St. Luke’s Hospital To Improve Clinical Communications With New Amcom Software Solutions

Amcom Software, Inc. today announced that St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is adding to its Amcom technology suite to strengthen communications in clinical settings. The 532-bed hospital is adding smartphone communications and web-based on-call scheduling to its existing Amcom solutions for emergency notification and operator consoles. The goal is to further improve speed, accuracy, and security in its staff communications, which in turn enables physicians and staff to enhance patient care.

The hospital selected the Amcom Mobile Connect smartphone communications solution for encrypted, HIPAA-compliant mobile messaging among several hundred physicians and administrators using a variety of smartphones. The solution will protect sensitive patient information while eliminating questions of whether a message was delivered or responded to using the solution’s audit trail. Patient data will be further protected with capabilities such as remote message deletion for lost or stolen smartphones.

Web-based on-call scheduling will be implemented organization wide to provide accurate, easily updated schedules for physicians and others involved in patient care. In particular, the Emergency Department at St. Luke’s will use this new system to help ensure the right on-call physician can be reached around the clock, streamlining patient care communications and replacing paper-based schedules. The contact center will administer the on-call scheduling system in tandem with its Amcom operator consoles, which also support 110 physicians’ offices and departments with live, after-hours call handling.

St. Luke’s uses Amcom’s emergency notification system to communicate with outlying clinics, particularly during disaster situations such as the 2008 flood. Now, the solution is also used to alert traveling nurses of bad weather and road closings as they treat hospice and home-based patients throughout the region. In addition, various hospital departments use emergency notification to quickly disseminate important information to associates when there is a change in a scheduled event such as an important meeting. The system’s automated reminders to physicians have greatly increased attendance at section meetings.

“The security of information communicated about patients is paramount for St. Luke’s, particularly when it comes to interaction among mobile staff,” said Cathy Rammelsberg, Telecom Supervisor, St. Luke’s Hospital. “Our expanded capabilities will enable us to better support fast, informed decision making and involve the right people at every step.”

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