Van Buren County Hospital & Clinics

Customer Needs

Clinicians and patients at Van Buren County Hospital & Clinics were relying on an outdated nurse call system installed in 1996 that was causing communication issues. The system wasn’t integrated with any handheld devices, so nurses had to continually check in at the nurses’ station.

Because of the age of the system, staff members were also hesitant to attempt regular maintenance or repairs—they didn’t want the system to break down as a result. To find the crucial replacement parts they needed, eBay was becoming the only option.

The hospital knew time was running out to replace the nurse call system before they experienced a complete failure, so they contacted CEC to explore their options.

CEC took the Van Buren County Hospital & Clinics team—including frontline workers—to tour Rauland’s headquarters in Chicago, meet their nurse call experts, and see the Responder 5 system in action. The team also visited the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital in Iowa City to see how staff members interact with their own Responder 5 system.

Solution

Van Buren County Hospital & Clinics decided that Rauland’s Responder 5 system was the right choice to replace its outdated nurse call solution. By integrating the system with Spectralink phones, nurses now have handheld devices that allow them to spend more time at the bedside with patients.

One of CEC’s clinical application specialists was dedicated to the project, providing best practices, offering perspectives on how this new technology improves workflows and patient outcomes, advising on the best ways to use it, and leading onsite training for all staff members.

After working with CEC to design and install a new hospital-wide Rauland Responder 5 nurse call system, Van Buren County Hospital & Clinics now has:

• Established processes regarding who is responsible for answering which call lights.
• Clear indications of what each code or light represents instead of having to remember which light represents which location.
• Quieter patient floors without loud tones that can be heard by patients throughout units.
• Code blue buttons to support patient safety by sending calls to the appropriate people and places while flashing a blue corridor light.
• Accurate reporting to benchmark average response times and set improvement goals.
• The ability to transmit critical messages from the nurse call system to handheld devices.
• Critical alerts that work right the first time and reach all necessary parties.
• Potential integration with EMR information when that next step is needed.