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Lions Gate Hospital goes live with Vocera for hands-free communication
On May 7, 2024, Lions Gate Hospital (LGH) went live with Vocera Smartbadges — wearable, voice-activated communication devices. Vocera is one of the new technologies being implemented early as part of the LGH Redevelopment Project, which will culminate in the opening of a new six-floor acute-care facility, called the Paul Myers Tower, in March 2025.
With Vocera, staff across perioperative and inpatient spaces are now using voice commands to make and receive calls and reach people by name, role or group. This means that staff can continue working while they communicate with others and no longer need to lookup phone numbers or know who is on shift at a given time. The technology also allows users to broadcast calls to multiple staff at a single time as well as receive 'outside' phone calls from a designated staff member.
We would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who helped make go-live a success, from attending system design or testing sessions to acting as a peer mentor or taking time for training. All 650 affected staff were required to complete online and in-person training prior to their first Vocera shift. “Whenever possible, we brought training to staff," said Eric Bowers, Project Training Specialist, PDHIS. “Even if staff had only 10 minutes to spare, we were there helping them to program the system to recognize their voice."
At the time of go-live, nearly 85 per cent of all affected staff were fully trained. The transition has gone smoothly to date with positive feedback from staff about the robust onsite support. “It was really helpful having friendly elbow support easily available right at the beginning of the day," said Joanna Woodyard, Manager, Maternal-Child Program, LGH. “This ensured that staff were able to get in the rhythm of using Vocera right from the start of their shift and allowed our unit leaders to focus their attention on clinical care." Currently, approximately 690 Vocera calls are being made daily and up to 230 staff are using the system at the same time.
In March 2025, Vocera will be expanded to Outpatient Clinics, Allied Health providers and the Medical Device and Reprocessing Department in the new Paul Myers Tower. The system will also be adapted for existing Vocera units when they move to the new Paul Myers Tower. Stay tuned for more information stay tuned for information about training for other staff, which will begin in January 2025.