Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. — a 303-bed, Level 1 pediatric trauma center serving a three-state area — serves as an example of how a security integrator can provide value by connecting several systems and creating increased efficiency and productivity in a health-care setting. The health-care organization (HCO) found itself with many state-of-the-art systems that could not communicate with each other. After investing significantly in a new human resources (HR) system, hospital leaders saw the opportunity to optimize their investment and increase staff productivity if the new technology could connect to other systems within the hospital.

“With our new HR system, we knew we wanted to make sure we were inputting and receiving the most accurate data and that the data could work with our security systems,” says Doug Myers, CIO and Interim COO of Children’s. “Our organization has strong IT platforms but our problem was moving that data across disparate systems.”

Implementing Nverge Enterprise System Manager from Ingersoll Rand optimized the connection between the HCO’s new HR system, its existing access control system, and the time and attendance system. Now, when an employee is entered into or deleted from the HR system, the data automatically populates the other two systems and the appropriate tasks are implemented. Because the flow of information is automated, the duplication of efforts, the number of man-hours required and the number of errors in the data traditionally seen for employee transitions has been drastically reduced.

“We have more than 6,000 employees, not including the hundreds of volunteers, suppliers and students who pass through our hospital doors each day,” says Myers. “Based on the sheer size of our workforce, quality control is a huge issue for us. Because our HR and security systems are now connected, we simply have better, more accurate information. Not only is this critical for our organization in delivering high-quality care, but it keeps us on track with the changes anticipated from health-care reform in terms of reducing risk and increasing efficiency.”

Benefits are not only realized on the back-end. Clinician and employee satisfaction has increased because of the improved on-boarding process. Now, new hires are able to be effective in the workplace much sooner than in the past. The ability to be in the right place at the right time — without glitches in their access rights or other issues — allows them to focus immediately on what their main concern is, providing quality patient care.

Children’s also believes the automated communication between the systems will reduce the risk of previous employees retaining access to secure areas. “While every health-care organization strives to maintain a physically safe environment for its patients, being a children’s hospital heightens our need for stringent security,” says Myers. “Part of our ability to be a provider of choice is offering our young patients and their families a place in which they feel comfortable and safe.”

In the end, with its enhanced connectivity, Children’s National has not only seen an increase in the reliability and integrity of its data, but also the productivity of its staff. Implementing this system integration has reduced data entry hours by 50% and data entry errors by 70%. The hospital’s leaders believe that this will free staff to take a more proactive approach to their work.

Ann Geissler is Ingersoll Rand’s Global Healthcare Practice Marketing Manager. She can be reached at [email protected].

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