Digital-Lifestyles has had its eye on Vocera since 2002, when we spotted their wireless VoIP product. We followed it up in 2004.
Rather than a more ‘normal’ VoIP product that apes the everyday PoTS (Plain old Telephone Service) that we’re historically used to, it takes a leap forward, doing away with a numeric key pad. Communication is via WiFi.
To connect to a person, it’s as simple as pressing a button on the unit that hangs around the neck and saying that name of the person or their role within the organisation. Voice recognition is then applied to this and connection made to that person’s Vocera. Very neat.
Belfast Health and Social Care Trust study
Vocera have just published the findings of a study that ran in the Royal Victoria Hospital Emergency Department in Belfast during December 2007.
The advantages read like a dream
• Improved patient care and safety
• Increased patient and clinician satisfaction
• Savings in clinical time
• Process efficiency
• Reduction in patient delays
Beyond this a stunning 98% of the staff using it reported an improvement in communications with their colleges.
Doctors reported a 167% increase in their satisfaction rate and nurses reporting a 100% increase.
Given immediate availability of the device — it’s hanging around their neck, rather than them having to hang around to use the shared phones — it’s estimates by Kinetic Consulting, who carried out the study, that 11 hours per day, the equivalent of over 4,000 hours annually, just in the emergency department alone.
It sound like it’s been a success all around, with Paul Duffy, Senior IT Manager, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust saying that, “Through the use of technology, our staff can do their jobs more efficiently and can spend more time caring for patients.”
Great to see new technology being applied correctly and bring advantages.
Given how long we’ve been watching it, and the length of time the company has been developing the product, it’s amazing to again see how long ideas take to be accepted by society.