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Nortel: Nortel Enhances Healthcare Networks to Improve the Patient Experience

^{Published on 2009-10-12 02:35:52 - Market Wire}
 

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwire - Oct. 12, 2009) - Healthcare professionals face many challenges in today's hospitals. Two of the most urgent are reducing errors and speeding up administrative tasks to free more time for patient care. Nortel(1) (OTCBB:NRTLQ) healthcare solutions can enhance healthcare networks so that hospital staff have fewer things to distract them from the most important aspect of their job -- the patients.

In the fast-paced, ever-changing hospital environment, healthcare professionals must be able to communicate and access information reliably. Nortel understands this and is focused on providing the latest technology for healthcare institutions through new additions to its [ Healthcare Solution Portfolio ].

Patient Discharge Solution

Delays in the patient discharge process can be costly for healthcare institutions and frustrating for patients, who are anxious to get home or waiting to be admitted. The Nortel Patient Discharge solution combats this by introducing [ Unified Communications ] and removing inefficiencies within the discharge process. Creating interoperability between hospital systems, the Nortel solution delivers an automated work flow process which enables the discharging consultant to begin the discharge process from wherever they are.

Once the discharge process is activated, the Nortel solution can electronically sign off discharge documents, notify pharmacy staff to prepare prescriptions, and alert cleaning and catering staff to ready the bed for the next patient.

By connecting and automating hospital systems in this way, the Nortel solution not only reduces cost wastage and administrative tasks, it increases bed occupancy rates and, most importantly, improves the overall patient experience.

View an online demonstration - [ Nortel Patient Discharge Solution Introduction ]

Asset Tracking & Management Solution

Each year, healthcare institutions face significant losses as a result of misplaced or stolen hospital assets such as equipment being borrowed by another ward and failing to be located. The Nortel Asset Tracking and Management Solution can help cut these losses by tagging and connecting key equipment to the hospital WiFi network allowing staff to keep track of its location. This functionality can also be extended to automatically alert staff when assets need renewing or updating.

Time spent searching for equipment can also negatively impact patient care. Nortel's solution can reduce this time to mere seconds, instantly locating the asset and flagging the right person to contact, allowing nurses to spend more time with their patients.

Nortel understands the needs of each hospital differ and the Nortel Asset Tracking and Management Solution can be used to create bespoke solutions. The solution can be implemented to improve crash response times by alerting the doctor and locating a defibrillator closest to the emergency or, for inner city hospitals where assaults may be an issue, nurses can be provided with panic alarms that contact the closest security guard.

View an online demonstration - [ Nortel Asset Tracking & Management ]

Dealing with 'Did Not Attends'

Missed appointments are an issue of increasing concern for the UK National Health Service. The average cost of a missed appointment, classified as Did Not Attend (DNA), can be up to Pounds Sterling 100 and this cost can rise to as much as Pounds Sterling 150 for missed appointments at acute units.

Solutions from Nortel's Healthcare Portfolio can send reminders to each patient three days before their appointment, leading to a possible increase in attendance of up to 30 percent. This increase can be achieved with no additional administrative tasks for hospital staff as the interactive voice response system reminder is generated automatically. Hospitals that deploy a Nortel call centre solution also have the option of centralising other voice-based applications enabling automatic reminders elsewhere in the healthcare system.

Additional Information Available Online

Online Demo

[ Nortel Healthcare Introduction and Solutions Overview ]

Podcasts

[ Communications Solutions for Healthcare ]: Scott Checkoway of North East Georgia Health Systems discusses how mobility and communications can transform healthcare and support growth.

[ Patient Records at the Point of Patient Care ]: Healthcare is on the move. Hospital and home care staff need access to patient records anywhere, anytime and on any device. Listen to Diane Doran of the University of Toronto Faculty of Nursing discuss mobility trends and how they are facilitating improved patient care.

About Nortel

Nortel delivers communications capabilities that make the promise of Business Made Simple a reality for our customers. Our next-generation technologies, for both service provider and enterprise networks, support multimedia and business-critical applications. Nortel's technologies are designed to help eliminate today's barriers to efficiency, speed and performance by simplifying networks and connecting people to the information they need, when they need it. For more information, visit Nortel on the Web at [ www.nortel.com ]. For the latest Nortel news, visit [ www.nortel.com/news ].

Certain statements in this press release may contain words such as "could", "expects", "may", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "targets", "envisions", "seeks" and other similar language and are considered forward-looking statements or information under applicable securities legislation. These statements are based on Nortel's current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about the operating environment, economies and markets in which Nortel operates. These statements are subject to important assumptions, risks and uncertainties, which are difficult to predict and the actual outcome may be materially different from those contemplated in forward-looking statements. For additional information with respect to certain of these and other factors, see Nortel's Annual Report on Form10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other securities filings with the SEC. Unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, Nortel disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

(1)Nortel, the Nortel logo and the Globemark are trademarks of Nortel Networks.

(2)This is a 3rd party link as described in our [ Web linking practices ].

Use of the terms "partner" and "partnership" does not imply a legal partnership between Nortel and any other party.