Alcatel-Lucent OmniTouch 8600 My Instant Communicator Creating More Time for Patient Care through Effective Communications
It has become necessary to develop medicine as a cooperative science, the clinician, the specialist, and the laboratory workers uniting for the good of the patient. D R. W I L L I A M M A Y O, C I R C A 1 9 0 0 Revolutionizing healthcare communications As healthcare staff in critical care facilities, you know better than anyone the day-to-day pressures you re under caring for those who are ill. Costs are soaring while demand is steadily increasing, thanks in part to our aging population and an increase in patients with chronic diseases. Everyone is under pressure to do the best job possible in a resourceconstrained environment, so it is crucial for you to operate effectively. Technology has already brought tremendous improvements to healthcare. However, in one critical area, progress has been slow: communications. Effective communications can have a huge impact on everyone s quality of life, including the patient, the patient s relatives and all the members of the healthcare team. Healthcare is by nature a very collaborative process. Usually several doctors, nurses, medical technicians and others work together to meet each patient s unique requirements. At any given time, you must be able to identify where each team member is, how best to reach them, and whether they are available for a consultation. Today, communications come in many formats, including voice mail, e-mail, video mail, audio conferencing, web conferencing, short message service (SMS) and instant messaging, as well as basic fax and telephony services. You need a solution that facilitates your access to all these communications channels and ideally a solution that does so while eliminating the administrative burden associated with multiple applications. Alcatel-Lucent simplifies communications for healthcare staff with the OmniTouch 8600 My Instant Communicator. Figure 1. My Instant Communicator provides the healthcare team with user-centric, unified communications Consistent user interface Telephony services Collaboration services Innovative user experience Messaging services One number services Adaptive to user needs 2
Bringing the team together When a patient event occurs, a cycle of care begins that moves from the event through diagnosis and treatment (the patient outcome). The ultimate objective, of course, is to move the patient through this cycle as quickly as possible. Less time in the hospital is ideal for both the patient and the healthcare facility s bottom line. Nurses are the usual first point of contact with a patient, but they are dependent on physicians to execute care: all treatment orders must come from a doctor. The doctor will likely want to consult with specialists, the pharmacist and possibly lab technicians in addition to the nurse to determine the best course of action. Consultations need to take place quickly, but many of the key players are constantly on the move. This presents a communications challenge, but one that can be addressed with an effective communications solution. 3
Situation CRITICAL the team goes into action It s 3:00 a.m. Mr. Morin was admitted at 10:00 p.m. with chest pains and shortness of breath. Now his blood pressure is slipping to a dangerously low level. His nurse, Mrs. McCormick, realizes they need to act quickly to stabilize the patient. The way it is Nurse McCormick has to leave the patient and consult the paper-based duty roster to see who is on call. She pages Dr. Black, and waits to see if he responds quickly. (She has no idea where he is, whether he is available, or even if he has received the page.) After several minutes with no response, she leaves the nursing station to go back and check on the patient. Dr. Black is with another patient when the page comes in. Given the limited information in the page ( call nursing station ), the doctor has no way of evaluating which situation is more urgent. After a few minutes, he interrupts his consultation with the current patient, Ms. Fines, and finds a phone to call the nursing station. Unfortunately, by the time he places the call, Nurse McCormick is back with Mr. Morin. He leaves a message indicating he ll get there as soon as he can, and goes back to his consultation with Ms. Fines. This open-ended system is bad for everyone. Nurse McCormick is left trying to manage a critical situation without a doctor. Dr. Black has insufficient information to do his job effectively. And both patients suffer. Mr. Morin isn t getting the medical attention he urgently needs and Ms. Fines consultation has been significantly interrupted. 4
