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Protecting Healthcare Staff: The Role of Wearable Technology with Canopy · Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT

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Hello, everyone. This is Erica Spice Mason with
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the Becker healthcare care podcast series. Thank you
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so much for tuning in.
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Today, I'm thrilled to be joined by Shawn
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Sin. The founder and Ceo of Canopy,
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who will talk to us about wearable technology
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that's helping to protect health staff.
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Sean, welcome to the podcast,
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so excited to have you here today to
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talk to us about this subject.
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Erica, thanks a lot for, the opportunity. We're
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looking forward to the conversation.
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Likewise. And before we get into our conversation,
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I just wanted to see if you'd like
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to share with our listeners a little bit
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more about yourself, your background, your role,
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whatever feels top of mind for you?
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Yeah.
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I have been in technology.
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In and around Silicon Valley for my entire
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career, which is now going on, over 20
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years.
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I've been involved with a number of big
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companies,
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used to have roles at Microsoft in Google.
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I've done a whole bunch of startup companies,
1:00
all the way from inception all the way
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to growth and scale.
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I've invested in a number of companies in
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and around health care as well,
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but this is a canopy, the first time
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that my cofounder founders, and I have 2
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other c cofounder along with me. Who
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are
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who created a company,
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explicitly focused on healthcare. So this the first
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time we've been working on health care,
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in our entire careers, and it's been
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it's been eye opening
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to to tackle the types of problems we've
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been tackling, but
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but we're excited that we've been able to
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make and continue to make an impact,
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on what we believe is 1 of the
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most important issues facing,
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facing healthcare workers and healthcare care leaders today.
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So well said, thank you, Sean. I really
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appreciate you sharing a little bit more about
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yourself and congrats. On officially entering the health
1:51
care world.
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No shortage of complexity here. So
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yeah, lots to dig into there. Butts And
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before we get into kind of the nitty
2:01
gritty about canopy, I I wanted to
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just pose the question, you know, to someone
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who isn't already familiar with... Canopy or even
2:09
the wearable safety landscape? How would you explain
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what the company does, and what really sparked
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the creation of the company as well? Canopy
2:17
Yeah. I think... I'll probably best answer your
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question by starting with
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what was a big surprise to us. When
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we first got introduced to
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the particular challenge that we've been, working on
2:31
for the last 5 years. So
2:33
we started Canopy 5 years ago after,
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meeting
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a number of folks that were career health
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care leaders, so former our Ceos.
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Health care executives
2:43
and in collaboration with, leading academic
2:46
health system, a large 1 in the Pennsylvania
2:49
area,
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we ended up learning that healthcare workers
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end up
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encountering the greatest amount of violence at work.
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Across any occupation in the country, which is
3:02
unbelievably sad,
3:03
but truly surprising for folks that aren't in
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healthcare. Was a problem that's not really talked
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about. But,
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you know, I think most people think of
3:12
physicians and nurses and working in in a
3:15
hospital how as
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a well regarded, well respected profession. It's certainly
3:19
how I grew up and probably how all
3:20
of us grew up. But over the last,
3:23
several years, what has become clear is that
3:27
these folks are encountering
3:29
patients getting aggressive, violent,
3:32
biting them, kicking them, throwing food at them.
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It's really,
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a, a, very, very
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disappointing and sad state of the world that
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that the people that are trying to take
3:44
care of us whenever we're sick and whenever
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we need them the most, end up getting
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treated in this way. And that's not everybody,
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but it happens often enough to where
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if you talk to most health care workers
3:55
if they don't have a story about some
3:57
sort of encounter that they had themselves,
4:00
they they will know someone,
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1 of their coworkers or close colleagues who
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has.
4:06
And so we got introduced this problem about
4:07
5 years ago, and
4:09
when we started learning about some of the
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interventions that
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were being implemented.
4:14
It felt like there's a lot more that
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could be done,
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and that's ultimately what led to the Genesis,
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You know, you talk to,
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anybody who you know that works in a
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hospital,
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they will relay some story that they had,
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and
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we had a, deep technology background and it
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felt like there wasn't a lot of technology
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being applied to this specific challenge, and we
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felt like we have something to offer and
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something that we could bring to the table
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for health care leaders to consider as they
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find ways and new ways to to support
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their staffs.
