05-08-2018, 07:05 AM
Major Health Partners Improves Clinical Workflows and Patient Satisfaction with Vocera Solution
In January 2017, MHP moved from a 150,000-square-foot facility to a new location that spans 350,000 square feet. The 48-bed hospital has more than 1,000 employees and houses multiple provider practices, an outpatient lab, and all acute, ambulatory, observation, and specialty services under one roof. Plus, the emergency department doubled in size and increased the number of beds from 13 to 24. Expecting more than 1,000 patient visits a day, it was critical for MHP to find a secure and flexible communication solution to meet communication needs of nurses, physicians and other care team members, who were using multiple mobile devices.
“We’ve been in our new facility for over a year, and we’ve been blown away by the successful design and deployment of our mobile communication strategy with Vocera,” said David Augsburger, Director of Clinical Informatics at MHP. “Before selecting the Vocera platform, we considered several factors that had limited us in the past. We needed a solution that would help us serve patients now and in the future, as well as one that could easily expand as we grow. Vocera was the ideal choice.”
Depending on the patient care situation, care team members can choose to use the hands-free Vocera Badge or the Vocera secure texting app on their smartphones or at their workstations. In addition, 90 percent of physicians at MHP use the Vocera secure texting application to communicate and collaborate with other clinical care team members on patient cases.
“One of our proudest accomplishments has been deploying a clinical communication solution that our physicians actually use,” said Augsburger.
Integrating Vocera with the hospital’s electronic health records, telephony, and nurse call systems has helped improve clinical workflows. One year after the new hospital opened, MHP reported a 7.7 percent increase in its average on-time surgical starts. According to Augsburger, the percentage continues to improve as more and more physicians rely on the Vocera solution.
Additionally, the ED reported faster throughput with a decrease in door-to-decision time by 2.6 minutes. This time is measured by how long it takes the ED to triage, assess and treat a patient, before deciding on admission or discharge. This process involves collaboration among several departments, including the ED, laboratory, imaging, respiratory and registration. Patient experience in the ED also improved within a year’s time. Overall patient satisfaction with physician encounters increased 5.5 percent; and for nurse interactions, patient satisfaction increased 8.1 percent. Patient satisfaction with the quietness of the hospital improved, too, by 8.4 percent.
"It’s impressive to see how Major Health Partners has innovated new ways of using the Vocera solution across every department and multiple workflows to improve the healthcare experience for patients, families and clinicians,” said Brent Lang, president and CEO of Vocera. “I’m excited to see what they do next at the new hospital.”
About Major Health Partners
Major Health Partners is a leading healthcare provider for patients in southeastern Indiana. Since 1924, Major Hospital/Major Health Partners has grown to offer a wide spectrum of services, leading the region in many areas of healthcare delivery. By providing quality care through our unique combination of state-of-the-art technology, modern facilities, and personal service, Major Health Partners gives patients the same advantages found at large urban hospitals, combined with genuine personal service. That is the Major Difference. For more information, visit www.mymhp.org.
About Vocera
The mission of Vocera Communications, Inc. is to simplify and improve the lives of healthcare professionals and patients, while enabling hospitals to enhance quality of care and operational efficiency. In 2000, when the company was founded, we began to forever change the way care teams communicate. Today, Vocera continues to offer the leading platform for clinical communication and workflow. More than 1,700 facilities worldwide, including nearly 1,500 hospitals and healthcare facilities, have selected our solutions for team members to text securely using smartphones or make calls with our hands-free, wearable Vocera Badge. Interoperability between Vocera and more than 140 clinical and operational systems helps reduce alarm fatigue, speed up staff response times, and improve patient care, safety and experience. In addition to healthcare, Vocera is at home in luxury hotels, aged care facilities, nuclear facilities, libraries, retail stores and more. Vocera makes a difference in any industry where workers are on the move and need to connect instantly with team members and access resources or information quickly. In 2017, Vocera made the list of Forbes 100 Most Trustworthy Companies in America. Learn more at www.vocera.com, and follow @VoceraComm on Twitter.
Vocera® and the Vocera logo are trademarks of Vocera Communications, Inc. registered in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other trademarks appearing in this release are the property of their respective owners.
CONTACT
Shanna Hearon
Vocera Communications, Inc.
865.805.1078
shearon@vocera.com