Spotlighting another amazing Nurse-1-1 nurse who is providing empathy and trust for patients within digital health websites.
When you embed a nurse live chat into your digital health or online pharma website, you’re offering your patients empathy and trust they aren’t usually afforded during an online health experience.
Your website already provides the care options and resources your patients need for a healthy life. The better you can connect patients to your services, the better engagement and health outcomes you’ll deliver – and the more revenue you’ll drive. Nurse-1-1 provides the connective tissue to help you do just that.
The power of Nurse-1-1’s HIPAA-compliant live chat widget lies, of course, in our nurses. We have a network of nearly 3,000 NPs, RNs, and PAs ready to provide instant guidance to patients while they’re already on your website.
One of those nurses is Kate Murphy, CNM at Atrius Health. In Nurse-1-1’s latest fireside chat, “Highlighting Our Heroes,” Murphy joined Nurse-1-1 Co-Founder & CEO, Michael Sheeley, and Kim Liner, the company’s Chief Nurse Practitioner, for a half-hour discussion on the intersection of nursing and digital health transformation — and how nurses can play a pivotal role for digital health hubs.
Here’s our Q&A with Murphy – one of the exemplary nurses on the Nurse-1-1 platform:
Kate Murphy, Certified Nurse Midwife
What is your nursing background?
I went to college at Northeastern University in Boston. I got my bachelor’s there and started working at Boston Children’s Hospital in the ICU, right out of school. I stayed there for nine years and I learned a ton and had a great experience.
After that, I decided to go back to school to pursue a master’s in midwifery. I had always wanted to focus on women’s health and ended up taking that route after having one of my children. Then I made the transition full-time into midwifery at Atrius Health where I currently am.
I work both in an office setting and also in a busy hospital setting, delivering babies and caring for women and their families. So it’s been interesting, and there are a lot of similarities between the two that I wouldn’t have anticipated, but it’s been a great learning experience for me.
How long have you been working with Nurse-1-1?
I’ve been on the Nurse-1-1 app for the past four years.
What were your first impressions of working with Nurse-1-1?
One of the things that really has surprised me about Nurse 1-1 is how quickly you can create a sense of trust, even through an app, which has been pretty amazing to me.
Many nurses chose this profession because of that desire and that ability to really form a bond with somebody. We try not just to focus on the specific medical issue that the Nurse-1-1 patient presents and instead focus on a holistic perspective. I try to keep that as one of the hallmarks of the relationships that I build with patients on Nurse-1-1.
How are you able to provide a personalized, empathetic interaction through live chat?
I think it’s been actually really amazing and really kind of a surprise. Sometimes during a chat, I can almost feel when the patient takes a deep breath or lets their shoulders relax. Being able to feel that sense of relief through a chat — which I absolutely did not anticipate when I started this — really has been the most positive experience.
Sometimes it’s just little questions, making people feel comfortable and making them feel like they had some shared decision-making in the next steps of their own care. It just sort of clicks. It’s surprising how little time that can take.
It is a new role for a lot of nurses. It might not necessarily be why a lot of us went into this profession in the first place. So it takes some time for us to also learn how we can use our already innate skills and values and education and transition it into this new platform, which is certainly the way of the future. It is surprising, although there’s a learning curve, how quickly you can pick up on it and how easily it’s adapted.
What do your patients like about Nurse-1-1?
I’ve noticed Nurse-1-1 has a really strong role in helping patients that might be embarrassed about whatever their symptoms are or whatever they’re experiencing. They don’t quite feel comfortable talking to their friend or their primary care physician, at least initially. They can remain a little bit anonymous behind a chat platform, but still get some good information about what might be going on. We’re able to help those patients talk through those issues in a place where they feel really safe and comfortable.
How has the healthcare system changed since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic?
Unfortunately, it seems like there’s quite a bit of distrust after the pandemic within the healthcare system which is important to recognize and acknowledge. That’s one of the things I think that nurses can be really powerful for is fostering those true relationships and connections.
Now one of the great things about COVID is that it has kind of fast-forwarded the use of digital platforms like Nurse-1-1.
What do you think is the future of nursing? How does Nurse-1-1 play a role in this?
When I first graduated from nursing school, it didn’t even cross my mind to do anything besides bedside nursing. It can take some time for nurses to learn how we can use our innate skills, values and education and transition into this new platform, which is certainly the way of the future.
What can nurses do to drive healthcare forward?
It’s really important to have strong nurses who are working in the hospital and working at the bedside, but that might not be the right role for everybody. It doesn’t mean you’re not supposed to be a nurse or, you need to change professions because there are so many other avenues – whether it’s working in a clinic or working in telemedicine, any virtual aspect – there are just so many opportunities as a nurse where you can find your own niche.