Vocera Communication recently announced that Vocera mobile applications have been certified for use with the Spectralink Versity smartphone, a move intended to enhance mobile clinical communication and patient care.
Vocera will be a reseller of Versity, giving both of the company’s customers an easy way to improve communication with clinicians and ensure better patient care, safety, and experience include and outside the hospital.
“In fast-paced environments like hospitals, nurses, doctors, and other care team members need smart, durable mobile solutions that make their jobs easier,” CEO of Spectralink, Doug Werking stated in the announcement. “We are excited to integrate Versity with the Vocera solutions to reduce information silos and provide meaningful patient information to clinicians at the right time, helping them make informed decisions quickly.”
Smartphones are one of the most common mobile clinical communication tools, according to a recent survey conducted by Spok. The survey of 450 healthcare professionals found that three-quarters of hospitals use smartphones for mobile clinical communication. Physicians were most often permitted to use mobile devices at 90 per cent, followed by administrators (84 per cent), nurses (79 per cent), and IT staff (76 per cent).
These hospital staff members primarily used smartphones and other mobile clinical communication tools to communicate with care team members. Some also used the devices to provide real-time clinical information and receive actionable information, such as nurse call alerts.
The Vocera-Spectralink partnership is looking to improve functionality in order to help more hospitals achieve productive use of smartphones in healthcare. The announcement stated that Spectralink Versity is a smartphone specifically built for healthcare, offering a light and rugged design and Wi-Fi voice quality. With the new partnership, the smartphone works seamlessly with Vocera Platform’s voice-driven user experience that allows clinicians to call by name, role, or group across the hospital or health system.
Vocera Vina, the integrated smartphone app, will also allow clinicians to manage communications with the patient, including voice calls, texts message, alerts, and alarm notifications. Accessing the app on Versity is convenient, the companies promised. The Vocera-powered Vina app shows which care team members are logged in and who is available to help.
But this isn’t the only partnership bolstering mobile clinical communications. In February of 2017, Uniphy Health announced their mobile app created for physicians associated with the Catholic Health Services (CHS). The app intended to enhance communication among hospital staff and physicians.
The app ensures hospitals will have clear visibility of on-call schedules and are informed about clinician availability. Staff will also be informed if there are any changes in daily workflow. In addition, the platform offers numerous features, including, a searchable physician directory, image sharing for remote diagnoses, organizational news alerts, message delivery, and read receipt confirmation.
Vocera and Spectralink also plan to work together on different elements of the smartphone such as design, technical validation, and interoperability. Coordinated deployment, implementation, and technical support, including timely software and security updates, allow for an ideal experience for hospital IT teams and care teams, the press release stressed. This partnership is expanding on mobile clinical communications by adding the patient into the mix.