Those who use this product for even a short time will find themselves wondering how they lived without it all these years. T E C K D R I V E B R I E F, F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 8, M I E R C O M The way it could be Nurse McCormick rolls the cart on wheels (COW) into Mr. Morin s room when she responds to his call. As soon as she determines the patient needs additional help, she uses My Instant Communicator on the COW s computer to determine who is on call, how to contact him and whether he s available. She doesn t have to search around for names or telephone numbers: she has it all on screen instantly. With all communication running through the telecommunications system, the healthcare facility s director can assemble meaningful statistics to measure how quickly teams are able to respond to situations. These valuable metrics can be used to guide future investments and initiatives aimed at improving patient care further. Seeing that Dr. Black is with a patient, Nurse McCormick sends him an instant message, which he receives right away on his PDA. Because he knows only urgent matters would be sent to him as an instant message, he checks the message immediately. With a few quick lines back and forth, he is able to advise Nurse McCormick what to do for Mr. Morin. He can then carry on with his consultation with Ms. Fines knowing that Mr. Morin is being taken care of. If necessary, Dr. Black can also use My Instant Communicator and his PDA to initiate a consultation with any members of Mr. Morin s care team. He can place a conference call with Nurse McCormick and the pharmacist to confer on the best course of action for medication, or check with the heart specialist for other options. Because everyone is equipped with My Instant Communicator on whatever device they use fixed or mobile telephones, PDAs, or pagers the team is always available to work together virtually. The team can use My Instant Communicator to manage all types of communications. Thanks to My Instant Communicator, vital information is just a click a way. 5
How My Instant Communicator works With My Instant Communicator, you manage incoming and outgoing communications through an intuitive user interface that is common to all devices, including Alcatel-Lucent IP Touch phones, PCs and Pocket PCs powered by Windows Mobile software. As shown in Figure 2, incoming calls are managed through non-intrusive desktop alert windows that let you see a caller s identity. We call these windows toast because of the way they pop up. The toast window lets you triage incoming communications according to the healthcare facility s established protocol. For example: Instant messaging could be used exclusively for critical care communications Voice calls can be received on fixed or mobile phones, or if you re busy, you can immediately divert them to a healthcare facility phone, a personal phone, e-mail or voice mail. E-mail, faxes and voice mail can be accessed through your standard e-mail application. You can also simply wait until you re free to check messages they will be waiting for you when you re ready for them. Figure 2. Non-intrusive snapshot of communications activity 6
Enable effective communications everywhere For optimal effectiveness, My Instant Communicator can be integrated with your healthcare system s directories. This means that you won t have to call anyone else to track down a number, you ll have it at your fingertips. You can sort the list in whatever way works best for you, for example, by name, role, department or skill. When a contact is selected, all the communications options for that person are displayed (e-mail, voice mail, voice call, video call, instant message, and so on). You can also check the contact s presence to determine which means of communications can be used. Contact can be initiated with the click of a button. The doctor is IN In the world of electronic communications, presence refers to an individual s availability. Think of it as a deluxe and highly efficient version of the In/Out board. With an online presence feature, you don t have to find the stationary message board to see if the doctor is with a patient or available to take a call. Your communications device (such as your Smartphone or computer) will have the latest information on all the members of your team. VIRTUAL TEAMS, VIRTUALLY ANYWHERE The labs have come back for the patient in room 85, Mr. Jansen, and it s clear that his medications need to be adjusted. The system advises the nurse, Nurse McCormick, that Mr. Jansen s doctor, Dr. Black, is attending a conference downtown. She calls Dr. Black on his mobile. After a brief discussion, the pair switches to an audio conference and brings in the specialist, Dr. Smith, who is on her way into the OR to plan the best approach for dealing with the change in the patient s condition. Nurse McCormick opens an online session for sharing the patient s electronic medical record to guide their discussion. Instantly, each member of the care giving team has the information they need to ensure the best possible outcome for their patient. 7
