https://www.vocera.com/uk/blog/hospital-communication-how-many-apps-does-it-take-make-phone-call Skip to main content
  • Careers
  • 0800 652 8773
  • United States
    • United States
    • United Kingdom
    • Australia
    • New Zealand
    • Middle East
    • Canada
  • search
  • Customer Support
Logo Vocera
Menu
MenuMenuMenu
1.888.986.2372 Close Menu
  • About Vocera
    • Careers
    • Our Mission
    • Investors
    • Newsroom
    • COVID-19
    • Year Of The Nurse
    • Virtual Events
    • HIMSS 2021
  • Products
    • V5000 Smartbadge
      V5000
      Smartbadge
    • B3000N Badge
      B3000N
      Badge
    • Vocera Products
      Compare
      Vocera Products
    • Vocera Accessories
      Vocera
      Accessories
    • Vocera Platform
      Vocera
      Platform
    Vocera Enterprise Platform
    • Engage Intelligent Workflow
    • Analytics
    Compare Communication Devices
    • Smartbadge
    • Badge
    • Smartphones
    Mobile Applications
    • Vina
    • Collaboration Suite
  • Solutions
    • Family Communication
    • Staff Safety
    • Secure Text Messaging
    • Alarm Management
    • Integrations
    • Pager Replacement
    • Covid-19
  • Services
    • Customer Technical Support
    • Access Technical Support Portal (customers with active support contracts).

    • Professional Services
    • Experts to help with workflow enhancements and solution deployment.

    • Vocera University
    • Accelerate proficiency and performance with our customized courseware, in-person and self-guided training opportunities.

    • Accessories and E-Store
    • Order batteries, chargers, specially-designed lanyards and clips, headsets and more.

  • Industries
    • Healthcare
    • Veterans' Affairs Healthcare
    • Department of Defense Healthcare
    • Long-Term Care
    • Hospitality
    • Retail
    • Veterinary Care
    • Education
    • Energy
  • Resources
    • Case Studies
    • Data Sheets
    • Guides
    • Technical Documentation
    • Solution Briefs
    • Videos
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Blog
    • Podcast
  • contact us
  • support portal
  • contact us
  • United States
    • United States
    • United Kingdom
    • Australia
    • New Zealand
  • search
Vocera Logo

525 Race Street San Jose, CA 95126 United States (888)-9VOCERA

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Hospital Communication: How Many Apps Does It Take to Make a Phone Call?
    • All Topics
    • Enabling Safety and Quality Care
    • Saving Steps and Saving Time
    • Transforming
      the Experience
    • Enhancing Care
      with Technology

    Hospital Communication: How Many Apps Does It Take to Make a Phone Call?

    • by Rhonda Collins, DNP, RN, FAAN

    Topics Covered:

    • Saving Steps and Saving Time

    Share:

    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • Linkedin
    • print
    October, 2018

    1 Doctor, 1 Patient, 5 Apps: A True Tale

    A physician needed to perform emergency surgery at a hospital that was in the same large integrated delivery network she worked in, but not her home hospital.

    As she set out to prep for the case, she needed to contact the care team, including the on-call ER doctor, surgery team, and the person in charge of room scheduling. She needed to find and obtain supplies.

    App #1 (and a pen)

    The physician turned to her iPhone and contemplated: Which app should she start with?

    An app from one vendor would let her access clinic schedules, patient lists, test results, and more. She searched that app for the patient’s name and found orders. By looking at the orders, she was able to identify the attending physician. She found a pen and a scrap of paper and wrote down his name.

    App #2 (and a pen)

    Next she opened a proprietary on-call scheduling app for which schedule management was handled by an administrator. She used that app’s search function to find the facility and then scrolled through directories by specialty. The lists were long and her time was short. She located the physician and wrote down his phone number.

    App #3

    She knew she could access a secure messaging app from a third vendor through the proprietary app (app #2). She thought for a moment about messaging him but decided a call would probably be more efficient.

    App #4 (and a pen and a bit of walking)

    So she opened a fourth vendor app, the one she needed in order to make phone calls. She searched for the physician’s name in the app, found it, and wrote down his number. She punched it in and the call went into voicemail.

