Table Of Contents
Cisco Imatis Mobile Care Solution Services
Challenges Experienced in Hospitals
Cisco Imatis Mobile Care Services
IMATIS Mobile Nurse Call Services Overview
IMATIS Order Entry Alerts Services Overview
Cisco Imatis Mobile Care Solution Services
Challenges Experienced in Hospitals
Care providers are faced with an ever-increasing number of challenges in global healthcare systems. Patient loads are increasing due to the shrinking numbers of medical professionals within the industry. To make their jobs even more challenging, they now face an increased number of clinical information sources, including nurse call, ancillary clinical systems, and building systems. In many healthcare organizations, for example, nurse calls are received at the central nursing station and require the duty nurse to overhead audio page or audio room page the responsible nurse in order to handle another patient request. Disruptions like these to an already stressed workflow result in clinical inefficiencies and overall lower patient safety and satisfaction.
With respect to increasing amount of clinical diagnostic results being generated, the responsibility of collating and acting upon these reports falls on nursing staff. More times then not, they are processed in a batch form and not as they arrive from the ancillary department. If the result is recognized as critical to the patient care, it must be communicated to the attending physician and/or assigned nurse. The problem, however, is that often these results are lost in a paper shuffle and sometimes time critical to patient treatment is lost in the process.
To streamline the care process, Cisco has developed the Cisco Imatis Mobile Care Solution. This solution provides the correct and most appropriate caregivers with the information that they need, where ever they are. Through the use of the Unified Wireless Mobility and Unified Communications technologies from Cisco, the caregiver can now be presented with timely and prioritized information they can more efficiently view and act upon. The IMATIS Order Entry Alerts component of the Cisco Imatis Mobile Care Solution interfaces the physician or nurse directly to the ancillary systems, which notifies them using a wireless phone as to the availability of a clinical test result. From this same device, a nurse can receive alerts from patients or entire Medical Emergency Teams, such as the Code, Cesarean, Respiratory, and Cardiac team, can now receive real-time alerts when requested. In addition, the solution provides voice communication directly between the patient and caregiver, further enhancing patient care while at the same time increasing efficiency.
Cisco Imatis Mobile Care Services
The Cisco Imatis Mobile Care solution is based on three main use cases or functions that address many of the common communication requirements within a healthcare environment. Each of these use cases is discussed in detail in the following sections and all utilize a Cisco Medical-Grade compliant infrastructure which supports both a Unified Communications and Unified Wireless Network Solution.
Figure 2-1 shows a summary of the services enabled through the integration with Imatis.
Figure 2-1 Summary of Services Enabled Through the Integration with IMATIS
IMATIS Mobile Nurse Call Services Overview
These services will greatly enhance the workflows of a hospital. Several services and integrations are described below. matis has other services and integrations points that are not covered in this document. Use the contact information provided in Imatis Overview to obtain more information.
In order to provide efficient patient care, communication among patients and nursing staff is critical for optimal patient outcomes. In any healthcare-related facility, whether it be acute, outpatient, or aged care facilities, a nurse call system is likely deployed. With the addition of IMATIS Mobile Nurse Call to an existing or yet-to-be-installed nurse call system, the communication system is augmented and optimized.
Interfacing directly with the nurse call system by using the IMATIS Hospital Communication System, both text- and audio-based alerts can be provided to the optimal caregiver where ever they are located within the healthcare facility. The solution employs a simple to use wireless handset that provides the care giver with a text-based workflow presenting prioritized alerts.
Figure 2-2 shows a sample workflow through existing methods for nurse call.
Figure 2-2 Sample Workflow for Nurse Call
Figure 2-3 shows the efficiencies gained by all parties when using IMATIS Mobile Nurse Call.
Figure 2-3 Sample Workflow Using IMATIS Mobile Nurse Call
By using the Cisco Imatis Mobile Care solution, patient safety and clinical efficiency are improved over that of a traditional nurse call system. Integration with the BEST Nurse Call System provides secondary alerts to Cisco IP phones in addition to the primary alerts sent to the Nurse Call stations provided by BEST.
For additional Nurse Call System integrations, contact Imatis.
IMATIS Order Entry Alerts Services Overview
Many times within a healthcare system, the availability of new patient diagnostic information is lost in the paper and work shuffle. By leveraging both mobility and VoIP technologies, the timely notification of test results can now be communicated in real time to one or more caregivers responsible for patient care. Through the use of IMATIS Hospital Communication System, the availability of diagnostic results can be communicated to caregivers through a standard HL7-based interface.
This HL7 interface allows any ancillary system to be instrumented such that clinical results or information about the availability of new results from systems such as lab, oncology, and radiology can be sent directly to the prescribing physician as well as the responsible nursing staff. The result is rapid turn around, allowing physicians and caregivers to act upon those results.
