New communication tool at St. Luke’s allows doctors to swap pagers for smart phones

St. Luke's Hospital is expanding its communications capabilities with doctors and hospital employees through new software called Amcom Mobile Connect.

The hospital decided to slowly incorporate this software as the use of smart phones among doctors increases. Many physicians were looking to consolidate – rather than carrying a phone and a pager. This newly acquired software allows doctors that opt in to use the technology to carry only a smart phone. This software provides encrypted, HIPAA-compliant mobile messaging to connect caregivers. Doctors may also use their smartphones to key in data on electronic medical records and look up drug interactions and references. And in the event a smartphone is lost or stolen, patient data is protected through remote message deletion options.

"The security of information communicated about patients is paramount for St. Luke's, particularly when it comes to interaction among mobile staff," said Cathy Rammelsberg, Telecom Supervisor, St. Luke's Hospital. "Our expanded capabilities will enable us to better support fast, informed decision making and involve the right people at every step."

Additionally St. Luke's is implementing Amcom Smart Web, which allows the hospital telecommunications department the ability to check and manage physician on-call scheduling and update the availability of resources at a glance. In particular, the Emergency Department at St. Luke's will use this new system to help ensure the right on-call physician can be reached around the clock, streamlining patient care communications and replacing paper-based schedules.

The clinics will administer the on-call scheduling in tandem with the hospital operators in the call center who support 110 doctor's offices and hospital departments with live, after-hours phone service.

St. Luke's will use uses Amcom's eNotify (emergency notification system) to communicate with outlying hospital departments during disaster situations such as the 2008 flood. Now, the solution is also used to alert traveling nurses of bad weather and road closings as they treat hospice and home-based patients throughout the region. In addition, various hospital departments will use emergency notification to quickly disseminate important information to employees when there is a change in a scheduled event such as an important meeting.