PLATTSBURGH -- An electronic tracking system is helping officials at CVPH Medical Center manage patient movement more efficiently.

The hospital initiated the pre-admittance bed-tracking system a month ago, allowing staff from departments and patient floors to communicate via an electronic paging system that reduces the need to call one another when patients are being admitted or discharged.

"The phones are quiet now," said Marty Picard, a patient-care coordinator for the Medical Center. "The system tracks patient movement and patient needs. Information is automatically sent from one unit to another simply by pushing a button."

JUST ONE CALL

In the past, when patients were admitted to the hospital from the Emergency Department, Surgical Wing or other department, staff from the admitting unit would call Admissions, who in turn would call the patient floor. The patient floor would then call the admitting unit back when a bed was open.

"It would typically take seven phone calls once a patient came through the door," said Rhonda Kowalowski, supervisor of In-Patient Services at the hospital. "Now, with pre-admit tracking, there's usually only one call to the charge nurse on the intake unit. Everything else is handled electronically."

"We were encumbered by the process of using the phone," Picard added. "The system worked well if things were calm, but when things get busy, it's not always that easy to get calls in or calls back."

The system can be followed at a central location where staff can identify the status of the hospital's 180-plus beds in minutes. An electronic table lists each bed and shows whether it is occupied, empty and being prepared for the next patient or awaiting a new patient.

The chart also lists the specific needs for the patient, so each can be matched with the specialty available on each inpatient wing.

"A hospital room is very much different than a hotel room," Picard said. "In a hospital, the needs of the patient have to be matched with the special skills of the staff and the nursing units."

REAL-TIME PROCESS

Staff members have electronic pagers that allow for communication among the different units. Once a room is cleaned following a patient discharge, for instance, that information is keyed into the system, and Admissions and other units know immediately it is available.

"It simulates real-time communication across the organization," Picard said.

Officials are expecting the new system to be especially beneficial during times when the hospital is busy.

"Capacity protocol is a template for disciplines to follow when we have too many admissions," Kowalowski said. "This procedure will no doubt speed up the admission process."