Ascom: Revamping Clinical Workflows for Acute-Care Facilities

Time Whelehan, President, North America

It’s a late afternoon in the ER. As one of the nurses prepares to go off shift, the clerk suddenly looks up from his desk and asks, “On your way out, since you are passing by the pharmacy, would you please remind them that we need more Digoxin here?” Now imagine this same situation, but amplified over numerous different scenarios—reminding housekeeping to come up, taking specimens down to the lab, and catching the attending physician during rounds to get a quick signature. Life on the unit would be much easier if the hospital deployed AscomMyco®2 smart phones. A purpose-built device which serves as the hub of the Ascom Healthcare Platform, the Ascom Myco2 brings intelligence to clinical workflows by enabling caregivers to send and receive mission-critical, timely communications from colleagues, with prioritization and context built-in.

As the sole manufacturer to offer an end-to-end, integrated ecosystem focused on optimizing clinical workflows in a mobile, ad hoc environment, the Ascom Healthcare Platform helps mobilize the critical information necessary to provide efficient and effective patient care. Modular, scalable and vendor-agnostic, Ascom offers clinical integration and interoperability with the multiple, disparate systems within the hospital that are vital to the continuum of care. Ascom solutions analyze information and relay it in a controlled, secure manner to the right person, at the right time.
“Ascom realized the growing need to expand technological capability for not just receiving and delivering alarms and alerts to mobile handsets, but also to integrate and connect to the proliferation of medical devices at the bedside and the systems that touch the expanded care team in the hospital environment,” offered Tim Whelehan, President, Ascom North America.

Put simply, the platform helps hospitals realize the potential of digitalization by removing barriers to truly mobile communication and collaboration. When deployed, the Ascom Healthcare Platform can contribute to faster responses to individual patient events, which leads to improved patient and staff satisfaction and cost-efficiencies. By capturing vital signs, alarms and other data from equipment in patient rooms, ICUs, and ORs, Ascom can process, synthesize and deliver mission-critical information from multiple sources such as patient monitors, infusion pumps and other bedside medical equipment, EMR/EHR, nurse call systems and images and barcodes.

Ascom realized the growing need to expand technological capability for not just receiving and delivering alarms and alerts to mobile handsets, but also to integrate and connect to the proliferation of medical devices at the bedside and the systems that touch the expanded care team in the hospital environment

The platform offers extensive interoperability with a host of technology leaders in patient monitoring, medical devices, lab/radiology systems and popular medical apps, providing intelligence that helps prioritize and wrap contextual information around the data. And while Ascom can deliver a completely comprehensive clinical platform, its elements can also be implemented in a modular fashion as budget constraints and resources allow.

As the most comprehensive purpose-built healthcare smart device that can connect to the operational workflow in a hospital setting, the Ascom Myco2 enables standardization and improves the workflow, which can lower facility operating cost. To be precise, this unique smartphone merges data from multiple sources and displays it as meaningful, timely information to the frontline staff.

“The Ascom Myco2 has the capability to inform staff on the presence of their colleagues, as well as offer reporting for management that includes alert response times, enabling them to better manage staff and deploy resources in response to patient needs,” explains Whelehan.

Ascom also offers the Telligence patient response solution. Much more than just a nurse call system, Telligence is a mission-critical communications solution that supports patient-centered care delivery. New refinements streamline staff communication and collaboration, optimizing time spent at the patient bedside and ensuring prompt responses while minimizing steps per shift.
Over the years, Ascom has developed a long-term relationship with its clients, from initial site surveys and design/installation to commissioning and ongoing maintenance. One such unique client is Humber River Hospital in Toronto, Ontario. The first all-digital hospital in North America, Humber River worked with Ascom to mobilize their data, eliminate paper and automate workflows to provide management with better insights into staff and patient satisfaction, and aid in their evolution as a digital hospital.

In future, Ascom will continue to heavily invest in technology and software development, including leveraging customized solutions that address the long-term needs of healthcare clients. With an outstanding value proposition, the company is poised for continued success even in an uncertain healthcare market. Ascom is positioned to provide long-term value to its clients through its patient-centric technologies that help hospitals do more with less.

“We give providers more time at the bedside and less time chasing down needed data. We are their trusted partner, delivering peace of mind to help them navigate the fast-paced, evolving healthcare marketplace,” concludes Whelehan. “We will continue investing in our research and development sources on a global basis to ensure more precise and quick responses to customer requirements around the world.”