Wireless Communication Role in Patient Response Time: A Study of Vocera Integration with a Nurse Call System

Abstract

This study investigated the use and impact of wireless communication technology developed by Vocera Communications and implemented at St. Agnes Hospital, Baltimore, MD. Our specific focus was on the impact of a newly installed component of the Vocera system, the Vocera Messaging Interface (VMI), which enables connectivity between third-party systems, such as a nurse-call system.

The results of our investigation of the nurse-call integration confirmed that the use of the integrated communications system reduced overall mean time for completing a patient request by 51% across all observations when controlling for observation type. Further, analysis of clinicians' usage of the system for different types of patient requests revealed that it enables the clinician to have more control in prioritizing and responding to requests according to the seriousness of the event. The study also surfaced several interesting "creative" and "evolving" impacts of the system that are discussed along with practical implications of the findings.