WHO’S ON CALL?

Reaching the Right Person When Seconds Count

HEALTHCARE COMMUNICATIONS TODAY

REACHING CLINICIANS

SMARTPHONES ARE

EVERYWHERE

of physicians are using smartphones to support patient care

BUT THEY’RE NOT ENOUGH of physicians express concerns about having access to colleagues

of nurses cite difficulties determining which physician is available

http://spyglass-consulting.com/press_releases/SpyglassPR_POC_Comm_Physicians_2014.v1.3.pdfhttp://www.spyglass-consulting.com/press_releases/SpyglassPR_POC_Comm_Nursing_2014.v1.1.pdf

96%61%53%

NOT JUST SMARTPHONES

http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/issue.aspx?issueid=9899

In a two-month study at academic medical centers in Toronto:

of pages were sent to an off-duty provider

of those pages were urgent

14%

32%

THE ROOT CAUSE

• Digital spreadsheets may have multiple versions with conflicting information

• Paper copies become outdated as soon as they are printed

• Many physicians’ schedules are complex and constantly changing

of hospital informatics professionals cited managing on-call schedules as a top pain point62%

THE CONSEQUENCES

• When urgent requests are sent to the wrong doctor because contact information is incorrect, the resulting delay in treatment could result in patient harm

The Joint Commission: Communication is the No. 1 root cause of serious injury or death related to a delay in treatment

http://www.jointcommission.org/Sentinel_Event_Statistics/

THE SOLUTION

• A centralized, web-based on-call schedule, which should:

– Be readily accessible to authorized staff

– Pull contact information from a well-maintained directory

– Integrate with additional tools such as encrypted smartphone texting and escalation procedures

BEYOND JUST MANAGING ON-CALL SCHEDULES

KEEPING IT CURRENT

Clinicians: One source for info means they’re only contacted when they’re truly needed

Clinical Departments: Can take ownership of updates and make revisions themselves

Contact Center Staff: Removes them from the update process

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VIEW AND EDIT ON-CALL SCHEDULES

Contact center solutions include PBX integration, directory database, call handling, routing, rules engine and application modules

SAMPLE OPERATOR WORKFLOW

ER nurse detects heart attack and calls hotline

Operator initiates ‘Code Blue’ protocol and kicks off notification

System determines ‘Code Blue’ team members, including on-call members

Operator resolves any exceptions

Caregivers rally quickly to help patient

Full audit trail tracks performance

Staff are automatically contacted on preferred device

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CASE STUDY

“On-call scheduling and the ability to send messages from the directory is what completely sold me on the [Spok] product. The system is very easy to use, and the real-time nature of the directory ensures we are messaging people on the right devices. We don’t have to wait for a database update.”

Pat KenonTelecommunications Manager, LifeBridge Health

• Needed 24/7 communication support for large and growing organization with two separate but integrated contact centers with 80K+ calls/month

• Implemented Spok Healthcare Console and Spok Web Directory for a single database and flexible system across all contact center activities

• Saw faster caller service, improved ability to contact right on-call staff member, improved understanding of costs with robust reporting

LifeBridge Health

SAVING TIME

• Web-based on-call schedules are accessible from the web and mobile apps, by any authorized staff, including clinicians and call center operators:

– Urgent messages get where they need to go quickly

– Quick access to information cuts wasted search

–Messages can be sent right from the directory

– Doctors can input exceptions so users can forward their on-call to another provider during specific dates and times

WEB SCHEDULING AND DIRECTORY FEATURES

• Offers both information input and access

• Integrates with console database used by operator group

– Changes made in one system are immediately visible in the other

• Integrates with Paging Gateway

– Messaging portal for Spok Mobile™

• Uses browser-based tool for viewing and editing on-call schedules

– Designed with simplicity in mind: displays on-call schedules in intuitive format

CASE STUDY

“It was important for us to transfer the responsibility of schedules to individual departments and reduce the number of paper copies floating around the hospital. With the web directory and on-call scheduling solution, we have been able to do just that.”

Heidi LueckSwitchboard Supervisor, Meriter-UnityPoint Health

• Had 158 departments, 25 paper copies of on-call schedule printed each day, inefficient change notification process, and 500K calls each year

• Implemented Spok Healthcare Console, web directory, and on-call scheduling solutions so individual departments could access/view same info as operators

• Eliminated paper copies, more accurate on-call schedules, organization-wide improvements in reliability, efficiency, and patient safety

Meriter-UnityPoint Health

STAYING CONNECTED

• Another benefit of an online on-call schedule is integration with paging and secure texting applications to not only reach the right provider, but also the right device

INTEGRATION WITH SPOK MOBILE

Spok Mobile integration lets you use the Spok Healthcare Console to send messages to smartphones

Accepted: Message has been received by Spok Mobile Queued:Message is queued for deliveryDelivered: Message received by Spok Mobile device client

CASE STUDY

“We’ve taken a lot of pressure off our operators with our [Spok] solutions. Code initiation and clinical communications have been simplified. Fewer paper copies means more efficient communications and fewer pages sent to the wrong person. The ability to send messages securely to smartphones has pleased staff and sped communications.”

Mac StanfordBiomedical/Communication Services, NMMC

• Clinicians were frustrated with inaccurate communications, wanted process to be quicker, more efficient, and more accurate

• Operators struggled to answer high volume of calls efficiently; callers sometimes had to wait more than 30 rings before operator picked up

• Selected Spok Healthcare Console with web directory and on-call scheduling solutions, as well as Spok Speech and Spok Mobile

• Streamlined clinical communications, reduced operators’ workloads

North Mississippi Medical Center

SUMMARY

• Improved provider communication results in better-quality patient care:

– Top driver of connected health technologies is to improve quality of care

– Only 15% of physicians report hospital’s IT team has developed a mobile strategy to support clinical communications and collaborative team-based care

• With complexity of schedules and diversity of mobile devices, advanced technology is required to help manage contact informationhttp://www.meddatagroup.com/landing-page-physician-attitudes/

LET’S GET IN TOUCH!

Learn more:

CASE STUDIES VIDEOS

We’d love to hear from you!

spok.comgetinfo@spok.com