Have you ever noticed the communication devices many of our staff and providers wear? They might appear to look like mini-walkie talkies, hanging on their scrub pocket or around their neck. Those are our Vocera hands-free communication devices. We are proud to continue to improve our technologies to provide the most effective and timely patient care for you and your family.

Vocera Communications, Inc. a leader in clinical communication and workflow solutions, announced recently that Major Health Partners (MHP) has been recognized as a Vocera Center for Excellence. MHP has improved emergency department (ED) productivity, surgical start times, and patient satisfaction using Vocera technology throughout its new medical center.

When MHP moved Major Hospital from its original Washington St. location to the new MHP Medical Center location in 2017, the facility nearly tripled in size. Seeing more than 1,000 patient visits a day, it was critical for MHP to find a secure and flexible communication solution to meet communication needs of nurses, physicians and other care team members, who were using multiple mobile devices.

“We’ve now been in our new facility for over a year, and we’ve been blown away by the successful design and deployment of our mobile communication strategy with Vocera,” said David Augsburger, Director of Clinical Informatics at MHP. “Before selecting the Vocera platform, we considered several factors that had limited us in the past. We needed a solution that would help us serve patients now and, in the future, as well as one that could easily expand as we grow. Vocera was the ideal choice.”

Depending on the patient care situation, care team members can choose to use the hands-free Vocera Badge or the Vocera secure texting app on their smartphones or at their workstations. In addition, 90 percent of physicians at MHP use the Vocera secure texting application to communicate and collaborate with other clinical care team members on patient cases.

“One of our proudest accomplishments has been deploying a clinical communication solution that our physicians actually use,” said Augsburger.

Integrating Vocera with the hospital’s electronic health records, telephony, and nurse call systems has helped improve clinical workflows. One year after the new hospital opened, MHP reported a 7.7 percent increase in its average on-time surgical starts. According to Augsburger, the percentage continues to improve as more and more physicians rely on the Vocera solution.

Additionally, the ED reported faster output with a decrease in door-to-decision time by 2.6 minutes. This time is measured by how long it takes the ED to triage, assess and treat a patient, before deciding on admission or discharge. This process involves collaboration among several departments, including the ED, laboratory, imaging, respiratory and registration. Patient experience in the ED also improved within a year’s time. Overall patient satisfaction with physician encounters increased 5.5 percent; and for nurse interactions, patient satisfaction increased 8.1 percent. Patient satisfaction with the quietness of the hospital improved, too, by 8.4 percent.

"It’s impressive to see how Major Health Partners has innovated new ways of using the Vocera solution across every department and multiple workflows to improve the healthcare experience for patients, families and clinicians,” said Brent Lang, president and CEO of Vocera. “I’m excited to see what they do next at the new hospital.”

To read more on the case study involving MHP & Vocera click here.