Hubnik Medical Consolidated

2311 English Ave, Fort Worth TX 76016

Date: March 28, 2018

To: Sandi Beaches
Director of Nursing
Hubnik Medical Hospital, Downtown Fort Worth
From: Juana Castro, Project Manager
Paige Murphy, Project Materials Coordinator,
Nathan Rike, Research Analyst
Subject: Proposal for implementing new communication technology

Purpose

The purpose of this proposal is to offer research into the Vocera Communications platform to
upgrade communication technologies within the hospitals.

Introduction

In 1992, Hubnik Medical Consolidated was created to oversee the operation and funding
for four previously independent hospitals to ensure that they all received the resources and
technology necessary to become competitive in the medical marketplace. In the past 26 years,
HMC has overseen implementation of many technological improvements from in-house imaging
technology to lab testing software to surgical equipment. These innovations have lead the four
hospitals of HMC to be recognized as pioneers in hospital technology. It has assembled a project
team to monitor current technologies and recommend innovations to implement within HMC’s
hospitals to ensure HMC remains competitive in the marketplace.

While Hubnik Medical Consolidated has been presented with many awards in the past 20
years for innovations in medical technique and has been listed among the top hospitals in the
DFW area in the past decade, one area where HMC hospitals consistently underperform is in the
area of intrahospital communication. After a new pager system was implemented in 2001, HMC
has not upgraded their intrahospital communication system. As communication technology has
improved in versatility and usability, the HMC system has grown less competitive in the past 17
years. If new technology is not implemented to bring HMC up to modern hospital standards, its
status as a top hospital system will be in peril as other hospitals experience lower response times
in all aspects from patient care to staff communication to administrative oversight.

The team believes it would be in the company’s best interest to spend the next few weeks
gathering information on current communication technologies, evaluating Hubnik Medical
Consolidated’s needs, and synthesizing a solution to bring the hospital system’s communication
technology to the forefront of hospitals in the area. The team believes that Vocera, a company
that has delivered over a million devices for medical workplace communication solutions will
have the solution to the hospitals’ communication needs. (Vocera)

Proposed Tasks

Task 1: Acquire information regarding medical staff communication needs.

To begin research, the team will go focus on tabulating current communication methods
used in Hubnik Medical Consolidated hospitals. The team will also seek out information shared
by current users of Vocera devices to see their opinions on what is and is not working well. This
will help give variety and reduce bias in the proposal. The team will further research specific
hospitals that use Vocera and see how this device has changed their hospitals within the last 5
years.

Task 2: Prioritize communication issues within hospital settings.

After going through different hospitals and the different solutions to their communication
issues, the team will identify the key issues that stems from them and how Vocera can solve
these issues. A busy hospital that receives more patients may have different communication
needs than a hospital with fewer patients. Hubnik Medical Consolidated has four different
hospitals, which call for a communication spectrum within the hospitals themselves and across
the board.

Task 3: Assess multiple devices available on market.

After prioritizing communication within the different hospitals in the area, the group will
take time to look at how other similar medical devices compare to Vocera. Analyzing different
devices will help the team understand what others hospital systems use and what strengths and
weaknesses those systems use.

Task 4: Establish criteria for evaluating devices.

The first criterion the team will look at will be cost per unit. The cost of devices will be a
key point in research because hospitals must always be careful of spending more money than
they take in; this analysis will help the group gauge the most cost-effective solution. Secondly,
the team will consider HIPAA compliance issues to verify that the devices will follow HIPAA
guidelines as is required to be met in all hospitals. Thirdly, the team will evaluate the efficiency
and performance of these devices to see how they will improve performance within Hubnik
Medical Consolidated hospitals.

Task 5: Analyze data and prepare a final recommendation report.

 After going through all the data gathered, the team will write a recommendation report
for review by the executive staff at Hubnik Medical Consolidated. This report will consist of
information gathered from various hospitals, opinions from scholarly authors about Vocera
Communications, and a recommendation detailing how Vocera Communications can solve
communication problems within HMC hospitals.

Schedule

Tasks Date of Tasks (by Week)

Task 1:
Acquire
Intel

Task 2:
Prioritize
Issues

Task 3:
Assess
Devices

Task 4:
Establish
Criteria

Task 5:
Analyze
Data

Weekly 3/26 4/2 4/9 4/16 4/23 4/30

Dates

Experience

Juana Castro, Certified Pharmacy Technician, prospective nursing student. Juana is a diligent,
hard-working student with a passion for patient care.

Paige Murphy, Certified Nursing Assistant, prospective communications and marketing student.
Paige is a creative, analytical leader with a vision for the bigger picture.
Nathan Rike, Hospice Volunteer, prospective nursing student. Nathan has a very technical and
detail-oriented perspective with a talent for formatting.

The team has come together for this project to learn more about hospital communication
technology and share its findings with others. It will be focusing on the Vocera Communications
Inc. communication system for hospital settings. The team hopes with its findings to put together
a well-researched recommendation for Hubnik Medical Consolidated to propel the hospital
system to the forefront of medical communication technology.
 Work Cited

“Vocera Delivers Its One Millionth Hands-Free Communication Device.” Bizjournals.com, 13

Feb. 2018, 8:04 AM,
www.bizjournals.com/losangeles/businesswire/press_releases/California/2018/02/13/201
80213005639.