Role of Wireless Communication in

Patient Response Time: A Study of Vocera

Integration with a Nurse Call System

By

C.ANOOP H.RAJIV BHARADWAJ

(3rd BTECH ,ECE) (3rd BTECH , ECE)
anuag11@gmail.com h.rajivbharadwaj@gmail.com

SREE VIDYANIKETHAN ENGINEERING COLLEGE

A.RANGAMPET, TIRUPATI.
 ABSTRACT:

The goal of this paper is to investigate the use and impact of wireless Voice over Internet Protocol
(VoIP) communication technology developed by Vocera communications and used by clinicians and
mobile workers in a healthcare setting. Of particular interest for this study was the impact of a newly
installed component of the Vocera system, the Vocera Messaging Interface (VMI), which enables
connectivity between external systems and the Vocera system via the Vocera Server. We focused on a
specific VMI application used in the healthcare industry that directly integrates Vocera with Nurse Call
Systems. In this Vocera Nurse Call Integration (NCI) application, bedside calls from patients using the
hospital’s Nurse Call System trigger messages that are sent directly to the primary care giver. Primary care
givers can read or play messages and either speak a command or respond to the call to the patient’s pillow
speaker via the PBX/Nurse Call system. The primary objectives of the paper were to measure the effect of
using NCI on response times to patient requests and to analyze qualitatively the benefits of using the
Vocera Solution.
This paper focused specifically on communication between caregivers and patients. This data gives the
relationship between integrating the Nurse Call System with the Vocera System and the time required for a
caregiver to respond to a patient request. In addition to this, a qualitative analysis of the use of the system
for clinician-to-clinician and clinician-to-external communication outside of the Vocera NCI use is
conducted.
In June 2005, the Center for Health Information and Decision Systems (CHIDS) was contracted to
conduct a research study at St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland by Vocera Communications,
Cupertino, California. St. Agnes purchased the Vocera Communications System in 2003 and has been
deploying it in stages in terms of functionality and units since that time. It is currently deployed in a variety
of units and is used by many types of clinicians and staff members, including but not limited to nurses,
administrative staff, technicians, and physicians. Vocera and St. Agnes, with assistance from an
independent consulting group, conducted a ‘Benefits Study’ in December of 2003. This study yielded
important findings related to the time savings and financial benefits resulting from the implementation of
the core Vocera system. However, this study did not examine the impact of the Nurse-Call or PBX
integration. The study conducted by CHIDS investigates two phenomena: Vocera Nurse-Call Integration
system (NCI) and non-NCI utilization.