4:44
Thanks so much, Sean. It's... Really interesting to
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hear about how Canopy really came to be,
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and also the timing of it all, you
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know, having
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started this idea 5 years ago, I believe
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you said,
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really right before the pandemic hit, it sounds
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like. So
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I'm sure we'll get into that too about
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how the Covid 19 pandemic really kind of
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fueled or exacerbated some of these workplace violence
5:07
incidents. But
5:09
yeah, really fascinating to hear that story. So
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I know that Canopy since then has also
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expanded into home health. So I'd like to
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know a little bit more about how you
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anticipate this wearable safety technology in home health
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visits will really help. I'd protect workers, and
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really what was the motivation for this as
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a next step.
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Yeah. Let me let me describe to a
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little bit about
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some of the ways that we've been helping
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staff and I'll all that'll tie
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into
5:41
a lot of the trends that are driving,
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a similar sort of need in in home
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health. And, you know, I think at a
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super high level, you know, like we were
5:49
talking about, you know, what we've found is
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a is that if you if you go
5:55
and poll healthcare workers,
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nearly 40 percent of them in a study
5:59
that I just saw, will have encountered some
6:02
sort of incident
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where patient gets aggressive, maybe their family gets
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aggressive,
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and that's within the 4 walls of a
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hospital,
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4 out of 5
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caregivers
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will end up experiencing some version
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of
6:18
violence across their careers.
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It's just truly remarkable
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how bad
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of an environment that these workers are,
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having to to deal with. And what's even
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worse is that these problems are under reported,
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sometimes to the tune of,
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5 times as many incidents go.
6:38
Un un as opposed to get reported.
6:41
Well at the same time,
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what you see happening with health systems
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is a desire to support their styles, but
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the interventions
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oftentimes
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place more responsibility on training
6:54
and dee escalation, which is all should be
6:56
applauded and very important,
6:58
but staff tend to be responsible for learning
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how to deal with these types of patients
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on their own.
7:03
So now that's in the 4 walls of
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a hospital.
7:06
But now imagine you're a nurse or a
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ph bottom or any kind of social worker.
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And 1 of the biggest trends going on
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across hospitals is to get
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over capacity
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hospitals,
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to take patients that are getting care in
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the hospitals and move them into the comfort
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of their homes. So huge trend
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very important
7:29
across the industry, but now you have these
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caregivers that are having to go into people's
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homes,
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I'll tell you a story that I heard
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from an organization that we're working with.
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They,
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1 of their caregivers,
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was describing how they had to go into
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somebody's home. It was a grandmother who they
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needed to take care of, since I had
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to just do a number of, you know,
7:51
a handful of procedures
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they show up, and it turns out downstairs
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from the grandmother. There's a drug deal going
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on...
7:59
And it turns out that grandmother happens to
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actually be involved in the operation.
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And there's
8:04
times firearms that might be around depending on
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some of these areas. This might be rural
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facility. That's not anywhere near our rural home
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that's nowhere near. The main facility. So imagine
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you were a 20 something, 30 something, 40
8:16
something nurse or health care having to walk
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into that type of environment.
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It's a pretty anxiety inducing
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situation and 1 that
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ultimately is gonna lead to,
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obviously,
8:30
not the best care, but more importantly, it
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leads to a
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desire to not have to do that for
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your work. It's just shouldn't have to be
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part of your work.
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What our technology does
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is help address that
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situation where a caregiver might feel
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alone.
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And so on their own, when they're just
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trying to do their jobs. And so we
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created a wearable safety
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that staff can use no matter where they
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are delivering care. So it's a battery powered
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wearable
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panic button
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that works with infrastructure that we install
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that gives... So staff a way to press
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the button and get instant access to any
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resources that might be available by the hospital,
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to take care of them and to intervene
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when a situation gets threatening or dangerous.
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In the context of a hospital,
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it might be,
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access or a direct connection to central security
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or nearby caregivers who might be in a
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position to help
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in the context of a home care visit,
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which is what we just launched,
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it could be
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a direct
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connection to 911 so that law enforcement can
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show up and respond. It works instantaneously,
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it's
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highest level of reliability,
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and
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ultimately give staff a way to feel fully
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supported and connected,
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to their entire organization, whenever they might be
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trying to do their jobs in a situation
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that could be they're threatening or dangerous
10:05
Fantastic. Thanks, Sean.
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It's... I mean, I... I'm just putting myself
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in the shoes of that health care work
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or whose story you described and what a
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vulnerable position to be in
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you know, trying to help patients and
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I'm sure not visibly panic in the moment
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and so having something like that button that
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can get you instant access to
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you know, safety protocol or, safety measures.
10:29
What what a fantastic idea.
10:32
Appreciate you sharing the details there.