Figure 2-4 shows a sample of the delays and uncertainties around the readiness of lab results in current settings.
Figure 2-4 Delays and Uncertainties in Lab Readiness Results
Figure 2-5 shows the benefits clinicians gain by using IMATIS Order Entry Alerts to support the alerts when a lab result is ready for review.
Figure 2-5 Lab Result Availability Alerts Using IMATIS Order Entry Alerts
HL7 is used by various hospital system and may utilize a range of parameters. For detailed information on specific integration points, contact Imatis.
Hospital Services Overview
Hospital services is a general category of services that can help to improve the workflows of hospital staff employees. The four areas that Imatis focuses on to improve workflow are:
•
IMATIS Mobile Alerts
•
•
•
Figure 2-6 shows an example of hospital services without the benefits of the Cisco Imatis Mobile Care Solution.
Figure 2-6 Hospital Services Without Cisco Imatis Mobile Care
Figure 2-7 portrays the improved workflow gained through using the Cisco Imatis Mobile Care Solution for hospital services.
Figure 2-7 Improved Workflow Using Cisco Imatis Mobile Care for Hospital Services
IMATIS Mobile Alerts
IMATIS Mobile Alerts is a general messaging service for routing messages from different producers to consumers.
Integrating with best-of-breed facilities systems and installations like Fire Alarm, Security Systems, HVAC systems, Elevators, Pneumatic tubing, Automated Guided vehicles, and so on, gives the opportunity to send alarms, maintenance and error messages to dedicated service personnel, as well as sending notifications on arrival of pneumatic tubes or AGV transport to the receiving person improving the overall transport efficiency.
Just as timely clinical information is critical in a healthcare environment, so is building safety. By interfacing directly with building systems, such as fire and security, caregivers are provided with accurate and timely information during an emergency. Security lock downs, fire alarms, additional alarms, etc. can be sent to users in a text-based message. This can include descriptive text about the location or nature of the emergency.
The result is that staff are better informed and can take appropriate action during such an event. Since the nature of the emergency is now known and tracked in real time, the care giver can provide patient and other staff with timely information as to the status of the emergency.
IMATIS Hospital Orderly
IMATIS Hospital Orderly is a system designed to improve hospital patient transport functions. This automated workflow solution enhances staff communication, reduces late pick-ups, distributes transport workload on the orderlies, and optimizes the use of transport resources.
MATIS Hospital Orderly includes functions such as:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Requests for patient movement inside a hospital or other facility-related requests are also commonly asked of caregivers. Often the request is initiated while next to the patient's bed. With a transportation service request issued from the bedside communication system, efficiencies can be gained and the request sent as soon as the caregiver is aware of it. Updates can be provided to the requester as well the employees responding to the request through the Cisco 7921G phone.
Text Messaging
Poor coverage may exist inside a hospital for typical text message devices. The Cisco Imatis Mobile Care Solution can rectify this and integration with existing directory systems for hospital staff can be customized by using the text message services offered through the solution. This service provides the ability for any hospital staff to text message another hospital staff through the integration with Cisco Unifed Communications Manager and Cisco Unified Wireless Network. From any Cisco IP phone, one can text message another person using the Cisco IP phone whether it is wired or wireless. This flexibility provides the staff with a device that offers a wide range of service options through XML applications.
IMATIS Medical Team Assembly
IMATIS Medical Team Assembly provide the functionality in emergency situations to rapidly send out messages to potential members of a specialist team (for example cardiac arrest team, multi-trauma team, or a need for emergency expertise in the hospital) and keep track of acknowledged responses to make sure the team is fully casted and on their way. The solution provides the necessary escalation logic and logs to monitor the alarm activity. This includes dispatch software which allows the person handling incoming emergency calls to simultaneously send messages to stationary or hand held devices (pagers, IP phones, mobile phones) of the response team.
Often teams of individuals for a particular role, like a cardiac team, need to be rapidly assembled. Using methods for finding a particular person for a specific shift may require much manual searching, wasting critical time in the assembly of the team. Using the service created through the Cisco Imatis Mobile Care Solution for team assembly, specific roles can be assigned to staff for particular shifts, such that all roles are always covered. Alerts for a team assembly are as simple as selecting a speed dial button on a Cisco IP phone and the alert to form a team can be rapidly pushed to the right individuals.
Summary
The Cisco Imatis Mobile Care solution offers a variety of exciting workflow enhancements. A great benefit to the multi-purpose staff and employees in a hospital that may carry multiple roles, this range of services can be converged onto a signal device to further reduce the complexities of dealing with multiple interfaces to get information. For more information on this solution, contact your Cisco or Imatis representatives to learn more. The following sections cover the architecture, designs, and implementation around the services covered.
