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New Web paging offers accuracy, response

by Cindy Abole
Public Relations
By June 20, paging  employees or staff will be as easy as a mouse-click away.
 
MUSC's Communications Call Center with the assistance of  the Center for Computing and Information Technology (CCIT) will unveil an upgrade to the current Simon Web paging system. It is scheduled to be followed with a new Simon Web on-call scheduling, search and paging capabilities in  July. 
 
In essence, employees will have the capability of viewing precise information and the capability of paging individuals or staff groups using the Web. 
 
Each month, medical center departments and staffs go through the laborious task of creating and finalizing on-call calendars and schedules for hundreds of attending physicians, residents and medical staffs. This information is forwarded and shared with the Communications Call Center, who must document and coordinate these lists in a system that provides accuracy and effective response while averting confusion.
 
“We wanted to be able to offer a communications system that can provide the greatest efficiency and service to everyone,” said Jane Lunn, director of Hospital Communications and Communications Call Center. “The program is so broad-based, it  reaches beyond physicians, nurses and professional staff. We anticipate a very positive response.”
 
The total volume of pages handled by the Communications Call Center is considered enormous. Last year, more than 5 million calls and pages were received and routed through their systems. Of that amount, greater than 3 million pages were handled through automated systems—Voice Response Unit (telephone), Alphamate keyboards or PC paging (from a Network Attached/ClinLAN Workstation).  This meant that almost 2 million pages were still being handled by operator assistance. 
 
Using the system to page or access on-call schedules is fairly easy. Users click on the Simon Web icon on their computer's desktop enabling their Internet browser to link to the Simon Web site. 
 
Another added advantage is the ability to send a paged message to multiple people simultaneously, such as a meeting reminder. Commonly paged groups can be saved on a workstation to further increase efficiency when paging multiple individuals. 
  
The call scheduling program uses a directory tree method for storing names and information in folders and sub-folders arranged in an easy-to-use filing system. Users can search by group ID, group name or wild card using the percent symbol (%). 
 
The Communications Call Center has served as a test site for more than 12 months. To further test its effectiveness, the on-call scheduling program is currently being piloted within MUSC's Department of Surgery. According to Lunn, its rollout represents an upgrade to MUSC's Web capabilities that helps put MUSC equal to or ahead of large hospital institutions like Duke, Emory, Stan-ford and others. 
 
Surgery administrative coordinator Betsy Grund is managing the pilot study effort in the department of surgery which lists dozens of universitywide physicians—attending or residents and other staff—who are listed in the program. Grund and several Surgery staff successfully completed an hour-long Simon Web Paging tutorial session offered by CCIT training specialist Cinnamon Clemmons earlier this month. 

“Everyone has their own way for submitting information,” said Grund, referring to the numerous methods and formats created by authorized staff to post call schedules, change or delete assignments and provide other information to Communications Call Center. Within Surgery, 12 members are responsible for managing the names, page numbers and rotation schedules of individuals and groups in 39 specific areas. 
 
“So far the transition has been smooth,” she said. “The process for entering call schedules and updating is easy to learn and use, as is the process for paging.”
 
Any employee who has access to the system can view, search names and groups, print call schedules and page individuals directly from the Web. 

Users can also send a page to an on-call person directly from the on-call calendar. The user can click on the magnifying glass icon next to the individual's name displayed with their contact information.

Next, click on the pager icon next to the person's name which opens a text box for a message of up to 256 characters. The user finds the “send page” pager icon and clicks send. 

“There has  been a big push to enhance medical center communications,” said John Heffner, M.D., MUSC executive medical director and professor of Pulmonary Medicine. “We see this as one of many tools to help us fulfill our needs for quick-access communications of ongoing activities matched with individuals and their specialties.”

For information on Simon Web Paging, contact CCIT Help Desk 792-9700.