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And I know that you mentioned how some
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healthcare organizations today,
10:39
you're seeing a lot of them kind of
10:41
implementing training and dee escalation techniques.
10:44
As part of their safety measures,
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then that's within the 4 walls of a
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hospital to your point.
10:50
But I... I'm wondering if you can speak
10:51
a little bit more on the general trend
10:53
of how you're seeing
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top health care systems really proactively
10:57
take on staff safety,
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kind of as a differentiator. I mean, in
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this day and age, it's almost
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you know, a way to stay competitive
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in a sense. So curious to get your
11:07
take on that and how this approach has
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evolved
11:10
as safety become more prevalent issue.
11:13
Yeah. That's actually 1 of the most important.
11:16
I think
11:17
ways in which
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organizations can go
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above and beyond.
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For the way that they actually provide
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support to their staff and in doing so
11:27
improve
11:28
care outcomes and the way they actually support
11:31
and do their jobs, which is to take
11:33
care of patients.
11:34
You know, if you if you if you
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go talk with most of the organizations that
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we work with. So we are now
11:40
protecting over 200000
11:42
people around the country.
11:44
And there's a number of themes that come
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up
11:48
whenever we talk with
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these organizations that have decided to
11:54
take a leadership role
11:56
in how they address and support their staffs
12:00
whenever they have to deal with workplace violence.
12:03
I think,
12:04
you know, I'd probably break
12:07
the impact
12:09
that these organizations seek to have into a
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couple of different categories. I think number 1
12:15
is just the impact on individuals themselves.
12:19
If you're a that nurse, you know, we
12:20
were talking about the person going into somebody's
12:22
home, but that same
12:24
situation happens in the 4 walls of a
12:26
hospital. We have to remember it, you know,
12:27
put yourself in the position of a, you
12:29
know, a nurse or,
12:30
you know, somebody who is just there to
12:33
transport a patient from 1 1 place to
12:35
another.
12:36
These are 24 by 7 facilities.
12:39
Imagine you're walking
12:41
to a patient at the end of a
12:43
quarter. We've all been in a hospital before
12:45
a long hallway.
12:46
It's 11PM at night. It's dark You walk
12:49
into a room. During Covid,
12:52
we even had closed door protocol, so you
12:54
might have had to close the door to
12:55
do whatever you need to do with the
12:56
patient.
12:58
You're on your own,
13:00
and who knows what could happen in that
13:02
situation.
13:02
And so not only
13:05
do incidents happen when patients or their families
13:07
escalate?
13:08
But it's just a level of anxiety that
13:11
you're constantly
13:12
doing your jobs with that weighs on you
13:15
while you're actually just trying to do your
13:17
work. So
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You know, I think the kind of impact
13:20
that we've been able to see some of
13:21
these organizations have. First and foremost,
13:25
is helping situations are helping individuals when they're
13:28
in a situation where patients getting aggressive
13:31
by giving them a direct connection to
13:34
security nearby staff, anybody who might be in
13:37
a position to help at the press of
13:38
a button.
13:39
But just carrying the button with you
13:42
it's like having a tool or a shield
13:44
that allows you to feel
13:47
safe and reduces that anxiety. From doing your
13:50
work because you're not alone. You know that
13:52
button will give you access to someone who
13:55
can come and help, and it's carried with
13:57
you. It's on your person, it's discreet
14:00
So both of those are really important at
14:02
an individual level. They tend to end up
14:04
feeling safer over 95
14:06
percent. Of staff who carry our buttons
14:10
end up describing
14:12
feeling safer
14:13
instantly
14:14
so that impact is felt right away.
14:16
But what's important from a leadership point of
14:19
view, you know, you might be a leader
14:21
who's trying to implement,
14:23
your high reliability
14:25
organization framework. You might be trying to go
14:28
above and beyond the standard interventions that the
14:31
joint commission offered. You might be just trying
14:33
to get more data on
14:35
what is happening in your organization frequency of
14:37
incidents.
14:38
And more... Most importantly, you might be just
14:40
trying to to provide... So give back to
14:42
your staff so that they can do their
14:44
jobs the best that they possibly can.
14:46
So what we've seen larger or or the
14:48
leading organizations do is
14:51
they end up implementing the standard
14:53
interventions, d escalation training,
14:56
scorecard,
14:57
you know, encouraging people to report.
15:00
Incidents
15:01
ultimately with the goal to demonstrate that its
15:04
leadership responsibility to address
15:07
workplace violence.
15:08
But what is really compelling about the organizations
15:11
we've worked with or that we've seen is
15:13
that...
