here are some of
our general services,
and here are services specifically
focused on handover.