Forest Park Medical Center's locations in San Antonio and Fort Worth, Texas, have implemented the Mobile Heartbeat smartphone app to boost communications and improve workflow.
Forest Park Medical Center, based in Austin, Texas, opened the two locations in fall 2014. The app, called MH-Cure, allows users to send secure text messages, voice call other employees and broadcast to multiple other employees through a staff directory grouped by who is on a patient care team. MH-Cure also integrates with the hospitals' nurse-call system so calls from patients go directly to the nurses' smartphones, according to a news release.
The hospital employees have the choice of either downloading the app to their personal device or using a phone supplied by the hospital. Most of the employees are using devices supplied by the hospital, according to the report.
"Our experience with MH-CURE has been highly positive," said Damian Hellmann, respiratory manager at Forest Park Medical Center in Fort Worth, in the news release. "MH-CURE allows us to expedite care. If a charge nurse needs to call me and I'm in a meeting in which I can't answer a phone call, I can respond by text without disturbing what I'm doing at that moment."