New digital tracking boards ensure up-to-date, accurate patient information
07/13/21 09:35:amEarlier this month, Rogers launched Cerner CareView Tracking Boards in all inpatient units, residential programs, and Admissions.
The digital tracking boards provide up-to-date, accurate patient information and better handoff communication between team members.
“We had reached limitations and scalability,” says Adam El-Ali, vice president, Clinical Technology Services, of the need for the new solution. “The tracking boards improve communication among the entire treatment team and increase visibility of admits and discharges.”
How the CareView Tracking Boards work
Eliminating the need for whiteboards and manual updates to SharePoint, the technology provides a highly visual display of patient care needs, safety factors, and tasks.
The boards are designed to be used by the entire disciplinary team throughout the day and during rounds to address barriers to discharge and emphasize a patient-centered focus of care.
Improved communication, resulting in better patient care, more efficiencies
The digital tracking boards allow Rogers to identify bottlenecks and redesign processes to optimize and streamline workflows for patients, their families, and caregivers, according to Nicole Klaus, director of Electronic Health Record (EHR) optimization and strategy.
Additionally, the technology improves communication between Admissions and clinical teams, and it reduces time staff spend behind computers, documentation redundancies, waste, and the risk for error.
“With Rogers’ tracking boards, you have up-to-the-minute, crucial information you need to take care of the patient,” Nicole says.
Terri Cohn, executive director of Nursing, praises the enhanced communication.
“It reduces re-work and utilizes the electronic medical record as the source of truth regarding the clinical needs of the patient,” Terri says.
Patient privacy is maintained throughout, as the system is secure and compliant with HIPAA. Abbreviations are used in lieu of full names, and the boards are not located in any patient-facing areas.
New, innovative features only used at Rogers
Although developed by Cerner, Rogers customized and built some functions to better fit our needs.
One of them is “virtual beds,” which Admissions can use as placeholders displayed on the unit boards to indicate how many new patients to expect and when.
Rogers also developed visual icons that help track lab completion. The icons populate based on what labs need drawn and when the results arrive.
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A result of a rapid improvement event by the units and Admissions, Rogers’ digital tracking board initiative was overseen by Adam, Nicole, and nursing solution strategist Kristin Babicky, who served as project manager.
More benefits
- Utilize Cerner as the source of truth
- Electronically complete staff assignments with Kronos integration
- View on touchscreen monitors and individual computers
- Enhance huddle and managing for daily improvement (MDI) processes
- Achieve standardization across the System