Case Study #1 - Hospital
Problem: An Administrator at a Hospital was concerned with the threat of liabilities caused because of an inefficient paging process of multiple caregivers from outside and inside the facility. Although lawsuits were rare, if happening at all, the threat was very real. Industry figures show minimal six and seven figure costs per settlement or loss.
The current paging method consisted of caregivers paging other specialists for more than one patient need, particularly to summon those outside their facility. By manually monitoring paging responses to ensure patient coverage, second patient needs often interrupted the first paging sequence, sometimes delaying repeated attempts to contact a doctor. Continued non-response required paging escalation to other professionals, causing yet another delay in urgent patient care needs. Despite the availability and investment in sufficient medical staff and procedures, communicating the messages could be a critical point of failure.
What the Hospital needed was a pre-determined way of repeating messages to unanswered pages, with a backup means of dispatching pages in case of message delivery failure. Preferably, this would be an automated system without requiring a caregiver to manage the pages, leaving he or she free to attend to the next potential emergency, or other tasks, while looking only for the results of the paging sequence. A record of all pages, responses and results was also a requirement.
Solution: After careful and extensive evaluation of several paging software solutions, the Hospital Administrator selected HipLinkXS®. HipLinkXS®' easy-to-configure panel allowed the Administrator and staff to configure their unique process for patient coverage of emergencies of several types. Upon one action, HipLinkXS® sent pages multiple times and provided grouping, escalation and other convenient functions. HipLinkXS® also provided multiple messengers, or ways to send the pages, so the Hospital was not dependent on just one system, and was equipped with an urgent messaging solution custom configured to automatically page by other means.
Result: HipLinkXS® proactively improved the hospital's patient resource response and allocation system, maintaining its high level of patient care and reducing the threat of potential lawsuits by investing only three to ten thousand dollars. Employee stress levels were substantially reduced with such a powerful tool at hand as HipLinkXS®.
Case Study #2 - Hospital
Problem: An Administrator at a Hospital was concerned about the mounting labor costs associated with on-floor caregivers managing multiple pages to other caregivers located inside or outside the facility during emergencies. The outside service used for this function was an expense coming under scrutiny in the spirit of cost cutting.
These situations were happening when caregivers paged other specialists for more than one patient need, especially to summon those outside their facility. By manually monitoring paging responses to ensure patient coverage, the nurse, doctor or other healthcare professional spends 5 to 20 minutes concerned with the issue, estimated to cost over 10 minutes of productivity. For the average healthcare workers tending to hundreds of these incidents each per year at this hospital, this cost the hospital in excess of one person's average fully loaded salary of about $72,000 per year, consistent with a portion of the Hospital's annual overtime pay. The outside paging agencies know this problem all too well and are set up to manage these pages to multiple locations, by multiple means, reaching the professional at scheduled or unscheduled times. This service costs thousands of dollars per month for Hospital run professional practices.
What they needed was a pre-determined way of repeating messages to unanswered pages and involving a backup resource after that. Without requiring a person to manage the pages for the patient need, that caregiver is now free to tend to the next potential emergency or task, while looking only for the results of the paging sequence. A record of all pages, responses and results was also a requirement. To further reduce monthly costs, the Hospital wanted to be less dependant on an outsourced paging service.
Solution: HipLinkXS®' easy to configure panel allowed the Hospital Administrator and staff to configure their unique process for patient coverage of emergencies of several types. Upon one action, HipLinkXS® sent pages multiple times and provide grouping, escalation and other convenient functions to realize their procedures. HipLinkXS® also provided multiple messengers, or ways to send the pages, so they were not simply dependent on just one system, since the software is configurable to automatically try by other means.
Results: Using HipLinkXSmujha®, they greatly reduced their need to use an outside paging agency for their Hospital run practices, saving significant amounts of money each month. HipLinkXS® allowed the Administrator to proactively improve the Hospital's patient resource response and allocation system, maintaining its high level of patient care while reducing overtime costs and the need to hire surplus staff. It's estimated they would save over $100,000 in the first year after putting HipLinkXS® to full use.