New Perth Children's Hospital Standardizes Care Team Communication with Vocera Technology

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Vocera Communications, Inc. (NYSE:VCRA), a recognized leader in clinical communication and workflow solutions, today announced that Perth Children's Hospital (PCH) has implemented Vocera Collaboration Suite throughout its new facility to improve care team communication and clinical workflows. Clinicians and staff across the hospital can communicate hands-free with wearable Vocera badges, text securely using the Vocera smartphone app, and communicate at their workstations via a web console.

The 298-bed multi-specialty pediatric hospital in Nedlands, Australia, opened in June 2018, replacing Princess Margaret Hospital as the state's dedicated children's hospital. Because emergency department clinicians at Princess Margaret Hospital were efficiently and effectively using the Vocera system, leaders at PCH decided to standardize communication enterprise-wide with the solution at the new hospital, which is much larger and more technologically advanced.

“We needed an innovative and intelligent communication system to match our state-of the art hospital. The last thing we wanted to do was use outdated technology,” said ICT Director Darren Mathers, Child and Adolescent Health Service. “We also wanted a communication solution that is purpose built for healthcare to quickly and easily connect highly mobile clinicians anywhere. As we evaluated our options, it became apparent that Vocera had the unified messaging platform we needed.”

Using the Vocera system, PCH clinicians don’t need to worry about remembering phone numbers, names, or who is on call. They can simply text or say a specific group or individual role. For example, the voice command “call 1A Bed 1” routes the call directly to the nurse assigned to patient room 1 on ward 1A at that time. Fast and easy communication drives faster response times. Optimizing clinical workflows, health IT leaders at PCH worked closely with the clinical commissioning governance group to ensure accurate role-based communication.

Perth Children's Hospital planned to deploy the Vocera system in the emergency and oncology departments of the new hospital, but realized its potential, and expanded the technology to an enterprise-wide, intelligent unified communication solution that enables voice, texting, alerting and integrations. So far, PCH has integrated the Vocera solution with the hospital’s nurse call, telephony, fire alarm and building management systems. There is a unique integration that sends alerts to certain staff when refrigerator temperatures reach risk levels. The IT team is working on an integration between the Vocera solution and the building management system that would proactively send an alert to IT staff if the temperature in the computer business centre reached a certain degree.

“The innovation, infrastructure and services of the new Perth Children's Hospital are impressive,” said Brent Lang, president and CEO of Vocera. “We are honored to provide the solution of choice for care team communication and help PCH clinicians deliver high-quality, compassionate care to children from across Western Australia.”

About Perth Children’s Hospital

Perth Children’s Hospital (PCH) opened June 2018, replacing Princess Margaret Hospital as Western Australia’s specialist paediatric hospital and trauma centre, providing medical care to children and adolescents up to 16 years of age. The new 298-bed hospital provides treatment for the most serious medical cases, as well as secondary services including inpatient, outpatient and day-stay care. PCH delivers world-class care to children and families with state-of the-art facilities. Designed to reflect the natural healing beauty of the neighbouring Kings Park and Botanic Garden, PCH places children, young people, families and carers at the centre of the services it provides. PCH is part of the Child and Adolescent Health Service, which also incorporates community and mental health services in the Perth metropolitan area. For more information, visit www.pch.health.wa.gov.au.

About Vocera

The mission of Vocera Communications, Inc. is to simplify and improve the lives of healthcare professionals and patients, while enabling hospitals to enhance quality of care and operational efficiency. In 2000, when the company was founded, we began to forever change the way care teams communicate. Today, Vocera continues to offer the leading platform for clinical communication and workflow. More than 1,700 facilities worldwide, including nearly 1,500 hospitals and healthcare facilities, have selected our solutions for team members to text securely using smartphones or make calls with our hands-free, wearable Vocera Badge. Interoperability between Vocera and more than 140 clinical and operational systems helps reduce alarm fatigue, speed up staff response times, and improve patient care, safety and experience. In addition to healthcare, Vocera is at home in luxury hotels, aged care facilities, nuclear facilities, libraries, retail stores and more. Vocera makes a difference in any industry where workers are on the move and need to connect instantly with team members and access resources or information quickly. In 2017, Vocera made the list of Forbes 100 Most Trustworthy Companies in America. Learn more at www.vocera.com, and follow @VoceraComm on Twitter.

Vocera ^®  and the Vocera logo are trademarks of Vocera Communications, Inc. registered in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other trademarks appearing in this release are the property of their respective owners.

Shanna Hearon
Vocera Communications, Inc.
669.999.3368
shearon@vocera.com