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Contact: Amy
Gilliam
Maggie Borders, nurse manager,
Emergency/Trauma Services, UK Hospital and Chuck
Pledger, Central channel sales manager, Vocera Communications
By
pressing a button on the badge and saying aloud
an individual’s name, title or function,
UK Emergency Department employees are instantly
connected to the resources or staff members they
need. By making it easier for health care personnel
to immediately reach and respond to their colleagues,
UK Hospital officials believe the system will improve
communication for Hospital staff and enhance patient
care.
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LEXINGTON,
Ky. (April 28, 2004) -- To
streamline the communications process and improve
patient care and satisfaction, the University
of Kentucky Hospital Emergency
Department has installed the Vocera
Communications® system. The system features
a lightweight wearable badge that enables instant
voice communications over a wireless network.
UK Hospital is the first organization in Kentucky
to implement Vocera.
Over
200 staff members across shifts in the UK Emergency
Department are using the Vocera Communications
badges.
By
pressing a button on the badge and saying aloud
an individual’s name, title or function,
UK Emergency Department employees are instantly
connected to the resources or staff members they
need. By making it easier for health care personnel
to immediately reach and respond to their colleagues,
UK Hospital officials believe the system will improve
communication for Hospital staff and enhance patient
care.
“I
am very excited that the staff is able to contact
a doctor about a patient’s condition without
having to leave the patient’s bedside,” said
Maggie Borders, nurse manager, Emergency/Trauma
Services, UK Hospital. “In the Emergency
Department, there are times when help is needed
immediately. This state-of-the-art system helps
streamline emergency situations and allows nurses
and physicians more time to care for our patients.
The Vocera Communications system will significantly
advance how we communicate and how we care for
patients.”
While
contacting a doctor by pager may take several minutes,
with Vocera the staff member simply presses a button
and says the name of the person with whom he or
she wants to speak. The request is then processed
by the system and the two parties are directly
connected. Using the old paging system, physicians
would often hold on a phone line for extended periods
of time when Emergency Department staff members
who paged them became occupied.
“The
system will drastically improve our workflows and
eliminate numerous inefficiencies,” Borders
said. “Nurses are especially excited about
the system because they no longer spend inordinate
amounts of time tracking down staff and resources,
allowing them to spend more time with patients.”
The
Vocera Communications system was chosen because
previous communications tools, such as overhead
paging and physically seeking staff, proved inefficient,
noisy and frustrating. The new system allows staff
to be in contact with colleagues instantly and
to attend to patients quicker. The lack of constant
overhead paging has helped decrease noise levels
and increase staff and customer satisfaction within
the Emergency Department environment.
The
Vocera Communications system is comprised of two
key elements: the Vocera System software and the
Vocera Communications badge.
The
Vocera System software platform runs on a server
located at the Hospital, and houses the centralized
system intelligence, the speech recognition engine,
and various databases. The system is centrally
managed, so it may easily be upgraded with new
features and improved functionality.
Weighing
only two ounces, the Vocera Communications badge
is a wearable, voice-controlled device that operates
over a wireless system. It enables users within
UK to talk to each other instantly and hands free.
The system can also place, receive and forward
calls through the public telephone network. Together
the Vocera System software and badge allow staff
to instantly communicate with each other and locate
the resources they need.
“Enabling
this technology allows us to take advantage of
our existing infrastructure and provides more effective
communication methods for our care givers,” said
Jan Bates, technical services director, Medical
Center Information Services, UK Hospital.
The system contains many special features such as
a do not disturb mode, conference calling with three
people at one time, and the ability to record voicemails
for individual users or groups.
After
piloting the Vocera Communications system in the
Emergency Department, consideration will be given
to expanding the system to other areas of the Hospital.
Vocera
Communications was founded in March 2000 and is
headquartered in Cupertino, Calif.
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