Transform Emergency Departments with Information Immediacy
With hundreds of installations in hospitals throughout North America and around the world, Connexall is a proven solution in the healthcare space. Our team – in product development, sales, support, and operations – brings years of experience and a deep understanding of hospital processes and workflows, and their underlying business needs. Through that experience, and in our conversations with dozens of executives, we have identified a series of common issues and challenges that all hospitals face in cutting costs, driving revenues, and increasing patient throughput, without sacrificing quality of care and patient satisfaction.
Emergency Departments (EDs) can be the source of up to 80% of hospital admissions, while at the same time treating and releasing hundreds of patients a day. The ED presents one of the greatest opportunities for additional revenue and cost savings implementing workflow and process improvements.
ED backlogs in the United States
Many Emergency Departments face a severely reduced patient flow that can result from incremental patient backlogs accumulated during peak times. Patients referred to an ED may chose to admit themselves to an alternate location if they are not admitted in a timely manner. Unfortunately, patients and EMS diversion to other hospitals costs time-strapped organizations approximately $12,000 per hour in lost revenue, and consistent admissions delays may negatively impact a hospital ED reputation, reducing the number of referrals. Finding ways to prevent this backlog represents a key solution to many major ED problems: enhanced patient flow dramatically improves patient care and process outcomes throughout the ED.
A common myth about ED backlogs
ED delays are often blamed on a shortage of hospital beds, however, in our experience and conversations with hospital staff and executives, we have found that only approximately 20% of ED patients are admitted to inpatient beds, while the remaining 80% are seen and leave without a bed assignment. This suggests that bed capacity is probably not the major issue behind overcrowding, diversions, and lengthy wait times.
Current approaches to solving ED backlogs
While most improvement initiatives aim to admit patients faster and prevent boarding in the ED, the benefits seen are usually marginal this only seems to benefit ED patient flow marginally, and entails costly propositions like observation units, rapid admit units, more telemetry beds and cancelling of elective surgeries and admissions.
Using information immediacy to eliminate bottlenecks
As discussed above, patient flow in operationally-efficient departments is not dependant on hospital bed capacity. Most successful strategies to reduce bottlenecks accept current capacity as a given, and assume that efficiencies will have to be found using current space, staff, and infrastructure. The best strategies leverage opportunities to create smarter processes and support systems that the ED itself can influence with fewer incidents of missed communication or human error.
The most successful ED’s – in fact, the most successful businesses and departments in any industry – optimize their operational capabilities by automating repetitive tasks, which allows staff to focus directly on those issues that cannot be automated and require human intervention. In ED settings, this means freeing up clinicians to focus on direct caregiver support to patients. Instead of merely reengineering overcomplicated processes, successful hospitals are creating new solutions that emphasize patient quality of care in through the creation of an entirely new system format rather than through the reengineering of previously flawed processes.
When we provide a solution for ED, we focus on multiple patient flow bottlenecks virtually every hospital faces: between the waiting room and the ER, and between the ER and inpatient units. Connexall ensures that every request is acknowledged with a timely response, and data reporting capabilities offer management the right information to make improvements to staff scheduling or device reliability. By enhancing communications and enabling information immediacy, you know exactly which hospital beds are available and which units are accepting patients. Triage notification, rapid ER bed turnover, and rapid service management can all be managed more easily by Connexall. Abnormal test results and the outcomes of patient consults can be communicated immediately, with no unnecessary waiting. A major Canadian hospital reduced average length of stay in the ER by 17% after implementing a Connexall ER and bed status solution. Connexall dramatically improves asset utilization, which frees up functional capacity to address an ED’s primary challenge variability.
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Connexall and Lean Healthcare: Partners for Success
If you attended WorldConnex 2009, you heard Farrah Hirji of Markham-Stouffville Hospital talk about the increasing application of Lean principles to healthcare environments. A Lean analysis of the processes in a hospital often indicates that up to 95% of the activities involved are non-value adding from a patients perspective.
A Lean analysis of any process identifies waste (muda in lean-speak) and engages front-line staff to eliminate those steps and anything else that is non-value added. At Connexall, we are experts in reducing the cost of care and improving the overall quality of patient services and patient satisfaction.
In larger organizations, individual department performance is often enhanced at the cost of improved efficiency across the entire organization. Lean Healthcare initiatives can eliminate seemingly disparate inefficiencies to improve performance and production across the board. Outdated information technology systems, worker dissatisfaction, and inadvertent errors and oversights can increase safety risks and cost millions of dollars. Connexall focuses on cross-departmental collaboration instead of reverting to operational silos. We design cross-functional capability and workflow to deliver operational efficiency in the hospital environment. Our solution reduces the time it takes to provide services and ensured accountability across departments while drastically reducing the human error component of workflow.
Connexall and the Connexall team can help you through all stages of a Lean initiative: from helping you analyze your workflow for waste reduction, to showing you how Connexall can leverage your existing technology, resources, and infrastructure to instantly deliver the right information to the right person at the right time.
A look at seven types of waste, and how they apply to healthcare shows you how Connexall can be used alongside a Lean analysis to improve efficiency across the board.