    Running out of options, she started physically walking the hospital to find the resources she needed. 

    She didn’t know which operating room was scheduled for the procedure. In the security office she saw monitors covering the operating rooms; she determined which room looked cleanest, and figured chances were good it was the right one. She went to that room and started setting up.

    As it turned out, she had the wrong room and had to move down the hall with her supplies. Eventually she found a member of the nursing team who was able to provide a print-out with complete information about the patient and care team for that shift.

    App #5 (and some memorization)

    One piece of information she still needed was the contact information for the patient’s primary physician. This doctor was not part of her hospital system and not represented in the hospital’s EHR. She opened a fifth app – Google – and ran search to find that physician.

    With some stealthy navigating, she found the physician. She repeated the number aloud to hold it in her head as she punched it in.

    Meanwhile, the patient awaiting emergency surgery continued . . . to . . . wait.

    Communication Technology Should Simplify Clinical Workflow, Not Complicate It

    There’s enough complexity going on for care teams in a hospital without communication hurdles making it harder. Caregivers shouldn’t have to bounce from one app to another, be forced to retain names and phone numbers in working memory, or have to walk the hospital to find what they need.

    A doctor, nurse, or any care team member should only need to use a single app to communicate.

    1 Vendor, 1 App: 6 Communication Workflow Tasks Made Efficient

    Below are six communication workflow tasks involving the act of phoning people or groups that you can do easily with a single app from Vocera. Can you do this with your clinical communication software?

    1. You can see a patient’s entire care team in a glance, tap on someone’s name, and place a call to that person.
    2. You can call someone without knowing theirname, number, or who’s on call.
    3. You can call someone whether you or they are inside or outside the hospital. (Without a Vocera solution, your directory might be limited to physicians who are in the EHR.)
    4. You can call a care team member who is responding to a Code Blue and the call will escalate to someone who’s actually available.
    5. You can receive a text from someone on your patient’s care team and call them from within that text without switching apps. (Without a Vocera solution, it’s likely you’ll have to text in one app and talk in another.)
    6. You can send an urgent broadcast voice message to a stroke team, a rapid response team, or any group instantly. (Try calling more than one person at a time in your app.)

    Look for a True Clinical Communication and Collaboration Solution

    When you need to communicate, there’s no substitute for a true clinical communication and collaboration (CC&C) solution.

    And when it comes to CC&C solutions, there’s no substitute for Vocera.

    Learn more about what makes for a true CC&C solution, and what doesn’t. Read Gartner’s 2018 Market Guide for Clinical Communication and Collaboration.

    Share:

    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • Linkedin
    • print

    Most Recent

    Recommended

    • NHIT Week 2019: Creating Healthy Communities with Technology

    • Celebrating Star Trek and the Next Frontier of Voice Communication in Healthcare

    • Employing the Power of AI and Interoperability to Reduce Sepsis Mortality

    • What Hospitals Can Learn about Incident Detection from the Notre Dame Disaster

    • Using Technology to Help Prevent Falls in the Hospital

    • Hospital Secure Messaging: 7 Lessons Learned

    • Three Tips for Reducing Sepsis Risk

    • Halifax Health: Better Communication for Better Patient Care

    Most Recent Related Stories

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

    Healthcare Communication: 5 Simplified Workflows, 135 Second...

    Magnet Hospitals and Shared Governance: Empowering Frontline...

    Stay Connected
    100 Longwater Avenue
    Green Park
    Reading, Berkshire
    RG2 6GP
    United Kingdom

    0800 652 8773

    ABOUT US
    • Home
    • Year Of The Nurse
    • Empower Heroes
    • Customer Advocacy
    • Locations
    • Patient Privacy
    • Partners
    • Social and Environmental Responsibility
    • Supply Chain Transparency
    • Ethics Hotline
    Careers
    News & Events
    • Press Releases
    • News and Research
    • Events
    • Virtual Events
    • Gartner Reports
    Resource Center
    • Blog
    • Case Studies
    • Data Sheets
    • Guides
    • Podcast
    • Solution Briefs
    • Videos
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    PRESS RELEASES
    BLOGS
    PODCAST
     
    © Copyright 2019 Vocera Communications. All Rights Reserved.
    Privacy - Legal - Site Map