RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Moving from non-emergency bleeps and long-range pagers to a hospital-wide, EHR-integrated secure messaging system: an implementer report
JF BMJ Health & Care Informatics
JO BMJ Health Care Inform
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP e100706
DO 10.1136/bmjhci-2022-100706
VO 30
IS 1
A1 Ari Ercole
A1 Claire Tolliday
A1 William Gelson
A1 James H F Rudd
A1 Ewen Cameron
A1 Afzal Chaudhry
A1 Fiona Hamer
A1 Justin Davies
YR 2023
UL http://informatics.bmj.com/content/30/1/e100706.abstract
AB Introduction Obsolete bleep/long-range pager equipment remains firmly embedded in the National Health Service (NHS).Objective To introduce a secure, chart-integrated messaging system (Epic Secure Chat) in a large NHS tertiary referral centre to replace non-emergency bleeps/long-range pagers.Methods The system was socialised in the months before go-live. Operational readiness was overseen by an implementation group with stakeholder engagement. Cutover was accompanied by a week of Secure Chat and bleeps running in parallel.Results Engagement due to socialisation was high with usage stabilising approximately 3 months after go-live. Contact centre internal call activity fell significantly after go-live. No significant patient safety concerns were reported.Discussion Uptake was excellent with substantial utilisation well before cutover indirectly supporting high levels of engagement. The majority of those who previously carried bleeps were content to use personal devices for messaging because of user convenience after reassurance about privacy.Conclusion An integrated secure messaging system can replace non-emergency bleeps with beneficial impact on service.Data sharing is not applicable as no data sets were generated and/or analysed for this study.