Amcom and Cisco in Healthcare

Amcom continues to focus on enabling messages to be sent to an ever-broader array of devices to support the diversity of communications tools different staff members use in today’s hospitals. In fact, our Amcom Mobile Connect smartphone/tablet messaging solution now enables hospitals to send staff encrypted critical communications on Cisco wireless IP phones and Cius tablets. Read more.

In addition to our support for Cisco devices, Amcom has been a member of the Cisco Developer Community since 2003. This means we maintain certifications on a number of products which integrate with Cisco Unified Communications applications and devices. We’re pleased to announce that the latest versions of our operator console applications have successfully completed interoperability testing with Cisco UCCX 8.5, UCM 8.5, and UCCE 8.5. For customers who have Cisco phone systems or plan to migrate to them, this means they’ll have a proven technology backbone supporting their mission-critical communications. Read more.

Curious to hear more about Amcom and Cisco in healthcare? Drop us a note below!

Survey Says!

Given how quickly mobile device adoption and preferences are changing, we’re keenly interested to see the trends taking shape in hospitals regarding usage. I blogged several months ago about the October 2010 survey we conducted on this topic. Last month, we ran a similar survey of more than 600 healthcare organizations about their use of smartphones and tablets in critical communications. Survey participants were from hospitals of all sizes across North America and included clinical leadership, IT, telecommunications, and call center management titles.

We wanted to better understand how mobile devices are making an impact in critical healthcare communications, and how organizations are addressing some of the following challenges:

• Determining which personnel will use smartphones and tablets


• Determining which types of smartphones and tablets to support while continuing to use many other types of communication devices such as pagers


• Determining who should pay for the devices and data plans


• Determining how to insert these devices in the mix of critical communications


• Ensuring messages are sent securely and meet HIPAA requirements

While some of the findings were what we expected (iPad is the preferred tablet!), other responses were surprising, such as hospitals using SMS/email to send sensitive messages, which leads to questions about lack of security and HIPAA concerns.

Interested in finding more about what respondents said about smartphone and tablet usage in their hospitals? You can download the report here.

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts.

Emory University: Making Meaningful Connections Through Technology

We are excited to share with you a new video we created with an exceptional customer, Emory University Hospitals.

Over the years, Emory University Hospitals has become a true leader with its approach to technology, staff communications, and patient care. Emory has worked with Amcom Software to create a unified communications platform which includes:

• Sending critical messages to staff on smartphones


• Notifying all necessary staff simultaneously to speed treatment for heart attack patients (notable reduction in average door-to-balloon time)


• Running an efficient, consolidated contact center that provides top-notch service for 6,000 to 8,000 calls/day


• Managing organization-wide on-call scheduling online

Watch now to learn more about Emory's approach to technology and staff communications. We're thrilled about the success this long-time customer has achieved using its Amcom solutions and hope you find this video inspiring.

Would love to hear your comments!

Winthrop-University Hospital: Smartphone Messaging and Web-Based On-Call Scheduling

We’re pleased that our customer Winthrop-University Hospital is implementing Amcom solutions for smartphone messaging and Web-based on-call scheduling in its 591-bed facility in Long Island, N.Y. The forward-looking hospital will use the Amcom applications to enable highly mobile caregivers to better communicate, elevating patient care and safety.

Winthrop will use the Amcom Mobile Connect smartphone messaging solution to send critical messages to caregivers on their BlackBerry and iPhone smartphones, which will be used to acknowledge the inquiry. The hospital plans to implement the solution on 100 phones in 2011, with plans to add up to 1,000 more phones in 2012.

The Amcom Web-based on-call scheduling solution, WebXchange, will serve several purposes at Winthrop. Staff will be able to update on-call schedules at any time to reflect even last-minute calendar changes. This Web portal can also be used to send critical messages to smartphones as well as other communication tools at Winthrop, including pagers, desk phones, and email applications.

Read the full announcement.

Supporting an Aged Care Facility with Mobile Communications

While we talk a lot about hospitals staff’s needs for mobile communications, there’s another facet of healthcare that has similar requirements: aged/senior care. Many of these organizations offer residents a range of care options from self-sufficient apartments to round-the-clock medical assistance. The ability to send notifications from in-room nurse call and other facility-wide monitoring systems (door alarms, building management) directly to caregiver’s mobile devices is growing in popularity. This speed of communication improves response time to a variety of situations, some of which are life-threatening. It also helps staff work more efficiently by knowing the exact location and nature of the alarm.

Case in point, we just issued a story about Queensland, Australia-based aged care provider Bethany Christian Care. This progressive organization has improved their responsiveness to resident calls for assistance by using Amcom middleware. The solution works with Bethany Christian Care’s nurse call system to escalate requests for resident assistance directly to staff on their Cisco Wi-Fi phones. This enables staff to tend to residents’ needs more quickly, complying with both industry regulations and its own mission for quick response times.

Read more in the press release.