WHY NORTEL? As we look at where we invest in information technology across the Health System, we're always looking for opportunities that address financial concerns, quality concerns, patient safety and efficiency. And this particular endeavor touches on all four. - Rick Schooler, FACHE, VP & CIO, Orlando Regional Healthcare We all talk about this healthcare crisis with a fixed and shrinking amount of money, an ever-enlarging patient pool, not enough doctors, not enough nurses. I think the salvation for many healthcare systems will be in process redesign and careful automation and we really saw Nortel's Patient Discharge Solution work in that way here. And I think those benefits would translate to benefits in any healthcare system. - Mark L. Demers, MD, Surgical Oncologist, M.D. Anderson Hospital

Orlando Regional Healthcare * is one of Florida's largest and most comprehensive private, not-for-profit healthcare networks. Their facilities, advanced medical treatments and procedures, and highly qualified staff have distinguished Orlando Regional as a healthcare leader for nearly two million Central Florida residents and 4,500 international visitors annually.

The M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Orlando is a subsidiary of the Orlando Regional Healthcare system. Its staff was looking to automate certain repetitive functions in the hospital, in order to save time and focus more on delivering patient care. To discharge a patient from the hospital, it involves several physicians, nursing staff, pharmacy staff and other ancillary departments. Between the time spent on the phone with these departments and gathering information, it would take several hours. After trying various ways of simplifying this process and cutting down the discharge time, the hospital brought their ideas to Nortel and asked for help in creating an automated system that would help them achieve their goals.

The hospital evolved the Patient Discharge Process using a Nortel IVR solution that allows nurses, doctors, the pharmacy and other departments that need to work together on the discharge, to do so through their communication network.

• The new Patient Discharge Solution allows a nurse to initiate a discharge by clicking on a patient's name on the system screen, instead of making 15 to 25 calls per patient
• This increase in efficiency has enabled patients to be discharged up to 4 hours earlier than usual.
• All the necessary calls are made to the physicians associated with the patient to obtain their consent and logged into a secured electronic system.
• If a doctor wishes to consult with the floor nurse before making a decision on a discharge, the Patient Discharge Solution will automatically connect to the patient's floor nurse and allow the two to converse. Once the physician is satisfied he/she can register their decision.

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