Vocera integration with prescriptive analytics reduces patient falls
Vocera Communications, a leading healthcare communications company, today announced that long-time customer MedStar Montgomery Medical Center has once again improved patient care with the launch of a fall prevention program. The innovative new initiative combines prescriptive analytics using the hospital’s clinical data with the Vocera Communication System, an intelligent software platform enabling real-time alerts and notifications, secure texting, hands-free communication, and integration with more than 75 clinical systems including electronic health records, nurse call and bed management solutions. The program is supported by analyticsMD’s prescriptive analytics solution.
For more than 13 years, MedStar Montgomery Medical Center has been a Vocera customer, initially implementing the Vocera Communication System enterprise-wide to reduce noise levels. That objective was quickly met; and over the years, the hospital has leveraged Vocera technology in many other ways to improve patient experience and workflow efficiency. Equipping environmental services staff with wearable, voice-controlled communication devices helped improve room turnover rates, and integration between the bed tracking system and the Vocera solution significantly improved patient wait times and throughput in the emergency department. In 2012, the hospital integrated its nurse call solution with the Vocera system, connecting patients quickly to their caregivers and reducing staff response times.
With a continuous focus on patient safety and satisfaction, MedStar implemented analyticsMD’s prescriptive analytics solution in 2016, gaining real-time, actionable insight into its patient population. The analyticsMD platform looks at both historical and transactional data to proactively notify MedStar team members about fall risks. Now MedStar has a real-time fall alert system that notifies care teams about high-risk patients. These alerts are sent directly to assigned nurses via their Vocera Communication Badge. Because the badges are wearable, staff members’ hands are free to quickly help patients at the bedside while also calling for co-workers’ assistance if needed.
“We are noticing a downward trend in falls since implementing the prevention program using the Vocera technology in conjunction with analyticsMD prescriptive analytics,” said Christiane Brown, assistant vice president of information technology at MedStar. “It’s amazing how the right information combined with the right communication technology can have such as positive impact on patient care and safety.”
In addition to safeguarding patients, an effective fall prevention program can improve operational efficiency. On average, a serious fall-related injury adds 6.3 days to a patient’s hospital stay and costs approximately $14,056, according The Joint Commission.
“Real-time communication between care teams impacts multiple aspects of a health system’s operations and is essential in improving patient safety,” said Brent Lang, president and CEO of Vocera. “I’m impressed by the way Medstar Montgomery Medical Center has integrated its clinical data with the Vocera Communication Platform to improve staff responsiveness and reduce falls. This innovative approach is a great example of how human-centered technology can elevate the patient experience.”