Everyone texts. According to a September 2013 Pew Research report, 81 percent of cell phone owners, or about 74 percent of all Americans, regularly send and receive text messages.
What is an easy and convenient method of communication outside the hospital becomes problematic inside, says Brian Edds, vice president of product strategy at Amcom Software. A secure texting solution enables hospital staff and physicians to enjoy the efficiencies and familiarity of texting while following HIPAA regulations and ensuring patient safety.
Secure texting has several advantages over traditional SMS messages in a healthcare setting. It ensures communications are secure and helps safeguard patient information per federal requirements. Secure messages can also be traced, meaning each participant knows when a message was sent, when it arrived and if the other person is responding. Additionally, the Amcom system differentiates messaging alerts. "We all receive many messages a day," says Mr. Edds. "This solution allows the important messages to have a different ringtone or pop-up on the interface, demanding attention."
To help hospitals and health systems reap the benefits of secure texting, Mr. Edds highlights three common mistakes made during secure texting implementation, and how to avoid them.
1. Treating secure messaging implementation as an IT project. A hospital's IT department will most likely take charge of a secure texting implementation project to ensure the messaging functions as it should. However, many hospitals make the mistake of allowing the project to be isolated within the IT department, says Mr. Edds. "Whether it's a physician or nursing executive, make sure the group who will be the end user has an executive sponsor who has bought into the project and will help with the rollout and adoption of the new system," he says.
2. Making the secure texting solution its own system. In order to be useful, a secure texting system is connected to other systems already in place at the hospital that need to send messages, such as a communications system or patient alert system. "Don't create another system from which you just do secure messaging," says Mr. Edds. "The new system needs to be a part of the larger IT infrastructure."
3. Choosing the same mobile device for everyone. A mistake Mr. Edds sees often is hospitals and health systems selecting one mobile device to be used by every staff member and physician. "Secure messaging is great, but not everyone needs it. Some can work better using the in-house Wi-Fi network or pagers," he says. "There are pros and cons of using smartphones and similar devices for everyone in the hospital — so it would be a mistake to try to force something into a role where it doesn't fit."
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The Smarter Messaging Technology Hospitals Should Consider