Mountain States Health Alliance finds winning formula for patient privacy and staff efficiency with medical paging from HME Wireless
Running a hospital at maximum efficiency while complying with myriad health laws is a challenge. Now imagine running 13 hospitals across two states, with up to five thousand employees. That's the task faced by Mountain States Health Alliance every day—and it just got a little bit easier, thanks to a new hospital paging system from HME Wireless.
Prior to using hospital pagers in most of its facilities, MSHA was using a manual sign-in log at its admittance and registration areas. When it came time to bring a patient in, or direct him or her to another area of the hospital, staff would have to call patient names out loud, using last names in an attempt to protect their privacy.
Now, each patient is immediately handed a hospital pager upon entering, and then receives a silent, specific text message as to where they need to go next. The text messaging capability of SmartCall hospital pagers ensures that communication is clear and concise, so there's no guesswork or confusion for patients.
MSHA initially purchased the medical paging systems to stay compliant with privacy laws, but has since seen additional benefits.
"We've noticed a big improvement in both staff efficiency and quality of service to our patients," said Sheryl Oliver, patient access application coordinator at MSHA. "They like not having their names called out, and the ability to move around to different areas like the book shop or coffee bar."
In another efficiency improvement prompted by the hospital pagers, MSHA facilities now use a tracking board to see how many patients are waiting, and how long they've been waiting—useful information that the staff can use for continual improvement.
Based in Johnson City, TN, MSHA operates hospitals in Tennessee and Virginia. HME Wireless hospital pagers are now used as a matter of procedure in all the group's admittance and registration areas. It's a successful addition that they are more than willing to share with colleagues in their field.
"Communication is critical in the medical environment when you are talking about improving patient care. We are thrilled that Mountain States chose our on-site medical paging solutions to support that commitment to better care for all their patients, " said Russ Ford, Vice President of HME Wireless.
"Our staff is already telling others in similar facilities how great the pagers are, and how much they like to work with HME Wireless," said Oliver. "They provide great customer service, and it exemplifies how they are looking out for hospitals and medical facilities."
For more information on medical paging systems and complete on-site paging solutions from HME Wireless, call (866) 611-4202 or visit www.hmewireless.com.
