HealthIT teams help solve some of VUMC's most complex issues, applying our ingenuity, diligence and technical knowledge. Below are overviews of some recent challenges met by HealthIT. The team is truly "powering excellence" at VUMC.
The Fetal Connections: Connecting Fetal Delivery Plans from Mother's Chart to Baby's Chart
Clinician-developed baby delivery plans are often credited for saving lives during high-risk deliveries. With minutes to spare, these plans detail pre-existing conditions and help ensure the baby is assigned to the most relevant care team. Historically, clinicians at VUMC recorded these plans in the mother's chart and relied heavily on personal emails to communicate plans with members of the infant's care team. However, the information was likely to be overlooked, leaving teams unaware of detailed requirements specified for infants. This led Physician Builder, Wael Alrifai, MD, MS to create a solution allowing plans to flow from mother's chart to baby's chart. Learn More
Automating Coordination of Care with Operational Control Center
Rapid population growth in middle Tennessee combined with hospital closures in rural regions and a need for specialized care only offered by Vanderbilt, led to concerns with capacity management within Vanderbilt University Adult Hospital (VUAH). Specifically, increased demand for services in key operational areas such as diagnostic imaging created bottlenecks with patients moving through the hospital and led to frequent dissatisfaction. This triggered a response to discover a viable solution to identify apparent inefficiencies. Learn More
Rapidly Expanding Telehealth During COVID-19
In response to COVID-19, VUMC temporarily suspended in-person clinic visits, increasing interest in telehealth to maintain care. Though many patients and clinicians were unfamiliar with using telehealth in lieu of a clinic visit, the reality of COVID-19 mandated telehealth use. HealthIT implemented updates, deployed equipment, and coordinated extensive patient education and clinician training. Learn More
Broadly Deploying RetinaVue
Champions of RetinaVue technology were unsure of how to widen its use in VUMC clinics seeing patients with diabetes. HealthIT's expertise in vendor management, contract negotiation and systems integration bolstered the expansion of RetinaVue in primary health and endocrinology clinics across VUMC. Learn More
Using Epic's Rover Solution to Improve EVS Productivity
The processes for tracking and reporting room cleanliness and other sanitation needs were manual and demanded staff time, created additional workflows, and required multiple systems and devices outside of Epic for documentation. HealthIT implemented a mobile device-based solution from Epic to equip EVS staff with real-time requests for room cleaning, allowing them to instantly report cleaning status. Learn More
Leveraging the Integrated Power of Epic with Transfer Center
VUMC's growing reputation as a destination for specialized care demanded a solution for patient transfers that was fully integrated with its existing electronic health record (EHR). HealthIT teams implemented and customized Epic's Transfer Center module, further enhancing clinical workflows. Learn More
Vaccinating VUMC's Communities Against COVID-19
VUMC was tasked with administering as many COVID-19 vaccines as possible despite a compressed timeline, supply fluctuations, storage limitations, location variability, and evolving eligibility qualifications. Multiple teams within HealthIT collaborated and partnerships across VUMC were strengthened to quickly deliver a solid mass vaccination program. Learn More
Vaccinating Employees Against COVID-19
VUMC needed to quickly vaccinate as much of its workforce as possible, while following federal-and state-provided distribution criteria. Staffing levels also needed to be maintained to continue to deliver patient care. HealthIT teams developed a specialized tool which leveraged employee-provided data, back-end logic from HR systems, and pharmacy and operational information to allow managers to schedule employees for available vaccination slots. Learn More
Linking Patient Experience to Organizational Outcomes
The standard survey vendor tool provided narrow visibility for VUMC team members into deeper data points and limited ability to track the relationship between organizational initiatives and their impact on patient experience. HealthIT constructed a "survey" data model to examine patient experience metrics and link them to clinical data within eStar. Learn More
Creating a Paperless Clinic
Various paper-based forms were in use by the front desks of Vanderbilt Health clinics, creating a poor patient experience and duplicated entry of patient-provided information into medical record by clinicians, intake staff and patients. A close partnership between HealthIT and clinic leadership means patients can now complete electronic forms at home via My Health at Vanderbilt or in the clinic on a sanitized tablet, facilitating collection of data into eStar before the clinic visit. Learn more.
Preparing for & Responding to COVID-19
The rapid spread of COVID-19 through U.S threatened to overwhelm VUMC’s capacity to assess and care for patients suspected of or diagnosed with the virus. HealthIT teams customized and created integrations among various technology-based tools, including eStar, My Health at Vanderbilt and Zoom, to assess, communicate with, and care for patients who have, or may have, COVID-19. Learn more.
Enhancing User Experience of Provider Time Away (PTA) Tool
Low usage rates of Provider Time Away (PTA) app by clinicians provided little visibility for leaders into compliance with institution-wide policy regarding re-scheduling of patients. HealthIT teams implemented more user-friendly features, added behind-the-scenes logic, and established an integration with schedules in eStar to improve effectiveness and adoption of PTA. Learn more.
ICU Liberation Bundle
Best practice for critical care patients recommends that the care team review data from the ICU Liberation Bundle, but existing eStar documentation made analysis difficult. HealthIT built a customized report within eStar that facilitates a holistic review by the care team of all elements in the ICU Liberation Bundle. Learn more.
Online Scheduling for New Patients
Patients new to Vanderbilt needed to be able to self-schedule online, but existing rules were clinician-specific, complex and varied greatly across VUMC. HealthIT leveraged an integration between My Health at Vanderbilt and eStar to execute complex backend logic, but present a seamless experience for patients. Learn more.