ENTERPRISE SOLUTION DELIVERS RESULTS
ABOUT MOUNT SINAI
The Mount Sinai Medical Center, founded
in 1852, is a 1,171-bed tertiary- and quaternary-care teaching facility and one of the
nation’s oldest, largest and most-respected
voluntary hospitals. In 2009, U.S. News &
World Report ranked Mount Sinai among
the nation’s top 20 hospitals based on reputation,
patient safety, and other patient care
factors.
Nearly 60,000 people were treated at
Mount Sinai as inpatients last year, and approximately
530,000 outpatient visits took
place.
BEFORE CONNEXALL
with over 300 programs, departments, and
clinics, Mount Sinai Medical Center provides
a wealth of patient services. Optimizing the
patient experience means that new technology
and projects are used to improve
patient care as well as lead innovation.
Before Connexall was installed, nurses responded
to telemetry alarms by periodically
walking to a central nursing station to
assess the status of a patient. This meant
making repeat visits to the nursing station
between visits to patient beds, since nurses
did not have access to the alarm information
elsewhere.
Although SQL reporting was already used
to track some data, information such as
nurse response times to patient or staff requests was unavailable before integration.
SQL reporting did not have a means of
tracking the time it took nurses to respond
to patient alarms either.
“By using technology and a more efficient workflow to improve staff response time to critical events and patient requests, Connexall will help us take the next step in creating a superior patient experience.”
- Mark DeLaney
Vice President of Information Technology
The Mount Sinai Medical Center
THE CONNEXALL SOLUTION
In the first phase of the project, alarms from Mount Sinai’s GE patient monitors were integrated through Connexall and routed to Vocera badges carried by clinical staff. Connexall filters event information so that nuisance alarms are ignored, ensuring that alarm fatigue is not an issue, and each critical event is responded
to.
The second phase of the project enabled nurses to communicate with patients by integrating patient bedside Hill-Rom nurse call stations directly to the Vocera badge of their assigned nurse. At the touch of a button, the nurse can acknowledge the request, or if needed, initiate a two-way voice conversation.
In both phases, Connexall’s fully customizable escalation
process ensures that events are dealt with appropriately.
Additionally, Connexall’s robust, built-in reporting capability helps Mount Sinai identify process bottlenecks, and create direct staff accountability for all alarms. Connexall’s integration to the SQL reporting database enables staff to produce customized scripts and detailed reports. The reports provide information about nurse call requests and telemetry alarm acknowledgement times, which can be used to optimize staff scheduling.
CONNEXALL DELIVERS: RESULTS SUMMARY
Connexall’s vender-agnostic solution enables closed-loop communication between mobile staff and patients.
The power to integrate the communication and performance of a wide range of devices and equipment compliments Connexall’s versatile integration
options, detailed comprehensive reporting capabilities
and easy-to-use, clinically-designed solutions. The immediate improvements to staff efficiency and patient care can make a significant impact on physician
referral patterns, since improvements to patient care and safety are factors in increasing the rates of patient satisfaction and likelihood of referrals.
“One of the key reasons we chose Connexall is its ability to generate comprehensive reports that we can use to measure performance by individual and by unit. This will enable us to focus our continuous quality improvements efforts where they will yield the most benefit.”
- Mark DeLaney
Vice President of Information Technology
The Mount Sinai Medical Center
