With Voalte technology now in more than 30 hospitals throughout the country, and another 30 projects in the works, we’ve encountered all types of technical infrastructures, numerous clinical workflows and some ambitious plans for future advanced integrations. The challenges and goals are different in every facility. That’s why before going live with a smartphone implementation, we always advise customers to evaluate your existing infrastructure, engage your clinical team and carefully plan your rollout strategy.That’s exactly what they did at St. Joseph Mercy Oakland, a community teaching hospital in Pontiac, Michigan, and a member of the CHE Trinity Health system. As part of a long-term plan to roll out Cerner’s next-generation electronic medical records (EMR) mobility application, St. Joe’s first turned to Voalte. By building a strong foundation with Voalte, the hospital is giving their staff time to become familiar with smartphones and our simple Voalte One user interface before they jump into the full functionality of EMR. (See the Case Study for details on how St. Joe’s nurses are using Voalte One.)
This project was a perfect example of hospital staff and technology vendors working together to provide an effective solution for hospital nurses. St. Joe’s leadership, from CEO to CMIO to CNO, took responsibility for driving innovation by pulling together Voalte, Hill-Rom, Cerner and others. The IT team, under the direction of Robert Jones, held weekly workflow meetings, encouraged open communication between IT and Clinical, and set clear expectations for the project’s goals.
The project team did a fantastic job of keeping all the parts moving, with each member empowered to contribute their expertise, from wireless and network security to telecom and hardware. Using a production pilot unit, the team thoroughly tested the latest nurse call, smart bed, EMR and Voalte technologies. This set the stage for every phase of the project before taking a single step toward implementation.
As hospitals grapple with how to meet Meaningful Use Stage 2 requirements, we’re pleased to point to a successful example of how one hospital is getting it right. We look forward to working with St. Joseph Mercy Oakland, the rest of the CHE Trinity Health system, and other healthcare facilities throughout the country to continue creating the hospital of the future.