News Releases
Fairfield Medical Center Partners with PerfectServe to Reduce Communication Errors and Delays
Hospital’s New Physician-Contact Network Responds to Institute of Medicine’s Error Reduction Recommendations
February 1, 2004
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Following a pilot project to assess the impact of improved internal communications on patient outcomes, Fairfield Medical Center (FMC) in Ohio has partnered with PerfectServe®, Inc. to roll out a new physician contact network hospital-wide.
Significant increases in telephone-related patient care interactions between doctors and nurses led FMC to research several communication management alternatives, and then to conduct a pilot project of PerfectServe. Hospital executive and physician leadership concluded that PerfectServe is the optimal solution to enable faster, more accurate and reliable nurse/physician communication processes.
The pilot demonstrated the PerfectServe networks ability to reduce clinical communication cycle times, allowing nurses and doctors to accelerate clinical decision-making and improve the quality of care they provide.
In a recent memo to all staff reporting the pilot project results, FMC president and CEO Mina Ubbing stated, “The impressive results of the pilot suggest that widespread deployment will reduce errors, frustration and delays in nurse/physician and physician/physician communications.”
When fully deployed, nurses and hospital staff will be able to accurately and reliably locate and contact any of 250 staff physicians within the FMC community by dialing a single number.
Physicians may decide who should be contacted based upon group on-call schedules. And each physician can vary his or her individual communication preferences based upon time of day, day of week and/or contact method of choice; such as cell phone, home phone, voice message with pager and/or other wireless device notification.
Physicians may change their on-call schedules and contact preferences at any time without notifying the hospital department or practice partners.
PerfectServe Answers Institute of Medicine’s Recommendation to Eliminate Error-Prone Processes
Jerome J. Roche, Jr., M.D., FMC vice president and chief medical officer, stresses that PerfectServe is consistent with the Institute of Medicine’s medical error reduction initiative, that calls for slashing preventable medical errors caused by breakdowns in communications, by designing processes that force errors out of the system.
“Like most health systems, each of our physicians has a unique and often complex communications algorithm that creates challenges for clinicians and patients needing to contact them on a timely basis. No other solution that we have seen effectively and completely addresses this universal challenge while measurably eliminating the opportunity for preventable error,” says Roche.
FMC Pilot Project Results Suggests Similar Results Attainable for Most Health Systems
According to PerfectServe chief executive officer Terrell Edwards, his company’s solutions solve a problem common to most health systems — broken communication processes that lead to unnecessary errors, delays and risks.
“The FMC pilot indicates a clear, practical roadmap for hospitals to drive out communications errors by implementing standardized processes that fully accommodate the complex communications requirements and mobile realities of today’s physicians,” says Edwards. “The key is providing doctors and nurses with convenient, easy-to-use tools that help them embrace process improvements and significantly enhance patient outcomes.”
About Fairfield Medical Center
Founded in Lancaster, Ohio, in 1916, Fairfield Medical Center is a not-for-profit, 222-bed general acute care facility that is the major referral center serving the Southeastern and Central Ohio regions. FMC’s mission is to provide championship care for patients and their families. It has a staff of approximately 2,000 in addition to more than 250 physicians.
About PerfectServe
The PerfectServe physician-contact network automatically routes calls and messages to the right doctor, at the right time, in the precise way each physician wishes to be reached. Communication occurs faster, with greater efficiency and safety, because PerfectServe assembles and maintains the entire communications workflow and contact preferences for every medical staff physician, for every moment of every day. The company currently serves nearly 12,000 physicians in 150 markets across the U.S. For more information, visit www.perfectserve.com.