What Is a Clinical Mobility Workshop?
In a Clinical Mobility Workshop, CDW Healthcare strategists and architects assist healthcare organizations in defining a vision for their mobility initiatives and identifying key stakeholders including traditional IT, informatics, telecommunications, clinical engineering, and clinical and operational leadership.
We conduct a thorough review of the organization’s current assets, including electronic health records (EHRs), communications platforms, mobile devices and nurse call platforms, as well as alert and alarm management. Based on this review, we provide guidance on how to improve and refine these existing investments. Only after this step do we consider the integration of new technologies, such as mobility platforms.
DIVE DEEPER: How are providers tackling EHR optimization?
How Does a Clinical Mobility Workshop Increase Workflow Efficiency?
The benefits of participating in a Clinical Mobility Workshop are numerous. Healthcare organizations are often able to consolidate platforms and streamline technology delivery. Instead of a clinician juggling several devices, he or she can be equipped with a single device that houses all necessary applications. This includes access to the EHR, secure messaging, and voice and video communication capabilities.
This unified approach improves usability by delivering and prioritizing various forms of communication. It introduces role-based communication, which allows clinicians to easily connect with on-call colleagues without needing to recall schedules or individual names. Beyond improving efficiency, this approach significantly increases the likelihood of positive patient outcomes.
The effect of CC&C on clinician satisfaction can vary and is often based on personal perspective. In contrast, patient feedback provides a more concrete measure of CC&C’s impact, as patients and caregivers are consistently surveyed during their stay. Hospitals implementing advanced CC&C platforms report a marked increase in patient satisfaction. This boost is attributed to improved communication among the care team, patients and caregivers. Additionally, these systems are linked to shorter patient stays, a key performance indicator for healthcare facilities.
CONSIDER: Enhance existing investments with workflow optimization.
What’s Next After a Clinical Mobility Workshop?
Once an organization has established its mobility objectives, concluded the workshop and chosen a direction, CDW is equipped to assist IT leaders in preparing for the rollout. It’s probable that several aspects will require attention prior to deploying a new solution.
The areas where healthcare organizations will likely need to prepare include:
- Network Optimization: Prior to introducing new mobile devices, it’s essential for the IT department to confirm that the network infrastructure is robust enough to handle the increased demand.
- Mobile Device Management: Introducing new devices can indeed boost clinical efficiency, but it also expands the number of vulnerable points within an organization’s network.
- Interoperability: Interoperability in healthcare is crucial, ensuring that EHRs and nurse call systems work seamlessly with new communication platforms for efficient, error-free care.
- Device Lifecycle: This involves support for mobile devices including cases, power, physical security and ongoing lifecycle management.
The no-cost Clinical Mobility Workshop represents an investment in the partnership between CDW and its clients. It also happens to be a great first step toward improved clinician satisfaction, patient engagement and clinical outcomes.
This article is part of HealthTech’s MonITor blog series.
