“We got NetPage Unlimited up and running before we opened the doors to our new hospital because it is at the heart of our patient experience.”
Texas Health Huguley Hospital began using LRS products in 2006. For more than a decade, Texas Health Huguley and LRS have grown side by side, with LRS continuing to enhance products and Texas Health Huguley opening a beautiful new hospital in 2016. “By the time we moved into our new hospital, we realized that we had built all of our operational processes around our LRS paging system. We got NetPage Unlimited and our pagers up and running before we opened the doors to our new hospital because it is at the heart of our patient experience,” said Director of Health Access Management, Sheila Underwood.
“Before we purchased our NetPage Unlimited system, it was all manual; we wrote down patient names, had people signing papers, etc. At first the staff was a little leery of the technology, but within 4 days they totally embraced it because it makes their jobs easier,” said Underwood. Texas Health Huguley has NPU on all their computers, which allows staff to communicate easily with each other and patients via pagers. Bought initally for just the Admissions lobby, Huguley has expanded paging to pre-testing, surgery centers, labs and imaging.
“If you have NPU on your computer, you can call in your next patient; it doesn’t just have to be the receptionist who keeps things moving. NPU cuts out extra steps and as a result our patient wait time has truly improved.”
“When I go to a doctor’s office where things are manual, I say to myself, “Oh my gosh this could be so much easier. Give me a pager and let me know when you’re ready,” said Underwood.
“The one thing we don’t get complaints about is patients waiting too long,” said Underwood. “Our wait time is rarely more than 5 minutes. I haven’t tracked patient wait times in years because it’s not a challenge area of ours. Our staff doesn’t have to call up to the same reception desk and ask if we have anyone waiting, because they have NPU on their computer and can see for themselves.” In addition, with pagers in place Huguley staff no longer need to call out patient names, which improves privacy in line with HIPAA standards.
“Not only do pagers help Texas Health Huguley from an operational standpoint, they also have helped to improve the overall hospital atmosphere. “Our visitors can go virtually anywhere in the nearby area and not be concerned that they are going to miss their name being called. We have a Starbucks onsite and visitors can go there while they wait. It absolutely improves the atmosphere for everyone.” Offering this flexibility with pagers aligns with Texas Health Huguley’s mission to care for their visitors’ bodies, minds and spirits.
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