Nurse Call Systems
Patient safety is always number one when it comes to boosting HCAHPS scores and nurse call systems are the most strategic investment a hospital can make to boost its ratings. Nurse call systems are the lifeline of communications from the patient to the providers’ world. For decades, nurse call systems were intercom-like systems that were hardwired to perform a set number of tasks. Now with technology advancing, there are new nurse call systems available, such as Rauland’s Responder 5, which is significantly more open and flexible, such that the provider can decide over time how to best automate clinical processes and not be limited by proprietary technology designs.
For decades nurse call was considered a tactical decision driven by what was needed to meet fire code and obtain certification from the state to open and run a hospital. With that being said, nurse call was anything but a strategic investment. It was deemed a tactically required utility, hence the majority of the time it became a facilities led purchase decision and they rarely collaborated with the clinical side, nor did they consider the long-term impact on clinical operations. Many times, the decision was solely based upon spending the least amount possible to meet code. Over the past five years, nurse call has shifted from a tactical utility decision to one of the most strategic clinical IT investments a provider can make.
Real Time Locator Systems
Real time locator systems (RTLS) can not only boost HCAHPS scores but also reduce cost and time spent on finding assets and nurses. RTLS can easily be integrated with nurse call systems, such as the Responder 5, and is a sensory network that enables nurse call systems to make communications support decisions based upon the location of people and assets. In the patient care setting, RTLS has become essential to best practice adherence and compliance reporting. For example, as a nurse walks into the room the nurse call knows who they are, where they are and how long they were there. All of this information was manually recorded in the past, if at all. To improve HCAHPS scores, nurses should be focused on patient care and not burdened with manual compliance reporting.
In just four short years, the industry has shifted from clipboards to embracing and depending on technology. With these new advancements in technology, it is easier for hospitals to protect valuable nursing time that would otherwise be lost to less valuable tasks than patient care. With nursing management reports, hospitals are able to quickly determine whether goals are being met and if not, where they are falling short.
Nurses play a critical role in improving hospitals’ HCAHPS scores. What better way to ensure nurses are doing their best, than by improving their quality of life? Happy nurses do better work and require less management to do the right thing. The more hospitals do for the clinical care team to keep them happy and focused on where they can make the most valuable contributions, the better. Nurse call systems and RTLS both accomplish this.
With nurse call systems and RTLS implemented, it’s important for hospitals to measure the data collected by these systems and compare it to best practice goals. This will help clinical executives give valuable feedback to their nurses. If they fall short of their target goal, hospitals can use analytics to pinpoint where and why they need to move resources to normalize workloads, how to achieve consistent quality of care and overall improve HCAHPS scores.
Joe Jackson, FHIMSS is Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Lone Star Communications, Inc. Lone Star Communications is the leading provider in North Texas of life safety communications solutions for the healthcare and K-12 education markets since 1991. For more information, please visit www.lonestarcom.com or call 972.336.0000.
The views, opinions and positions expressed within these guest posts are those of the author alone and do not represent those of Becker’s Hospital Review/Becker’s Healthcare. The accuracy, completeness and validity of any statements made within this article are not guaranteed. We accept no liability for any errors, omissions or representations. The copyright of this content belongs to the author and any liability with regards to infringement of intellectual property rights remains with them.
