Motion Computing announced that Christine Walters, Associate Director IM&T, and Karen Hill, Head of EPR Services, from Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, will be on site at the National Health Service (NHS) Innovation Expo, June 18-19, 2009. Christine and Karen will share how the Motion C5 Mobile Clinical Assistant (MCA) has significantly impacted hospital workflows, including increasing staff productivity in the Phlebotomy department by 20 percent.
“Intel has worked closely with Salford Royal and Motion on the development and delivery of the C5 MCA and we are thrilled to see the significant positive results reported to date,” David McCarron, EMEA Healthcare Manager, Intel. “This is a great opportunity for event attendees to hear representatives from Salford Royal share experiences as early MCA adopters and technology innovators.”
The C5 MCA, developed in collaboration with Intel and the NHS, is a hospital-grade device that is proven in healthcare environments. The mobile, rugged PC features an integrated barcode scanner, RFID reader, digital camera and smart card reader to ease clinician workloads, improve productivity and enhance security. The highly-portable device weighs approximately 1.3kg and is fully sealed to enable simple disinfection.
Salford Royal, one of the first European pilot sites for the MCA, worked closely with Motion and Intel on deployment. One area of demonstrated success was in phlebotomy workflows. Prior to deploying the MCAs phlebotomists used a paper-based based process that was inefficient and created several challenges, including duplicate or unnecessary blood draws, mislabeling risks, and limited access to computers which created significant delays in the communication of important patient details.
Now, with the MCAs, phlebotomists are able to accept and process more requests, while they have also reduced unnecessary blood draws through access to real-time patient information. Labels are now printed directly at the bedside which reduces the risk of mislabeling. Additionally, work is processed immediately, which speeds up the return time on test results. With the new process in place, Salford Royal reports a significant reduction in phlebotomist preparation time, reduced costs, reduced paperwork and an overall staff productivity increase of 20 percent.
“Salford Royal has long realized the ability for point of care technologies to improve quality of care, optimize workflows and reduce the overall cost of care,” said Christine Walters. “The MCAs are allowing clinicians to spend more time with patients, helping to improve patient safety and reduce medication administration errors. We look forward to seeing even further impact as we continue to deploy the devices throughout other areas of the organization.”
The C5 MCA is being used throughout NHS organizations in the UK including, University Hospital of Birmingham (UHB) NHS Foundation Trust, Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Trust, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust (GOSH), and North West London Hospitals NHS Trust. Reported benefits include enhanced infection control, improved productivity, improved team collaboration, increased time with patients and improved utilization of electronic patient records.