Video Communication Applications in Healthcare

Just as architecture has the power to transform a skyline, create new vistas and reshape the horizon -- so technology has the power to redefine healthcare, that's the theme of this year's HIMSS09 conference and exhibition in Chicago, Illinois this week.

Cisco video technology was featured in the AT&T Telepresence Solution booth on the exhibition floor. Visitors to the live video demo described their perspective on potential new applications, and Wendy Bohling, Senior VP at Magpie Healthcare had a more profound point of view. She said, regarding the business impact, "Telepresence changes and differentiates a hospital."

Quest to Improve the Patient Experience
Enhancing communication capabilities in healthcare can be equated to the potential for productivity and cost-reduction benefits, which are clearly valued. However, perhaps the emerging opportunities will now also focus on patient safety and the overall patient experience.

A recent study, conducted by Zogby International, sheds new light on the heavy toll that communication lapses take on patient care, clinical efficiency and the overall ability of nurses to do their job. More than 250 practicing nurses were surveyed. They included those in medical-surgical, emergency room, operating room, and critical care or intensive care unit service.

The Key Survey Findings Include:

Improving "people-to-people connections" offers the greatest potential for progress. The primary issue centered on the opportunity to improve communications among care team members. The time that nurses spend chasing other people to get answers was twice as great as the time they spend locating other resources.

• When asked how many minutes per shift are typically spent "chasing other people to get answers," up to 86 percent of respondents estimated wasting as much as two hours per shift.
• When asked about information needed to improve communication, 48 percent of nurses surveyed said, "care team availability and location" is most needed from a communications device at the point of care.
• In an open-ended question about the most significant challenge that a nurse's communications device could address, 56 percent of nurses said, "better communication between staff."
• About 60 percent of nurses in the study estimate they work up to 10 hours of overtime each week due to time wasted or lost trying to communicate with other staff.
  

If the visitor comments at the AT&T Telepresence demonstrations are an indication of an emerging trend, then the opportunities for hospital administrators, and other healthcare industry leaders, to apply the latest managed or hosted service offerings certainly looks very promising. Clearly, IT transformation is a rising priority.

Updates:
View the Day Two video of additional demo visitor commentary.
More demo visitor perspectives on the Day Three video coverage.

Hosted Phone System Saves Time, Money and Hassles

If you've ever had to add or move employees, you know that one of the biggest hassles is dealing with the telephone system. While many companies are deploying IP-based phone systems to ease their PBX hassles, still others are turning to hosted phone systems to eliminate their ongoing operation and management responsibly altogether.

Hosted phone systems work especially well for companies that have highly mobile employees. With a hosted system, employees can just log into the system to automatically forward calls to another designated number.

One big advantage: employees need only give their clients one phone number. This eliminates the complexity of dealing with multiple phone numbers and voice mail systems.

Helios Realty, part of Real Living, the Midwest's largest independent real estate firm, has taken advantage of this concept. Helios relies on Cisco-Powered partner Geckotech to provide a scalable voice and data infrastructure for its highly mobile workforce of real estate agents, while still providing the highest level of professional service.

How Hosting Saves Time
Helios Realty has no assigned desks. When agents arrive in the office, they sit down at any open desk and type in a 3-digit code. This reprograms that phone as their office line while they're there. When agents leave the office, they can log in again and automatically forward calls over to their cell phone or voice mail.

Without ever investing in a new phone system, Helios can add agents simply by adding phone numbers. The company never has to worry about having enough "lines," because VoIP is based on bandwidth, not phone lines. The real estate firm also has itemized billing through Geckotech, so it can budget based on the number of agents.

How Hosting Saves Money
The Geckotech system saves Helios money in two ways. "Geckotech's mobility saves us money each month on rent and infrastructure," says Andrew Magliochetti, a principal with Helios Realty. "When employees are in the office they are instantly connected. We never have to pay for onsite maintenance to move a phone around, and we only need room for one-third of our workforce."

By using an outsourced IP phone system, Helios has said, its employees are completely mobile and free to communicate at will with their customers. Access to voicemail, intercoms, conference bridges, and 4-digit company-wide dialing is easier as well.

Though phone systems are crucial to most businesses, it is not crucial that they own them, as Helios has discovered.

If the responsibilities of owning, operating, managing and updating a phone system are an unwelcome hassle, then perhaps you should consider a hosted solution for your business.

Unified Communications: An Entrepreneur's Best Friend

I'm in Orlando, Fla., this week "on vacation." As a small business owner, I can't afford to fully unplug from my business. Sure, managed service providers keep my company running even when I'm focused on family time. However, I still need a mix of unified communications and mobile technologies to really keep the business optimized.

Here are three key technologies that can give me -- and my customers -- peace of mind while I'm (mostly) unplugged from my business.

1. iPhone 3G: I wasn't a big fan of my iPhone 3G when I initially purchased it. Dropped connections seemed quite common during the first few weeks with the device. But the iPhone 3G has proven to be a great device for my business travel. I can monitor our company Web sites, Internet traffic patterns, reader loyalty, reader comments and more from the iPhone's browser.

My family cringes when I open a laptop during vacations. But smart phones can let you quickly check in with your online business operations during long waits in amusement park lines or during other natural "breaks" in the action.

This week, my laptop hasn't escaped from my travel bag. And I'm typing this blog from a multi-user terminal at the hotel. Thanks to Web 2.0, most of the applications I need to access live up in a cloud rather than down on my laptop.

2. Managed Services: Our company Web sites serve thousands of readers worldwide each day. I don't have time to manage those systems during vacation. Nor do I want to worry about optimizing their performance, keeping systems patched, and safeguarding everything from probing eyes.

Our managed service provider hosts everything for us; automates system patch updates to our database, application server and content management systems; and backs up all of our systems daily as part of a fixed monthly fee.

We know exactly how much our managed Web services are going to cost every month, and we don't get distracted managing system optimization efforts. We leave that to the experts.

3. 'Follow Me' Unified Communications: I must admit, I'm not using this service yet. But I need "follow me" unified communications to make sure urgent calls and inquiries are routed automatically to me. Customers with urgent needs don't care if you're asleep or on vacation.

For urgent matters they want rapid response. I've adjusted my voicemail to let customers know I'm on vacation. But some sort of follow-me service -- routing urgent calls right to my iPhone or my current location -- is a natural next step for my next vacation.

And that reminds me: It's time to get back to vacation.