Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Hospitals Continue to Turn to Smartphone Communications in Lieu of Pagers

While it’s hardly news that smartphones are continuing to make inroads in hospitals, many of the stories focus on organizations incorporating these devices alongside existing communications tools like pagers, Wi-Fi phones and the like. But at Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, the team is considering going full-force with smartphones and retiring their pagers.

WUWM 89.7 FM - Milwaukee Public Radio recently did an article on this organization’s use of smartphone messaging and the importance of closed-loop communications. They highlight their ability to coordinate care faster while adhering to security steps for messages and devices.

Check out the article.

Learn about Amcom’s smartphone communication capabilities.

Any comments about what’s new with smartphone use at your healthcare organization?

Monday, April 2, 2012

Better HCAHPS with Smarter Communication

The theme of communications runs strong in six of the 10 HCAHPS summary measures. Nurses communicating well. Doctors communicating well. Rooms quiet at night. And more.

Leading hospitals have noticed this. And in this new era of “value-based purchasing,” they recognize that in order to stay competitive and qualify for reimbursements they need to continue to provide outstanding care – and focus on those HCAHPS scores.

The good ones are improving processes and relying on communication technology to help with key issues like:

       • Falls and medical errors
       • Patients feeling safe
       • Getting key info to clinicians quickly
       • Speeding response time for requests
       • Cutting environmental (often overhead) noise

Amcom Software helps hospitals solve these challenges with encrypted critical smartphone/tablet messaging and clinical alerting middleware.

Learn more in these videos:

      
How do you approach issues like these in your hospital?