Streamlining Nurse Communication Workflows with PerfectServe

MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center is a 218-bed, 1,279-employee hospital—the only nonprofit hospital in Fountain Valley. It was voted the #1 hospital in Orange County for four consecutive years (2017-2023) by Orange County Register readers and has received several U.S. News & World Report high performance rankings.

Challenges

A time and motion study conducted by Orange Coast Medical Center revealed that the communication cycle for nurses to contact physicians was complicated and disjointed, with multiple points for potential gaps.¹ Communication inefficiencies delayed throughput, added costs, and caused frustration for patients and staff.

“Before PerfectServe, nurses spent a significant amount of time contacting physicians, which sometimes translated into delays in care.”

Executive Director, Information Services
Orange Coast Medical Center

Solution

Orange Coast Medical Center implemented PerfectServe’s Clinical Collaboration solution to reduce variations in call-back time, minimize time wasted on phone tag, increase nurses’ time for direct patient care, and improve nurse and patient satisfaction. PerfectServe streamlined the communication process, allowing nurses to access the platform at any time to send secure text or voice messages to the correct on-call physician with one touch. Physicians could respond within minutes—no additional time or callbacks required.

Implementation

PerfectServe analyzed Orange Coast Medical Center’s communication workflows to configure
its Dynamic Intelligent Routing® to meet the hospital’s unique needs and shift schedules,
ensuring timely and accurate connectivity across all users and locations. All inputs and decision
points were added so staff would no longer need to consult call schedules, look up contact
information, wait on hold, relay messages, or route calls back. PerfectServe provided a dedicated team to help train staff and enroll physicians.

Results

Orange Coast Medical Center saw a number of improvements after implementation:

• Streamlined communication process
• Shorter communication cycle times
• Average physician callback time cut from 45 minutes to 14 minutes
• Positive feedback from nurses about substantial communication improvements
• Overhead paging eliminated, reducing noise
• Pain control improved by 4.4%, believed to be tied directly to faster communication

“PerfectServe has changed contacting physicians from a 10-step process to a one-step process.”

Tim Hortter, BSN, RN, CCRN, Critical Care Nurse
Orange Coast Medical Center

Conclusion

By implementing PerfectServe’s comprehensive Clinical Collaboration solution, MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center secured and streamlined clinical communication, improved ED flow, reduced response times, improved nurse satisfaction, enhanced the patient experience, and cut costs.

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