Real-Time Healthcare Analytics: Monitor, Predict, Nudge, Act

October, 2018

It was a Monday night, the busiest time in the ED. The ED charge nurse received an alert on her Vocera smartphone app telling her the ED would be experiencing a surge of patients in two hours.

The alert was from Qventus, an AI-based software platform that predicts operational bottlenecks and recommends course corrections. Using machine learning, Qventus made the prediction based on the current census in the ED, historical admit and discharge times, the practice patterns of the clinicians currently working in the ED, and the current queue and expected turnaround times for diagnostic tests.

The alert was delivered through the Vocera Platform, which knew who the on-duty charge nurse was, what device to contact her on, and whom to escalate the alert to if she was not available for some reason.

The alert advised the charge nurse to work with the transport, lab, and radiology teams to expedite the flow of patients through the ED and ensure beds would be available for the anticipated surge. 

The charge nurse sprang into action.

She used Vocera communication software to connect and communicate instantly with the teams in each area. All she had to do was say the name, function, or group name she wanted to reach. 

She mobilized the transport teams to start moving patients who were ready to be admitted to inpatient beds. She contacted the teams in lab and radiology to prioritize tests for patients in the ED who were waiting so the ED team could expedite the processing of waiting patients. All of this freed up beds in the ED. 

The charge nurse never had to go back to the nurses’ station to accomplish any of this workflow. She did it all while entirely mobile. 

Two hours later, when a wave of patients flowed in, the ED team was prepared with enough available beds.

Predicting Potential Issues and Delivering Course Corrections to the Right People

This hospital integrated their Qventus solution with the Vocera Platform, combining powerful AI capabilities from Qventus with communication capabilities from Vocera.

Qventus uses decision science and machine learning to continuously monitor a hospital’s operational data, predict potential issues, and deliver recommended course corrections or “nudges.” 

When a hospital integrates Qventus with Vocera, Qventus nudges are sent through the Vocera Platform as prioritized, actionable notifications. These notifications are delivered to the appropriate frontline staff on their mobile devices. Frontline staff can then mobilize the right resources instantly and directly, with closed-loop communication. 

Frontline staff receive these important course corrections in the same communication system they use for receiving other clinical alerts and alarms, voice communications, and secure texting. The Vocera Platform provides a unified user experience for all clinical communications and workflow. 

Qventus is one of more than 150 clinical and operational systems with which the Vocera Platform can integrate and combine data. The platform also has comprehensive Dynamic Master Directory of care team data, which it can integrate from multiple sources like EHR and nurse call systems. The platform knows the current presence and availability of care team members and can determine the appropriate notification workflows. This is what allows  Qventus nudges to be sent to the right people, at the right priority level, with the right context, and the right escalation path. 

Improving Patient Flow in the ED, Inpatient, and OR Units 

Three areas in which operational bottlenecks often occur in hospitals are the ED, inpatient, and OR units. Typically, the data to efficiently run these centers exists in a hospital’s EHR and other systems. But Qventus harnesses it into meaningful and actionable information that is usually impossible for leaders to analyze in the moment. 

Through the Vocera Platform, Qventus nudges are delivered through to the right people in the right moment:

• Qventus predicts ED surges, how many patients will leave without being seen, how many will require admission, and more.
• Qventus helps inpatient units manage length of stay by intelligently surfacing anticipated discharge barriers and capacity bottlenecks.
• Qventus helps ORs streamline patient flow from pre-op through post-op care, optimize block utilization, and improve staffing and supply cost management.

The Best of What Two Leaders Have to Offer

A Qventus-Vocera solution brings together decision science, behavior science, and machine learning from Qventus with clinical communication and collaboration software from Vocera. The value of Qventus to predict and prescribe is enhanced when combined with intelligent, multivariate rule-driven, and role-based workflows from Vocera. 

Together the combined solution helps improve patient care, safety, and experience, and foster caregiver resiliency. 

Click here to get the solution brief, Real-Time Operations Management Solution Powered by Qventus and Vocera, and/or to contact Vocera.