Cisco Report 'The High Cost Of Nurses' Communication Challenges

Thousands of mobile medical devices moving around a busy hospital environment, coupled with hundreds of staff vying for their use, creates a complex network of device tracking and management issues. Inevitably, efficiency, safety, patient care and risk management can become compromised [6].
As Cisco report “The High Cost of Nurses’ Communication Challenges” in 2009 shows that nurses waste significant amounts of time searching for devices. The majority (85 percent) spend up to 60 minutes per shift searching for supplies including wheelchairs and infusion pumps. Moreover, as explained by ID TechEx in 2007, the average hospital loses as much as 15 percent of its critical assets every year, leading to significant unnecessary costs relating to equipment. Devices that cannot be found on two consecutive occasions …show more content…
Medical staff availability in their planned locations is another important challenge in resource tracking. When resources become limited, the continued effectiveness of a response depends on skilled supply and demand management. The term ‘situational awareness’ is often used to denote a key ingredient in making timely, effective decisions during rapidly evolving events. When situational