Pagers were first introduced in the 1950’s. Interestingly enough, physicians were early adopters of this then-emerging technology, paying around $10/month for the service in NYC. And for nearly half a century, pagers came to dominate communications in healthcare settings thanks to their reliability and reach.
And while many things in medicine have changed, this part of how we communicate with each other hadn’t until recently. And as any healthcare provider can attest, this has been to the detriment of patient care. Pagers are a horribly inefficient way to communicate and have limited utility. Fortunately, in recent years, more and more companies have emerged to try to improve on this aging technology.
Voalte is one of these companies. Embracing consumer smartphones as their platform of choice, Voalte1 is an iPhone/iPod Touch and Blackberry based platform for in-hospital communications. Though it is primarily a nursing communication system, Voalte1 is a platform that could benefit all providers in coming years.
Later this week, we will have a follow-up interview with Trey Lauderdale, VP of Innovation at Voalte, for more insights into the future of hospital communications
Voalte1 is pretty straightforward and intuitive from a user perspective. It allows providers to communicate using an interface very similar to the iPhone’s own Contacts list. However in Voalte1, the “Contacts” are active providers – floor nurses, case managers, physicians, and so on. And users are able to both directly call or send text messages. From a nursing perspective, it also manages alarm monitoring by sending alerts directly the nurse when a patient calls, a bed alarm goes off, and so on. If the nurse isn’t available, it automatically forwards to another staff member so the alarm can be addressed in a timely manner.
This platform is primarily designed with nursing in mind but has obvious room to expand. From a physician perspective, it would remove several of the communications steps above and thereby save time. It would also encourage better communication simply by reducing the barriers for, say, a physician to call and update a patient’s nurse about changes in the plan. Where it could really shine is with integration with EMR systems and allow physicians to receive alarms for panic lab values, completion of imaging, entry of consult notes, and so on.
One major deficit however is that it does not appear to support out-of-hospital communication. So physicians could not use Voalte1 when on-call at home, when they practice at multiple hospitals, and so on. This is obviously a critical deficit that will significantly affect adoption by physicians.
So at least at this point, it doesn’t appear that Voalte1 can replace the pager. However, even now it could be a useful tool for physicians when they are in the hospital. And even that little bit could go a long way in improving the care we deliver to our patients.
