Wireless System Aims to Ease Task Management

CHICAGO — A new Web site and iPhone application could render hospital paging systems as obsolete as eight-track tapes.

Designed around existing wireless technology, the MComm communication system allows for task-oriented and priority-based messaging in real-time fashion, hospitalist Vineet Chopra and his colleagues at the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor reported at the annual meeting of the Society of Hospital Medicine.

Hospitalists or other members of a medical team can create patient-specific tasks using either a wireless device or a Web-based portal. Tasks are assigned to individuals or to multiple members of the team and labeled as either urgent (requiring action within 30 minutes) or nonurgent.

Caregivers receive either an audible or silent vibratory alert based on task priority. This sets MComm apart from traditional paging systems that cannot distinguish between urgent and mundane messages, Dr. Chopra said. MComm also signals the original creator of a task that a message has been received and lets users note when they've completed a task, thereby closing the loop on the one-way flow of information that is a significant limitation of paging systems.

“We believe that MComm represents a technological breakthrough in medical communication via work flow process improvements,” Dr. Chopra said. “The use of mobile devices that organize tasks by patients and priority using a team-based approach is unprecedented.”

Tasks can be filtered across patients according to priority, assignee, creator, and/or status, allowing for immediate work flow prioritization. MComm, which is in beta testing, is expected to be launched for use by the university's hospitalist group and its medicine-pediatrics residency program within the next few months, once testing is complete, Dr. Chopra said in an interview.

The university's medical school has a keen interest in using the technology at its newly acquired Pfizer campus where most of the animal and basic science labs will be placed. “Task delegation and defined roles are key features to all of these settings,” he said.

In light of the movement toward patient- and family-centered care, session moderators asked if the researchers could imagine a day when patients or their advocates could be tied into the MComm system in real time.

“Absolutely,” Dr. Chopra said. “We've looked at even giving patients iPhones so that they could look at their progress” and keep tabs on scheduled tests or other details. “I think that kind of patient empowerment is coming. We are certainly hopeful that this will actually enhance that movement.”

The moderators cautioned that increased access to patient information has a flip side: the need to protect patient privacy. MComm will use secure technology, and all activities will be archived for HIPAA compliance, Dr. Chopra said. Management of individual patient information is shared by the team, along with individual devices and user accounts, which can be passed on at the end of each workday to night coverage teams.

Future upgrades under development include capabilities for voice communication via both cellular and WiFi technology, and for sending laboratory reports to providers. Integration of MComm into the existing electronic medical record system will happen almost immediately, Dr. Chopra said.

“We designed this to be a new version of the pager for many years to come,” he said.

More information about the MComm system is available at www.synaptin.com

Tasks can be organized by patients and team priorities. PHOTO COURTESY DR. VINEET CHOPRA

Users report back when delegated tasks are done. PHOTO COURTESY DR. VINEET CHOPRA