According to The Joint Commission, communication breakdown is the single greatest contributing factor to sentinel events and delays in care in U.S. hospitals.
On average, clinicians in a 300-bed hospital direct more than 180,000 communication events to physicians each year, or 500 each day.
A hospital with 800 physicians on its medical staff has 800 unique algorithms—or rules—that clinicians must follow to determine who is covering a particular patient or service at any given moment in time and how that doctor should be reached.
The problem is that the initiator has to know the doctor’s contact rules, instructions and preferences.
This information is often managed manually via a myriad of tools and processes (e.g., call schedule binders, Rolodexes, Web pages, faxes, black books, secret lists, and third-party operators). The information is often incomplete and changes are not communicated easily in real time.
The result: Communications breakdown, which contribute to adverse events and complications.
How PerfectServe reduces risks
With PerfectServe, calls and messages route with greater accuracy and reliability because the communications workflow, call schedules, and contact preferences for every medical staff member are built in.
Download White Paper: Closing Communication Gaps Between Providers
Because PerfectServe knows who is covering and how they should be reached, at every moment of every day, the need for clinicians or third-party intermediaries to refer to and interpret a myriad of lists, call schedules and complex instructions is eliminated—along with the potential for error.
Automatic documentation and PerfectServe Analytics provides process transparency, and enables clinicians to fix problems when they occur.
PerfectServe risk reduction benefits
- Fewer steps, decision points and communication handoffs.
- Knows who is covering and how every clinician wants to be reached, for every moment of every day.
- Enables failsafe processes that ensure no critical call or message is lost or delayed.
- Automatically escalates notifications, including contacting alternative physicians.
- Documents every point of contact, reducing liability risks for both hospitals and physicians, while providing the data necessary for continuous improvement.
Real world results
- A University of Colorado Study concluded that using PerfectServe resulted in a "significant reduction in hospital-to-physician communication cycle times, as well as a reduction in process decision points and information hand-offs."
- At Fairfield Medical Center, Lancaster, OH, PerfectServe enabled faster mobilization of the catheterization team to help the hospital meet quality of care benchmarks for door-to-balloon time established by the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association. Read Success Story