15:13
Our leadership
15:15
when they implement wearable safety, like what we
15:17
offer,
15:18
they end up
15:20
going further
15:21
and essentially demonstrating their commitment, to addressing workplace
15:25
violence for their staff. And so the 1
15:26
of the most common pieces of feedback we
15:28
get whenever we talk to organizations, is that
15:31
staff feel
15:33
supported by their leadership. That ends up showing
15:36
up in recruiting materials. It ends up having
15:38
a retention benefit.
15:39
We were talking to a an academic organization
15:41
that said, for every
15:44
piece of technology that they implemented
15:47
around helping staff feel safer. There was a
15:49
2 percent improvement
15:51
in for staff retention, and that's very meaningful
15:55
when
15:56
it costs tens of thousands of dollars to
15:58
handle staff turnover and things like that. So
16:01
we've seen some pretty material impact from the
16:03
types of
16:04
organizations we've been working with.
16:06
Yeah.
16:07
Really appreciate you sharing some of those numbers,
16:09
Sean. I think that
16:11
helps to really contextualize the impact that this
16:13
technology is having. And just what you said
16:17
to kind of wrap it all up that's
16:18
staff feel supported by their leadership. What a
16:21
powerful,
16:23
it's a powerful notion in today's staffing landscape,
16:26
let alone safety. So
16:28
thanks again for for sharing all of that.
16:31
And I know our times together is winding
16:33
down unfortunately. So I'm sure we could go
16:35
on, but I'd love to know just to
16:38
kind of conclude our discussion. If you could
16:40
just share what's on the horizon for Canopy.
16:42
Is there anything...
16:44
Exciting on the pipeline that you'd like to
16:46
share for 20 24 or beyond?
16:48
Well, I think the biggest thing that we'd
16:50
like to share, you know, kind of upcoming
16:52
is
16:53
you know, just a very simple idea.
16:56
Our our company's mission is to help keep
16:58
staff safe.
17:00
Our belief is very simple
17:02
that, every single
17:04
individual who works in health care
17:06
should be able to do the job that
17:08
they got into the profession for, which is
17:10
take care of patients. And so
17:12
our view is very simple that just like
17:15
you would provide masks and gloves and other
17:18
Ppe,
17:19
to caregivers so that they can do their
17:22
jobs
17:23
effectively without
17:25
without risk to themselves.
17:27
We believe
17:29
wearable safety, like what we offer with Canopy
17:32
or wherever an organization might consider it, should
17:36
ultimately be part of standard Ppe.
17:39
That individuals
17:41
get as part of their day to day
17:43
jobs. And so I think what you're gonna
17:45
see from Canopy over the next next exterior
17:47
is a continued commitment to that mission of
17:50
helping
17:51
organizations
17:52
go as far as they are possibly able
17:55
to go to help support their staff. So
17:57
you'll see us working with lots of organizations
17:59
that are involved, you'll see us continuing to
18:03
to to to find new ways to support
18:05
staff and their leaders to support their staff.
18:08
So we're we're very excited about the work
18:10
we're doing and we're committed
18:11
to ensuring that every caregiver in the country
18:14
ends up having some sort of wearable solution
18:17
like ours
18:19
Yeah. Really looking forward to seeing how the
18:22
wearable safety landscape evolves in the next few
18:24
years and also how it... It has a...
18:27
I'm sure it will have a greater impact
18:29
on hospital and health system strategies here. So
18:32
really looking forward to seeing...
18:34
What's on the horizon? Sean, thank you again
18:37
for for joining Becker podcast today and sharing
18:40
all about Canopy with us.
18:42
No. We appreciate appreciate the time, and appreciate
18:45
the the conversation. I think it's a really
18:47
important 1. And
18:48
if there's 1 last note that I would
18:50
love your audience or your listeners to to
18:52
to know is that there's a lot of
18:55
tools available to them,
18:58
beyond just the standard interventions that that might
19:01
be that that that most tend to look
19:03
at. And we'd be... We'd be more than
19:06
excited to to share share our learnings, and
19:09
and we encourage that leadership to really look
19:11
into addressing this from, lots and lots of
19:13
benefits to, not only their staffs, but to
19:16
all of us who
19:18
use the health system to to stay healthy.
19:21
So well said, thank you again, Sean, and
19:24
also, we'd like to thank our podcast sponsor
19:27
for Today's episode, Canopy.
19:30
Listeners you can tune into more podcast podcasts
19:31
from Becker by visiting our podcast page at
19:34
becker hospital review dot com.