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OHA HealthAchieve2009
On November 16, 17 & 18, we exhibited Connexall Healthcare solutions at the
Metro Toronto Convention Centre. As one of the largest and most prestigious health care gatherings in North America, HealthAchieve2009 aimed to inspire ideas and innovation with over 50 informative and engaging educational sessions along with its award-winning exhibit floor, where more than 350 exhibitors showcase the latest health care products, services and technologies.
HealthAchieve attracts over 9,000 health care and business leaders from around the world who gather together to learn, build relationships, and share best practices. These delegates include chief executive officers, trustees and representatives from a broad range of administrative and clinical areas such as:
• Diagnostic Services
• Purchasing
• Finance
• Human Resources
• Infection Control
• Information Technology
• Nursing
HealthAchieve also offers delegates a strategic and unparalleled opportunity for networking, often cited as the number one reason for attending the show. HealthAchieve is an ideal opportunity for exhibitors as well, providing the perfect environment for attracting new business, building relationships with customers, and strengthening existing partnerships. In short, HealthAchieve2009 is a must-attend for anyone in the business of health care.
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Meet Us At:
HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society)
2010 Conference
March 1-4, 2010
Booth #6351
Georgia World Congress Center
The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) is the healthcare industry’s membership organization exclusively focused on providing global leadership for the optimal use of healthcare information technology (IT) and management systems for the betterment of healthcare.
No matter where you are on this ready-or-not scale – now is the time to get fully prepared…or get left behind. That means putting best practices for IT strategies in place, learning the latest on how to quality for meaningful use and optimizing ROI. HIMSS10 is the ONLY place you can...
• join the critical discussions on the hottest topics
• meet professionals from across the spectrum of healthcare
• learn how others have solved issues that are facing you
• obtain the critical knowledge, tools and connections to help your organization succeed
• develop new business relationships
• find the decision-makers, the trendsetters, the thought leaders…all in one place…at one time
AORN (Association of periOperative Registered Nurses)
57th Annual Congress
Booth #3938
The Colorado Convention Center
March 13 - 18, 2010
AORN's annual Congress is the world's premier educational event and tradeshow addressing the needs of perioperative nurses. Nearly 7,000 perioperative nurses and nurse managers gather each year to enhance their knowledge and skills, meet with industry, and keep up-to-date with the latest in recommended practices, hot topics, products, and services.
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Upcoming Connexall training dates:
For more information about training, go to http://www.connexall.com/training_dates.asp
New Core and Refresher Modules – Minimum Base Certification
Beginning in September, 2009, Resellers who wish to implement Connexall will be required to have successfully completed at minimum the Core training module (link). This new module replaces the Silver and Platinum training courses previously offered.
The Refresher training module (link) must be successfully completed within two years of completing Core and every two years thereafter by the same technicians. The Refresher module serves two purposes; it not only keeps the technician’s knowledge and certification current but also provides additional, advanced training in the many new and enhanced features that will have been introduced since the technician was originally certified to Core or since they last attended a Refresher module. The Refresher training module will be updated with each subsequent release of Connexall and will build upon the technician’s prior knowledge over time with each subsequent Refresher module taken.
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WorldConnex Summit 2010
The best way to understand the power of Connexall is to hear it from those who have been directly affected: our customers and users. Every year, we bring them together with our partners, resellers, and staff at WorldConnex – a unique event that focuses on Connexall users learning from each other.
In 2007, in the Azores, Portugal, we learned about Connexall in the OR of a major Canadian hospital, and how another hospital used Connexall to centralize their switchboard so they could divert resources to patient care instead of administrative staff.
In 2008, in Hilton Head, South Carolina, we learned how a large Canadian police force improved their call-out strategy. We also learned how to centralize building management to save money, and how to create a patient-centered OR experience – all using Connexall.
Last year, in Lisbon, Portugal, we heard from a major hospital in the USA that used Connexall to save $2.4 million in annual operating costs. We also saw how Connexall is used, to reduce emergency room wait times, improve staff safety in risky situations and in public safety.
In 2010, WorldConnex is headed to St. John’s, Newfoundland to hear about how you are using Connexall to power Information Immediacy and change the way you work!
Let’s connect: see you there!
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Do YOU Have a Solution to Share?! Call for Submissions
WorldConnex is all about customers meeting and learning from each other. In 2009, we had eleven customers present their Connexall implementation to the conference.
Once again, in 2010, we’re looking for customers to talk about their Connexall solution. So if you have something you want to share with your fellow Connexall users, fill out the form (link) below before December 31, 2009 and let us know what you want to talk about. If you’ve presented at WorldConnex before, but have a new topic, or new information you can add, you’re welcome to apply again.
Make sure to let us know what the focus of your presentation will be and why you think fellow users will be interested in it.
If your presentation is selected, we’ll bring you to WorldConnex 2010 in Newfoundland, include you and your presentation in WorldConnex 2010 promotional material, make sure everyone who attends gets a copy of your presentation to take back with them, and post the video of your presentation on our website.
We’ll let you know in early January if you’ve been selected to present at WorldConnex 2010, and if you need some help, we’ll be happy to work with you to put together a presentation.
WorldConnex Topic Guidelines:
- ROI: How much has your organization saved by using Connexall?
- How is your organization more efficient, safer, or more productive after implementing Connexall?
- What has the impact of Connexall integration meant for your workflow?
- What unexpected benefits or advantages has Connexall given your organization?
- Where can Connexall help your organization improve in the future?
