Currently, only 1% of U.S. hospitals utilize minute-by-minute coordination technology. These highly specialized real-time systems consistently increase the efficiency of operating rooms and other procedural departments. SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University will be the first academic medical center in the State of New York to deploy such a system.
“I am pleased to be able to bring this type of minute-by-minute automation to SUNY Downstate. When you see this IT system in real-time, you’ll understand completely that it is not just a static tracker," said Dr. David Berger, chief executive officer of University Hospital at Downstate, SUNY Downstate’s teaching arm. "This system shows you everything going on in your operating rooms and many other things throughout your facility that are not readily available in your EHR and other IT systems." In an interactive session at Becker’s 11th CEO+CFO Roundtable in November, Dr. Berger discussed his previous success in using such systems along with Healthcare Control Systems’ CEO Dr. Thomas Feo. In addition to increasing OR efficiency, they highlighted improvements in patient safety and physician, staff, and patient satisfaction.
According to Dr. Feo, “The reason these coordination systems are so successful is that they are highly configurable, and thus, do not require hospitals to change any of their existing practices or other IT systems. In turn, this means that the technology is immediately adopted by all staff and physicians since little if any training is ever needed.”
"In my previous experience with minute-by-minute coordination systems, people became self-aware and were able to monitor their own work. People became accountable, they took on responsibility, and they managed their own work. That is, we no longer had lots of people running around trying to micromanage each other," Dr. Berger said.
These systems have been in operation for decades in other industries such as manufacturing and transportation, but they have just recently been deployed in hospitals. “This is not data entry and retrieval like all other hospital IT systems,” said Dr. Feo. “Their function is more analogous to air traffic control. Minute-by-minute coordination systems present real-time information to just the right person, at just the right time, continuously.”
SUNY Downstate will join the four largest health systems in the U.S. – HCA, Ascension, Common Spirit, and VHA – all of whom have recently adopted minute-by-minute coordination systems to improve operating efficiency, patient safety, and physician, staff, and patient satisfaction. “We are delighted to be a part of University Hospital at Downstate’s focus on best practices and their commitment to deliver excellent care to their patients,” said Dr. Feo.