Wayne Memorial Hospital Selects EXTENSION to Improve Clinical Communications

Wayne Memorial Hospital needed to optimize clinical workflows on their new Cisco 7925 handsets and to upgrade their methods of communication to track messages delivered, and chose EXTENSION because of its seamless integration with Cisco’s Unified Communications infrastructure, MEDITECH EMR, as well as the Rauland-Borg Responder 4 nurse call system.

Wayne Memorial Hospital has chosen EXTENSION’s real-time healthcare communications solution for clinical staff

FORT WAYNE, Ind. – April 20, 2011 — (BUSINESS WIRE) — EXTENSION, INC. announced today that Wayne Memorial Hospital , in Goldsboro, NC, has implemented the nurse call integration feature of the EXTENSION HealthAlert for Nurses solution. The 316-bed facility has worked hard to earn a reputation for providing excellent state-of-the-art care. With these factors in mind, Wayne chose EXTENSION’s HealthAlert for Nurses solution to automate the delivery of clinical information and nurse call messages.

“We knew we needed a short-term communications solution for our staff and most of the products we considered could provide that, but EXTENSION provided so much more.  We have improved our falls scores and patient satisfaction scores in part because our staff is able to respond quickly to patient needs,” said Jeff Brogneaux, Clinical Informaticist at Wayne Memorial Hospital.

Wayne Memorial Hospital needed to optimize clinical workflows on their new Cisco 7925 handsets and to upgrade their methods of communication to track messages delivered, and chose EXTENSION because of its seamless integration with Cisco’s Unified Communications infrastructure, MEDITECH EMR, as well as the Rauland-Borg Responder 4 nurse call system.

The EXTENSION HealthAlert nurse call integration feature was implemented to replace the outdated pagers in the Oncology department. Wayne also lacked visibility into whether a message was delivered, accepted, declined, etc. In addition, the nurses at Wayne desired more context-rich alerts appropriate for clinical decision-making and management sought to improve clinical workflows by eliminating the need for a unit secretary to serve as an intermediary between nurse and patient. EXTENSION connected Wayne’s communications infrastructure and its health information systems with the EXTENSION server-based appliance and 250 Cisco IP handsets to take full advantage of the existing architecture and to enhance the relevance of the data retrieved from the various systems.

According to Brogneaux, “We plan to automate critical lab results and other important information that will flow directly to the nurse caring for a patient. EXTENSION will be an integral part of our future at Wayne.”

HealthAlert for Nurses aggregates data from the disparate systems at Wayne and integrates the data with Cisco’s Collaboration platform including the 7900 series IP phones so that clinical data can be securely accessed via telephony devices. When HealthAlert receives information, which triggers a context-aware alert, it translates the message to an XML message using a simple GUI interface. The XML message is then viewable by staff members on the screen of their IP phones. With HealthAlert for Nurses, users at Wayne Memorial Hospital have achieved greater efficiency and are benefiting from the mobility features of the solution.

Visit http://opentheredbox.com/healthAlertN_overview.php for a complete list of EXTENSION HealthAlert for Nurses features and functions.

About EXTENSION, INC.
EXTENSION, INC. is based in Fort Wayne, IN and is the developer of the EXTENSION® Solution Suite (ESS). The EXTENSION Solution Suite of software expands Cisco Unified Communications into a clinical workflow tool automating notifications using text messages, phone calls, and emails, as well as turning Cisco’s award-winning IP Phones into user interfaces for clinical, administrative, and revenue cycle data. The result of employing Cisco Unified Communications and EXTENSION includes increased physician, management, and patient satisfaction, reduced cost and errors, immediate ROI, and increased revenues. EXTENSION tightly integrates any HL7-based or web services-based medical application with Cisco Advanced Unified Communications, using standards-based protocols. EXTENSION recently earned the ‘Cisco Collaboration Partner of the Year for the US/Canada’ award at the 2010 Cisco Partner Summit. For more on EXTENSION visit www.OpenTheRedBox.com.

   

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