BroadBlast Managed Communications, an authorized reseller of incidentmanagement, mass notification and emergency alert systems, todayannounced that it has deployed automated alerting software from MIR3, Inc., a supplier of real-time intelligent notification, to immediately solve staff shortages in healthcare facilities.
Crouse Hospital is a not-for-profit, acute care facility in Syracuse, N.Y.
Real-time intelligent notification allows users to notify and alert groups of from one to thousands of people, automatically figuring out who needs to hear what.
It’s now helping the hospital replace staff quickly when there’s a sudden absence that day. In the past, when Crouse Hospital staff called in sick, a nurse manager would step away from the floor and call a list of substitutes to find a replacement for the absent worker – usually a 45-minute to two-hour interruption of nursing time. And what happens when it occurs every day across the hospital?
By using intelligent notification, nurse managers can now send a prepared, automated call out when additional nurses are needed, allowing them to target specific groups, such as contracted per diem RNs, to avoid excessive overtime for full-time nurses.
Now, the hospital can call hundreds of nurses in minutes, reducing its dependence on time-intensive call lists and keeping trained healthcare professionals focused on patient care."I showed one nurse how to dispatch a prepared notification, and in less than aminute she had delivered her first message,” said Christopher Hines.supervisor of telecommunications for Crouse Hospital, in the press release. “She already feels confident that she can send alerts whenever she needs to."
Nurses can also update their contact information at any time, keeping data current and allowing staffing substitutions to take place that much faster. Even better, all the hospital's on-call nurses get the message at the same time, giving everyone an equal opportunity to pick up extra time, resulting in a more equitable way of calling for additional help, and satisfying union requirements.Automated notification systems are used for everything from reducing heart attack treatment time to informing staff about trauma cases to sending alerts to cardiovascular operating room teams to call them together quickly.
Crouse Hospital plans to use intelligent notification to include reminders of CPR recertification for staff, alerts about localized power outages or repairs that might interfere with patient care and appointment reminders.
Edited by
Brooke Neuman
