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Vocollect Expands Voice-Assisted Care Into Acute Care Settings

Posted on: Wednesday, 18 March 2009, 08:17 CDT

Voice-assisted care will deliver higher levels of documentation accuracy

PITTSBURGH, March 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Vocollect, Inc. announces that it is expanding the utilization of AccuNurse(R) voice-assisted care into acute healthcare settings, under the direction of Amar Kapadia, director of Vocollect New Ventures. For acute care organizations who are dissatisfied with manual data entry to produce patient medical records, voice-assisted care empowers staff with the fastest, easiest, and most accurate way of delivering quality care -- simply by talking -- anytime, anywhere in the facility. AccuNurse voice-assisted care supports clinicians -- including respiratory therapists, IV nurses, physical therapists, phlebotomists and wound care nurses -- in better caring for patients in various acute care settings.

Improve Patient Care & Satisfaction

• Reducing documentation overhead enables staff to spend more time at patient bedside
• Proactive reminders for turning, positioning, bathing, etc. help reduce falls, ulcers, UTIs and other preventable events
• Real-time visibility into vitals, ADLs, etc. provides opportunity for proactive diagnosis

Increase Job Satisfaction

• Reducing the time care staff spends on documentation and locating colleagues enables focus on direct care-related activities
• Decreasing the number of devices or charts clinicians have to carry, results in reduced cognitive overload

Enhance Quality & Regulatory Compliance

• Improving adherence to established guidelines for care using checklists at point of care results in fewer errors
• Maintaining a trail of activities by time stamping each interaction creates accountability, and enables a better response to regulatory audits

As part of Vocollect's expansion into acute care, Butler Memorial Hospital, located in Butler, Pennsylvania, recently piloted AccuNurse with its IV nursing team, with the goal of fully implementing the technology in 2009. Butler Memorial Hospital's nurses used AccuNurse with over 200 patients and, according to Cindy Esser, director of emerging technologies, were extremely pleased with the results they've seen.

"Our nurses enjoyed the hands-free nature of AccuNurse, along with the ability to document in real-time -- simply by talking," Esser said. "Charting right then and there, as opposed to having to wait until the shift ends or when a break occurs, is a significant time-saver. We're also impressed with the way AccuNurse prompts our nurses to their next task or patient -- it literally tells them who to go to next, based on patient priority or who is logistically closest to their current location. This feature takes a lot of guesswork out of managing your day efficiently. That, along with the accuracy of documentation and the reduction in actual documentation time, makes this an ideal solution for our health system."

By giving clinicians the ability to access resident care needs on demand, complete paperwork simply by talking, enhance care team collaboration with Silent Paging(TM) and respond faster to patient needs, voice-assisted care will achieve numerous performance gains, including enabling higher levels of staff efficiency and satisfaction while increasing quality, eliminating paperwork, and achieving compliance. For Butler Memorial Hospital, AccuNurse voice-assisted care enables the following processes: real-time access to information and other staff; the elimination of paper-based printouts for managing care needs and documentation; the ability for caregivers to make decisions more accurately and quickly; and, the ability for the care team to multi-task while documenting care, thereby improving productivity and directing more time back to patients.

According to Roger Byford, chairman of Vocollect, Inc., "Based on the success we've experienced with voice-assisted care in the long-term care sector of the healthcare industry, the acute care setting was the next natural progression. The expansion of voice demonstrates our commitment to deepening our capabilities and extending our market reach into acute healthcare settings and applications. Each new market we enter not only brings more efficiencies and cost savings to our customers, but also adds to the synergies built into our operational and corporate infrastructure and boosts our core business as the global leading developer of voice applications."

About Vocollect Healthcare Systems and Vocollect, Inc.

AccuNurse voice-assisted care from Vocollect Healthcare Systems makes it easy for healthcare professionals to retrieve care needs on-demand, chart activities as they are completed, and Silent Page each other for help. Organizations using AccuNurse benefit from lower operating costs, maximized reimbursements, and improved quality of care. Vocollect Healthcare Systems is a subsidiary of Vocollect, Inc., the global leader in voice technology and delivering performance improvements in productivity, accuracy, cost reduction and worker satisfaction for mobile employees on six continents. Vocollect(R) is a registered trademark of Vocollect, Inc.; AccuNurse(R) is a registered trademark of Vocollect Healthcare Systems. For more information please visit http://www.AccuNurse.com/acute.

SOURCE Vocollect, Inc.

Source: PR Newswire

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