News Releases
University of Colorado researchers: PerfectServe cuts nurse-to-physician communication cycle times by 65 percent
New Physician-Contact Network Speeds Clinical Decisions
March 28, 2005
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Independent third-party research has established the efficacy of PerfectServe, a nurse-to-physician contact tool designed to reduce clinical communication cycle times.
Researchers at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center analyzed the performance of the patient-care communication network by comparing nurse-to-physician communication cycle times at a PerfectServe-equipped hospital with three non-PerfectServe user hospitals.
Nurses at Fairfield Medical Center in Lancaster, Ohio, the hospital using PerfectServe, were able to contact physicians in less than a third of the time of one of the non-PerfectServe users, and less than half the time of the others.
The University of Colorado study showed that when Fairfield Medical Center used the PerfectServe network, the time it took nurses to reach physicians went down by an average of 71 percent in the ICU and 65 percent in all departments observed.
In addition, nurses in the PerfectServe hospital were up to 10 times more likely to contact a physician in two minutes or less than were nurses in the non-PerfectServe hospitals studied. The researchers said more two-minute communication cycles means nurses at Fairfield Medical Center complete more tasks without interruption.
Thousands of hours of waste eliminated.
According to the researchers, “The PerfectServe system has significantly shorter median callback times and significantly more calls returned in under five minutes than the usual system employed by the three control hospitals.”
Nurses at Fairfield Medical Center make 132,000 calls to doctors each year. The control hospital data suggests that Fairfield is eliminating an estimated 4,400 hours of waste annually from its physician contact processes.
Dr. Jack Westfall, associate dean of rural health for the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and his colleague Dr. David Hildebrand observed 290 calling attempts in 17 units in four hospitals, measuring them from the time a nurse first tried to reach a doctor. The researchers studied how many steps were involved, how long each call cycle took, and nurse/physician satisfaction.
“Analysis of these events revealed a statistically significant reduction in communication cycle times and a reduction in process decision points and information hand-offs using the PerfectServe system, as compared to the usual care systems at three comparison hospitals,” wrote Westfall and Hildebrand.
Communication failure: difference between life and death.
As they suggested, communication failures can mean the difference between life and death: “Delays and breakdowns in physician contact processes can cause serious problems in hospitals. They might delay clinical decision-making processes, thereby increasing patient-care risks. They can reduce staff productivity and slow patient flow and throughput, consuming scarce and expensive human and facility resources. They may cause or contribute to nurse and physician frustration.”
The researchers also noted that nurses and physicians expressed greater satisfaction with the PerfectServe calling platform over their former physician contact and communication 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,” says Dr. Jerome Roche Jr., Fairfield’s vice president and chief medical officer. “No other solution that we have seen effectively and completely addresses this universal challenge while measurably eliminating the opportunity for preventable error.”
PerfectServe gives nurses and hospital staff just one number to call to reach any physician at any time. When nurses and other staff members call that number, they key in the desired physician’s four-digit code, and the call is instantly routed to him or her. Each call follows a specific path predefined by each physician, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“We’re introducing a standardized, predictable process into a critical hospital function that until now has been essentially chaotic,” says PerfectServe President and CEO Terrell Edwards.
About PerfectServe, Inc.
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.