Fine-tune your services with the best in unified communications Alcatel-Lucent offers a variety of options for tailoring your communications processes and infrastructure, which will in turn enrich the options available to you through My Instant Communicator, including: Telephone and messaging services, which provide you with a range of capabilities, including the ability to: Healthcare User Profiles Nurse Executive On-site Roamer Office Worker Team Worker Options Nurse call integration Access voice applications on the web using a mobile or PC-based telephone Convert text to speech, so you can listen to your e-mail Access telephone messages on your PC Hospital Physician/ Director Other Physician Medico-Technical Location based services Reach anyone and have them reach you using one number: no more worrying about whether you need to dial the mobile number or the office number one number rings through to whatever device is currently in use Collaboration service options, including audio, data and video conferencing, so you can reach all team members quickly and share information efficiently. Administration Technical Staff Patient Telephony integration with patient terminal 8
THE BEST TOOLSET FOR EACH TEAM MEMBER To make it easier to ensure that each team member has the best toolset for their particular needs, My Instant Communicator allows your system manager to select individual capabilities based on the communication requirements of seven key user profiles. User profiles address each role s requirements for telephony services, mobility and collaboration. For example, in Figure 3, Dr. Black uses the devices and applications in the communications package assigned to doctors while Mrs. McCormick benefits from the on-site roamer package. They both have the flexibility and communications capabilities they need. In this case, when Dr. Black calls Mrs. McCormick from his softphone, she accepts the call on her wireless phone. Figure 3. User profiles in action ON Soft Phone Effective communications ensure patient care continues when the doctor is busy elsewhere. ON Fixed Phone Mrs. McCormick Nurse ON DECT Phone ON Pocket PC Dr. Black Physician ON Fixed Phone 9
Partner with the enterprise communications expert As a global provider of enterprise communication solutions, Alcatel-Lucent has the experience and expertise necessary to help you with your unique communications requirements. We understand that in your world, the impact of effective communications goes beyond the bottom line: it affects patients well-being. Medical errors, which can have very serious consequences for everyone, are often caused by: Ineffective communications Incorrect information My Instant Communicator, along with the other applications available in the Alcatel-Lucent OmniTouch Unified Communications suite, will help each member of the healthcare team by improving their ability to communicate and share information. For detailed information on My Instant Communication, please refer to the product brochure Alcatel-Lucent OmniTouch 8600 My Instant Communicator Simplifying Enterprise Communications available at www.alcatel-lucent.com/myinstantcommunicator. 10
Take advantage of our partner relationships Alcatel-Lucent works with a worldwide network of Business Partners, accredited through a demanding Business Partner Program. Our partners will install My Instant Communicator, fine-tune its operation, train you, and maintain it. For more information, please go to the Alcatel-Lucent Application Partner web site at www.applicationpartner.alcatel-lucent.com. The hardest part of any deployment is making sure all the pieces work together as intended. Our highly experienced professionals provide customized services from audit and design, through integration and deployment, to maintenance and operations. For more information, please go to the Alcatel-Lucent web site at www.alcatel-lucent.com/services. INDUSTRY RECOGNITION Alcatel-Lucent My Instant Communicator received TMC Labs product of the year award for 2007 (Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC ) 2008) My Instant Communicator, part of the Alcatel-Lucent Unified Communications application suite was named a top performer by renowned testing service Miercom (February 2008). According to Miercom: In essence, My Instant Communicator is elegantly intuitive and solidly reliable. End users can manage communication through an interface common to all devices, including Alcatel-Lucent IP Touch phones, desktop PCs and Pocket PCs powered by Windows Mobile. 11
Alcatel-Lucent OmniTouch 8600 My Instant Communicator for Healthcare Systems ENT2913080401 - EN - 06/2008 - Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise - 32, avenue Kléber 92707 Colombes - France - RCS Paris B 602 033 185 Alcatel, Lucent, Alcatel-Lucent and the Alcatel-Lucent logo, are trademarks of Alcatel-Lucent. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Alcatel-Lucent assumes no responsibility for the accuracy of the information presented, which is subject to change without notice. 2008 Alcatel-Lucent. All rights reserved. Printed in EEC on chlorine-free paper. www.alcatel-lucent.com