Hospitals aim to provide patient care to everyone. As one of the most critical factors of patient care is communication, hospitals and other health institutions should improve their nurse call systems so patients can quickly get the attention of nurses whenever needed.
What is a nurse call system?
A basic nurse call system is a device that allows the patient to contact the nursing staff. It’s usually a mechanism with a built-in button that when pressed, the nursing staff is alerted by either light and/or an audible sound at the nurse’s station. It serves as a notification that they need to respond to the patient.
How to select the best nurse call solution
Upgrading to a new nurse call system is a major investment and impacts the people in your institution, including staff and patients. You need to make sure that you select a solution that best fits your organization from a telecommunications service provider that can offer ongoing support. With the right telecom company, you can eliminate the burden that comes with new solution implementation. However, you should also take some necessary steps before making a selection to ensure that your nursing staff will focus less on the technology once it is installed and divert their energy on providing high-quality patient care.
- Identify budget: Get insight from groups that will be impacted by the new nurse call solution, including clinical, IT, transport, pharmacy staff, so you can identify their needs. Use the answers to compare all needs and priorities to the features offered by nurse call systems. You should then set a budget and select the most appropriate nurse call system based on the top priorities of each team. You may cut costs when necessary by option out of add-ons that are less valuable. However, ongoing maintenance and support should be non-negotiable.
- Set realistic goals: Outline attainable goals and objectives. Identify which areas of practice that can be further improved upon and understand how the new nurse call solution can achieve your goals. Just be sure to create a clear strategy for tracking key performance indicators over time to monitor return on investment.
- Consider existing inventory: The nurse call system you will ultimately choose should fit seamlessly into existing technologies to enhance workflows, limit disruptions, and improve performance. You should take stock of existing inventory to ensure the new system can be integrated successfully.
- Test compatibility: After reviewing the existing IT infrastructure, you should then check the requirements of these technologies to figure out whether the nurse call system can work with them. This will ensure the selection is not only cost-efficient but also reduces unnecessary guesswork for everyone who will be using it. The right nurse call solution is one that you can easily assimilate into your existing technologies like EMRs, cardiac monitoring, telemetry, wireless phones, or biomedical equipment.
Conclusion
By following the steps listed above, you can make the best choice when it comes to a nurse call solution that can foster a productive and happy staff environment and deliver the best possible care to patients. We are a telecommunications service provider in Columbus, OH that can provide adequate resources for your health institution. Get in touch with us today to see how we can help.
Recent Comments