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Each year, The Joint Commission publishes sentinel event data by root cause. Communication has ranked among the top three
leading root causes for the past five years. To prevent these tragedies and improve the effectiveness of communication among
caregivers, here are five things to consider as your hospital’s communications infrastructure evolves.
FIVE WAYS TO AVOID CLINICAL COMMUNICATION DISASTER
SM
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Affordable and ReliablePagers remain an effective means of reaching a portion of your staff members at a low cost. They also provide redundancy and reliable coverage during disaster situations.
Hurricane Sandy The I-35W bridge collapse in Minneapolis
With a few clicks, the operator triggers a Code STEMI to simultaneously notify more than 30 staff
The patient receives life-saving treatment in
under 90 minutes
The code alert is received by the cardiologist, ED charge nurse, Cath Lab team, and
other responders
The operator can monitor responses
and escalations
Alert housekeeping personnel when a room is ready to be turned over for a new patient
Learn More
There are many different communication tools used throughout a hospital, including smartphones, Wi-Fi phones, tablets, voice
badges, pagers, etc. Your goal is to have an underlying communication backbone that brings all these devices together. It should
support secure texting, enable emergency notification, and help staff find the right on-call physician quickly. The diversity of
devices remains because the smartphone preferred by physicians may not be the
ideal device for transport staff, housekeeping, etc. Planning a detailed mobility
strategy will make sure you provide each group the most appropriate,
cost-effective technology that enables them to do their jobs more easily.
Many institutions have faltered during the roll-out of new communication devices
and systems because of inconsistent Wi-Fi and/or cellular service signals
throughout the facility. From the lead-shielded radiology department to interior
hallways and conference rooms, auditing signal strength and addressing any gaps
is critical to clinical workflows and patient safety. If staff can’t communicate when
they need to, even the best processes won’t work well.
MAKE IT SIMPLE AND SEAMLESS
GET THE CHECKLIST Tips on how to roll out
a mobility strategy and
secure texting solution
within your organization
SUPPORT DEVICE DIVERSITY
MAXIMIZE YOUR SIGNALS
Messages need to be easy to send, receive, acknowledge, and escalate. Part of this coordination comes with seamless
integration to the hospital’s employee directory and on-call schedules. This means all staff, not just call center individuals, can
reach the right person on the right device with the right message at the right time. Not only does an intuitive method of sending
messages speed staff acceptance, but it also means faster coordination of care for patients.
CASE STUDY IU Health Goshen Hospital in Goshen, Ind., streamlined their average door-to-balloon response time for
heart attack patients, organizing upwards of 30 staff members from multiple departments. They are able to
coordinate the entire process for a code STEMI response in an average of 68 minutes—24 percent faster than
the national guideline.
Notify the nurse when a patient calls for assistance
Learn More
Help ensure physicians can quickly connect for consultation requests
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CASE STUDY Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisc., is using a
secure texting solution to create a better provider
communication process, increase physician
satisfaction, and enable encrypted messaging
to mobile devices.
“During the three months immediately following
implementation [of the test results management
solution], we saw an 11% improvement in patient
discharge times.”
José Bennett, PACS Administrator, Palmetto Health Tuomey
TIPSLook for a vendor that supports the entire messaging process— web-based staff directory and on-call scheduling, secure texting, sending patient care system alerts to staff’s devices, and more. A fully integrated process will operate smoothly, track messages, and help you take a giant step forward in delivering well-coordinated care for patients in a way that protects both patient information and your hospital’s reputation. The easier it is for staff to use a HIPAA-compliant messaging solution, the more likely they will be to adopt it.
FOUR RULES FOR HIPAA-COMPLIANT TEXTING:• Staff’s mobile devices must be locked on both the sender and receiver side
• ePHI must be encrypted throughout the message’s journey
• ePHI must be stored securely to prevent unauthorized access
• The hospital must have a signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with any vendors though which ePHI flows
The greatest benefit of well-integrated mobile devices is the ease of communicating
securely, especially with text messages, images, and videos. Always sending electronic
protected health information (ePHI) via a secure texting app helps your hospital reduce
the risk of HIPAA violations and protects sensitive patient data at all times.
IMPROVE CLINICAL WORKFLOWS
CASE STUDY PinnacleHealth System in Harrisburg, Pa., is improving patient safety and satisfaction with technology that sends
messages from patient monitoring and nurse call systems directly to the right staff member’s mobile device.
MAKE HIPAA COMPLIANCE A PRIORITY
Mobile devices offer the opportunity to reevaluate many clinical workflows. For
example, delivering test results to the ordering provider can become much faster
with a system that logs the results in the patient’s EMR and also sends a secure
message to the physician. The time savings from immediate notification instead
of unnecessary phone tag can directly improve patient outcomes. Other potential
workflow enhancements include faster response to consultation requests, better alarm
management procedures, and a nurse call process that’s more satisfying for patients.
Secure texting apps can track when messages are sent, received, and acknowledged—as well as the actual replies. These audit trails are key for Joint Commission regulations, staff accountability, and escalation monitoring in emergencies such as code calls.
CASE STUDY Palmetto Health Tuomey in Sumter, S.C. is using a test results management system to link communications between
the health information system (HIS), radiology information system (RIS), and the picture archiving and communications
system (PACS). Now they are better able to facilitate follow-up on incidental findings discovered during exams.
SM
TAKE CHARGETake advantage of all that communication technology has to offer, including
more efficient work patterns and new ways to communicate among your staff.
Send test results to ordering providers, allow a nurse to respond immediately
when his or her patients call for assistance, and simplify your code call process.
Make your organization a safer place for patients, staff, and visitors.
ABOUT SPOK, INC.Spok, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Spok Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPOK), headquartered in Springfield,
Va., is proud to be a leader in critical communications for healthcare, government, public safety, and other
industries. We deliver smart, reliable solutions to help protect the health, well-being, and safety of people
around the globe. Organizations worldwide rely on Spok for workflow improvement, secure texting, paging
services, contact center optimization, and public safety response. When communications matter, Spok
delivers.
U.S. hospitals waste more than $12 billion annually from communication inefficiencies among care providers.1
© Spok, Inc. 2014, 2016 All Rights Reserved. Spok is a trademark of Spok Holdings, Inc. Other names and trademarks may be the property of their respective owners.
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