University of Colorado researchers: PerfectServe cuts nurse-to-physician calling contact time by 65 percent

May 2005

Platform proven to speed clinical decisions

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Independent third-party research has established the efficacy of PerfectServe One-2-One, 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 service by comparing nurse-to physician caller connection times at a PerfectServe-equipped hospital with three non-PerfectServe user hospitals. Fairfield Medical Center in Lancaster, Ohio, the hospital using PerfectServe, was able to contact its 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 calling system, 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 can complete more tasks without interruption.

Time, money savings

Nurses at Fairfield Medical Center make 132,000 calls to doctor each year. The control hospital data suggests that Fairfield is recovering 4,400 to 12,100 nursing hours annually for direct patient care — representing a value of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

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."

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 in 2004, 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 One-2-One 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

PerfectServe Inc. is the nation's leading provider of physician contact and communication management solutions. The company's flagship products — PerfectServe One-2-One for Hospitals and PerfectServe OnCall for Practices — provide unprecedented accuracy, reliability and personal control over urgent communication processes. Compared to conventional approaches — answering services, hospital switchboards and legacy messaging systems, PerfectServe eliminate errors and delays and speeds communication cycle-times. So care is delivered more efficiently and effectively. PerfectServe solutions help physicians and hospitals manage interactions with more than 5 million patients across America.