Nervecentre launches mobile patient handover solution

Nervecentre has announced the availability of its new mobile healthcare solution for the handover of care in the acute hospital setting.

By allowing clinical staff to enter and share live patient information to their smartphone or other mobile device, Nervecentre’s mobile solution supports the capture of real-time handover information at the point of care, reducing errors and ensuring completeness, as well as providing a governed track record of changes.

The fundamental aim of any handover is to achieve the efficient transfer of high-quality clinical information at times of transition of responsibility for patients

Nervecentre allows clinicians to make immediate informed decisions, reducing the risk of avoidable deterioration and ensuring that at the handover process itself there is a complete and accurate record of the information pertaining to each patient.

Debbie Guy, director of clinical operations at Nervecentre, said: “Handover constitutes the transfer of professional responsibility and accountability for some or all aspects of care for a patient, or group of patients, to another person or professional group on a temporary or permanent basis. The fundamental aim of any handover, therefore, is to achieve the efficient transfer of high-quality clinical information at times of transition of responsibility for patients.”

“Changing operational structures and shift patterns, driven by essential economic considerations and regulations such as the European Working Time Directive , combined with the increasing complexity of healthcare, have, however, led to a patient pathway that is highly dependent on a broad clinical team that is often spread across the hospital. It has also increased the risks associated with consistently delivering a safe handover.”

Nervecentre allows the three types of patient information that are exchanged and discussed at handover to be collected and passed between clinical staff in real time, at the point of care. This includes information on clinically-unstable patients, tasks still to be completed, and a summary of the pertinent real-time information required for the care of each patient. By providing this information direct to clinicians’ smartphones anywhere in the hospital, medics can make immediate informed decisions, reducing the risk of avoidable deterioration.

Communication is key to teamwork, and this recommendation can best be achieved by using mobile electronic systems to capture the real-time status of a patient and allowing the information to be shared

Nervecentre also negates the need for data to be collected at the patient’s bedside. It can now be as a result of a multi-disciplinary team meeting between clinicians discussing a patient and confirming a course of action. Critically, though, as soon as any data is entered into a clinician’s mobile device, it is there for all appropriate staff to see and access, ensuring that at the handover process itself there is a complete and accurate record of the information pertaining to each patient. /

Guy said: “The Francis Report called for effective teamwork between all of the different disciplines and services that together provide the collective care often required by a patient. Communication is key to teamwork, and this recommendation can best be achieved by using mobile electronic systems to capture the real-time status of a patient and allowing the information to be shared. Ensuring all patient needs – urgent and routine – are handed over safely will prevent avoidable deterioration. ”

Paul Volkaerts, founder and managing director of Nervecentre, added: “The EPR is only one element of a paperless hospital and transient information such as a patient’s current condition, and the set of clinical activities that are required for that patient, also need to be paperless. Ensuring the accurate sharing of real-time information has the ability to significantly improve patient safety and is much quicker, simpler and less costly to implement than an EPR.”