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Unit Coordinator Maxine Greenidge answers a patient call using the new call system in the Connors Center.
Nurses in the Connors Center for Women and Newborns have answered a call for improvement. In recent years, nurses and staff found that the call light system did not allow for speedy response to patients’ needs.
After visiting numerous hospitals and studying many call light systems, Connors Center nurses recommended a new call light system, which has been installed. Already, the system is steadily improving patient satisfaction. On the most recent Press Ganey inpatient satisfaction survey, patients gave the Connors Center the hospital’s highest score ever on the “promptness of response to call” question.
“The new system enables us to respond to patients’ needs more quickly,” said Doreen Landry, RN, nurse in-charge on Connors Center 7. “Once the unit coordinator gets a call from a patient, he or she immediately pages the nurse directly through the system.”
The system allows for direct text pages to nurses and patient care assistants from the unit coordinator. It also boasts a touch screen with pre-programmed messages, such as “I’d like something to drink” and “I’m not feeling well,” and other common patient requests. Having the requests already there saves time as the unit coordinator relays the patient’s message.
“Another benefit of the new system is that the unit coordinator can hear the patient more clearly,” Landry said. That’s because the system has superior audio quality designed to pick up even the softest voices. Audio on the previous system made it difficult for the patient and unit coordinator to hear each other.
One personal touch of the new system is that when patients call, their names and room numbers appear on the screen.
“That allows me to call the patient by name when I answer the phone,” said Maxine Greenidge, unit coordinator on Connors Center 7.
These touches go a long way in advancing patient satisfaction, and this new system will be installed in the Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center.
Meanwhile, the Tower is undergoing its own call system upgrade. While it doesn’t have the same system as the Connors Center, the Tower’s existing system is being enhanced.
“We’ve done all but about six pods,” said George Player, director of Engineering. “The Tower improvement project started several years back and is moving forward. It takes a while because each pod has to be shut down while we do this.”