Hospitals beam up communications

New communications technology could vaporize phone tag
� but the computer finds Canadian manners most illogical

By Scott McRae

Phones and beepers and PAs are so pass�. They're cumbersome, or noisy, or inefficient, and they make one yearn for the snazzy systems on Star Trek: "Computer, get me Captain Picard," Commander Riker would say upon touching his "Com Badge," alerting the Captain to cosmic calamity. Well, the future, as they say, is now, and Canada is joining the trend of hospitals south of the border in adopting Vocera, a one-touch Star Trek-like internal communications technology which responds to commands like: "Vocera, find Passenger Assistance personnel closest to Gate 7."

Last month, three BC hospitals (Overlander Extended Care, 100 Mile House and Vernon Jubilee Hospital), became the first Canadian healthcare institutes to bring in the Vocera system. Although implementation hasn't yet been completed, some nurses, administrators, and service staff are already sporting small, black devices, called badges, around their necks. "The nurses are finding that it has been a great help to them," says Dave Ault, Manager of Building Services at Overlander Extended. "It saves their tender tootsies."

How it works
The badges, really nothing more than sophisticated walkie-talkies, run off of a central server which connects to all sections of the hospital campus via a wireless local area network. The voice-operated software allows users to reach people by name ("Vocera, find Dr Jones") or by function ("Vocera, find a respiratory therapist.") Typically, it takes 10 to 15 minutes of training for a user to learn the ropes.

It's a technology which has received cautious approval from physicians. "The idea sounds great," says Dr Charmaine Enns, CCFP. She adds, "Especially if it's a stable system that isn't constantly breaking down or requiring a high degree of expert maintenance and that there is no compromise to patient confidentiality." However, she cautions that the cost-benefit balance of the system must be closely scrutinized.

Wither telephone?
However, according to Jan Macburney, Administration Coordinator at 100 Mile House, Vocera badges aren't a replacement for the telephone; they're a useful supplement. "There's no confidentiality," she says. "It's just for us to contact people within the facility hands-free."

Still, Brent Lang, Vice-President of Marketing at Vocera, claims that several Canadian hospitals are seriously considering using the system, although he declined to give names. "There is a pain point that hospitals have related to communication," says Mr Lang. Vocera, he believes, takes away that pressure.

Usually, it takes a week to set up the hardware for the system, and a month to assemble and program the various groups, such as "neurology" or "maintenance." According to Mr Lang the cost per user of the system typically boils down to a one time fee of $350 to $450 US plus an annual service fee for upgrades and maintenance of the software.

Unfortunately for those Quebec hospitals hoping to hook up with the 'next generation' of communications technology, the software is currently available only in English; however, Vocera Communications hopes to have a French-language prototype by next year. They'll have a harder time dealing with the uniquely Canadian conundrum that administrators have been running into with the American-made system.

"We've had to train people not to be so polite to it," Ms Macburney says. "It doesn't understand please and thank you!"