Improving Clinical Communications at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital

Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital-Milton (BID – Milton) is a leading, regional community hospital providing nationally recognized quality of care and patient safety while serving the South Shore region of Massachusetts.

The 100-bed acute care hospital has inpatient and outpatient services, full surgical services, emergency services, and 250 physicians on staff. Over the years, BID-Milton’s staff and physicians have established a reputation for delivering personalized, compassionate health care.

Taking a Leading Hospital to the Next Level

TigerConnect was initially implemented at BID – Milton to provide a secure method of communication for the hospital’s behavioral healthcare crisis team in its emergency department. The project was part of a grant from the state of Massachusetts.

When Beth Israel’s nursing department approached IT seeking a clinical communication solution to help improve care coordination and to replace pagers – TigerConnect was an obvious contender as it was already used in select departments throughout the hospital. The use of pagers had created chronic challenges for the nursing department, including causing frustrating delays in care for both the nursing staff and the physicians.

After meeting with several vendors, BID-Milton’s nursing department selected TigerConnect because of its Automated Persona Management (Roles) capability. The team implemented the more advanced version of TigerConnect – TigerConnect Clinical Collaboration Platform – Pro – while simultaneously moving to a shared device strategy, that provided BID-Milton with the best solution.

Implementing the TigerConnect Solution

The hospital implemented this new program in a simple, but highly effective way. Rather than have each role represent a “Title” at the hospital, to streamline the implementation, the BID-Milton team decided to create “roles” around bed groupings rather than have each role reflect a job title.

“We looked at roles a little differently in that our “Roles” are the patient bed spaces. So, when the nurse comes on, they are logged in to their 4-5 bed spaces for that shift,” says Amy Morrison, Project Manager, Information Services. Beds were grouped on a specific floor, room number, and bed spaces within the room, where each bed represented an actual patient.

Improving Communication Around Bed Turnover

Since implementing TigerConnect’s Roles capability, BID-Milton has seen a marked improvement in its communication around bed turnover.

The new program has made it much easier for physicians to track down a nurse, particularly if they don’t know the nurse’s name covering that patient.

“If a physician is trying to track down a nurse, they don’t need to know the nurse’s name who’s covering that patient, they just need to know where their patient’s located and then they text that nurse.” – Amy Morrison, Project Manager, Information Services

To schedule a demo or learn more about how TigerConnect can improve clinical communication efficiency for your organization, visit our website.

 

How to Unlock Massive Value from Your EHR Get eBook

 

Tags: Pager Replacement, Clinical Communications, Care Team Collaboration, Improve Patient Outcomes, Clinical communication workflows