Paul Coyne, DNP, MBA, MSF, RN, AGPCNP-BC, assistant vice president of Clinical Informatics and Advanced Practice at HSS, and Elizabeth Saxler Chang, MSN, RN at HSS, detail how the Hospital successfully implemented a communications platform using smartphones to allow for more effective nurse-physician communication.

Needs that led HSS to adopt a clinical communication platform included the desire to increase responsiveness between clinicians and providers; additional context to communications for triaging the most critical messages; ability to involve multiple care team members; and the investigation of communication issues through an audit trail.

The use of the smartphones help nurses spend more time with patients and expedite bedside communications with prescribers. Devices are docked at the nursing stations and users log in to all applications at the beginning of the shift, which streamlines the process. HSS currently has 450 smartphones in use across the hospital, and the program continues to expand in scope and coverage.

Read the full article at himss.org.