Norris Cotton Cancer Center At Dartmouth-Hitchcock Saves Patients Time With RTLS

Versus Advantages Clinic for Oncology Helps Improve Efficiency and the Patient Experience

The Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC) at Dartmouth-Hitchcock, one of the nation’s premier facilities for cancer treatment and research, implemented the Versus Advantages Clinic for Oncology real-time locating system (RTLS) this month with the aim of enhancing the patient experience.

For the 400 patients per day who visit NCCC, time is a precious commodity. Understandably, they don’t want to spend it waiting. Using a small, lightweight RTLS badge, the cancer center now monitors the time patients wait or spend alone, so staff can proactively expedite their visit when possible. To further enhance efficiency, Advantages software also monitors and communicates the patient’s stage of care, so providers know at a glance when a patient is ready to be seen.

Through an integration with the Epic electronic medical record (EMR), key details about the patient visit are also displayed, such as appointment time, whether the patient has an additional appointment with another department, and whether they are a new or existing patient. Bringing this data into one unified patient status screen allows caregivers to quickly understand the scope of often complicated visits.

The RTLS also helps NCCC efficiently “turn over” exam rooms and treatment chairs, so they can be more quickly utilized for patient care. When a patient visit progresses to another department or when the patient leaves the clinic, Advantages automatically alerts staff that their room or treatment area needs cleaning, and once clean, communicates that it’s ready for another patient.

While this real-time patient- and room-status data improves the efficiency of care in the moment, Norris Cotton will also use the data to analyze operational trends and optimize resources.Versus Reports Plus Analytics allows the center to report on automatically collected metrics, such as average wait times and visit times; arrival to provider time; exam, infusion and treatment times; overall room and treatment chair utilization; and other data to help improve the patient experience.

After trialing different RTLS technologies for patient workflow, including Wi-Fi, the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center joins several leading oncology organizations in using the Versus system, including Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Karmanos Cancer Institute, the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center, and EMMC Cancer Care.

NCCC’s RTLS was purchased through and installed by Versus Certified System Integrator Canfield Systems of Scarborough Maine.

To learn more about Versus Advantages Clinic for Oncology, download our educational booklet at versustech.com/oncology, or visit us in October at the Association of Community Cancer Centers National Oncology Conference in Portland, Ore.

About Norris Cotton Cancer Center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock
Norris Cotton Cancer Center combines advanced cancer research at Dartmouth and the Geisel School of Medicine with patient-centered cancer care provided at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, NH, at Dartmouth-Hitchcock regional locations in Manchester, Nashua, and Keene, NH, and St. Johnsbury, VT, and at 12 partner hospitals throughout New Hampshire and Vermont. It is one of 41 centers nationwide to earn the National Cancer Institute’s “Comprehensive Cancer Center” designation. For more information, visit cancer.dartmouth.edu.

About Canfield Systems, Inc.
Canfield Systems, Inc. has brought Educational, Health Care, Correctional and Public Address products to the Northeast since the 1940s. Canfield has remained committed to providing expertise in the design and implementation of a total communication system solution for new construction including the following systems: Nurse Call, RTLS, Clock, Public Address, Intercom, Telephone, Media Distribution, and Televisions. Canfield is also expert at implementing solutions to retrofit and/or expand. Canfield Systems, Inc. is a reliable company with combined expertise totaling over 150 years in the business. For more information, visit www.canfieldsystems.com

About Versus Technology, Inc.
Established in 1988, Versus Technology, Inc. specializes in Real-time Locating Systems (RTLS) for healthcare. Used by more than 800 hospitals for enterprise patient tracking, bed management, asset tracking, and nurse call automation, Versus improves patient flow and documentation of caregiver and patient interactions, while enhancing communication and efficiency. The Versus infrared (IR) and Active RFID solution is responsible for clinical-grade location and automation at hospitals, clinics and long-term care facilities worldwide. For more information, visit versustech.com.