Wayne Memorial Hospital has implemented the nurse call integration feature of the HealthAlert for Nurses technology from Fort Wayne, Ind.-based EXTENSION. The 316-bed facility can now automate the delivery of clinical information and nurse call messages.

"We knew we needed a short-term communications solution for our staff and most of the products we considered could provide that, but EXTENSION provided so much more, said Jeff Brogneaux, clinical informaticist at Wayne Memorial Hospital. "We have improved our falls scores and patient satisfaction scores in part because our staff is able to respond quickly to patient needs."

Wayne Memorial sought to optimize clinical workflows on their new Cisco 7925 handsets and to upgrade their methods of communication to track messages delivered, and chose EXTENSION because of its seamless integration with Cisco's Unified Communications infrastructure, MEDITECH EMR, as well as the Rauland-Borg Responder 4 nurse call system.

The EXTENSION HealthAlert nurse call integration feature was implemented to replace the outdated pagers in the Oncology department. Wayne also lacked visibility into whether a message was delivered, accepted, declined, etc. In addition, the nurses at Wayne desired more context-rich alerts appropriate for clinical decision-making and management sought to improve clinical workflows by eliminating the need for a unit secretary to serve as an intermediary between nurse and patient. EXTENSION connected Wayne's communications infrastructure and its health information systems with the EXTENSION server-based appliance and 250 Cisco IP handsets to take full advantage of the existing architecture and to enhance the relevance of the data retrieved from the various systems.

"We plan to automate critical lab results and other important information that will flow directly to the nurse caring for a patient," says Brogneaux. "EXTENSION will be an integral part of our future at Wayne."

HealthAlert for Nurses aggregates data from the disparate systems at Wayne and integrates the data with Cisco's Collaboration platform including the 7900 series IP phones so that clinical data can be securely accessed via telephony devices. When HealthAlert receives information, which triggers a context-aware alert, it translates the message to an XML message using a simple GUI interface. The XML message is then viewable by staff members on the screen of their IP phones. With HealthAlert for Nurses , users at Wayne Memorial Hospital have achieved greater efficiency and are benefiting from the mobility features of the solution.