Founded more than a century ago, Geisinger is a regional health system that includes primary care and specialist practices, trauma centers, and hospitals. Because of the complex, distributed nature of Geisinger’s clinical operations, effective communication is vital. Working with TigerConnect empowered Geisinger to adopt innovative communication practices and improve care team collaboration.
Geisinger Health Video Testimonial
Learn how Geisinger used TigerConnect to transform collaboration and provide better patient care.
Before deploying TigerConnect, Geisinger had complicated pre-hospital admission processes. Referring practitioners called the hospital to find the right unit and track down the appropriate physician. This process could take an hour or more, causing unnecessary delays in patient care. Now, with the TigerConnect Clinical Collaboration Platform, referring practitioners can reach receiving providers instantly.
When quick action is necessary to improve outcomes and save patient lives, TigerConnect is a critical tool. In stroke cases, for example, emergency medical technicians (EMTs) can record videos of the initial exam and send them to the attending provider for evaluation within the TigerConnect platform. It’s also easy for care team members to reach specialists during off-hours to prepare the right team and equipment when the stroke patient arrives at the hospital.
Adding Value with Roles and EHR Integrations
Geisinger started with a small implementation but soon realized the benefits of deploying TigerConnect to its broad clinical team. Providers in every role — physicians, nurses, phlebotomists, EMTs, respiratory therapists, and others — can connect instantly via text, video, or voice calls to optimize patient care.
After achieving initial successes, Geisinger wanted to take its clinical communication and collaboration to the next level. The organization upgraded to the Clinical Collaboration Platform Pro tier and adopted the role-based messaging feature to let team members connect with the on-call provider in a role instead of tracking down specific individuals.
How does this work? At any time, 20 or more phlebotomists may be working at a hospital, with each assigned to different units. Using TigerConnect, care team members can send a message that will be intelligently routed to the assigned phlebotomist. That way, providers can reach the correct phlebotomist in minutes to ensure prompt lab draws. Geisinger also created on-call groups within TigerConnect that eliminated the need to consult on-call lists and empowered care team members to contact physicians immediately.
In addition, Geisinger created integrations to sync its electronic health records (EHR) with TigerConnect. Critical data like test results from a patient’s EHR are accessible to care providers via TigerConnect. Geisinger uses the TigerConnect rapid response feature to instantly alert teams during emergency situations. Quick activation of a rapid response team saves Geisinger valuable time and positively impacts patient outcomes.
Reinventing Clinical Collaboration with TigerConnect
Through its deployment of TigerConnect, Geisinger has realized the immense value clinical collaboration solutions offer. Team members spent significant time tracking down care providers in the past, which caused unnecessary delays in patient care. Also, clinicians often had to carry multiple pagers and relied on phone calls to share information with colleagues. With TigerConnect, clinicians can share insights via the app and make informed patient care decisions more quickly.
Today, Geisinger recognizes TigerConnect as a critical system that provides enhanced communication and care team collaboration. Geisinger leveraged the TigerConnect Clinical Collaboration Platform to connect the health system and deliver high-quality patient care.
Want to learn more?
Watch this video to hear how the TigerConnect Clinical Collaboration Platform is revolutionizing care team collaboration at Geisinger.
Dr. Cheryl McKay is a healthcare leader with over 20 years of executive experience in directing quality care for large academic facilities, smaller multi-site inpatient and outpatient centers, as well as research, quality, education, and clinical divisions. As a critical care clinical specialist, nurse executive, and researcher, she has a broad range of experience in helping clients successfully manage technology implementation and advancement, product development, marketing, and sales.
