Sentara Healthcare -
Hampton Roads, VA
DuraFon PRO - Cordless Business Telephone System
Headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, Sentara Healthcare operates more than 100 sites of care including outpatient campuses, urgent care centers, advanced imaging centers, medical transport ambulances, home health and hospice services, Nightingale air ambulances, rehab and therapy centers, and nursing and assisted living centers. The 120-year-old non-profit organization manages three medical groups and employs a medical staff of 3,680.
Sentara operates three assisted living villages in the Hampton Roads, Virginia, area. Combined, the three Sentara Village facilities can provide services for up to 230 residents, providing comfortable, private accommodations and social activities in a home-like setting for older adults who do not require full-time nursing care.
The Need: Reliable, On-Demand Communication with Nursing Staff
According to Steven Minter, Director of Operations for Sentara Life Care Corporation, reliable on-demand communications with the nurses on duty at the Sentara Village facilities, with each of the three sites encompassing 34,000 square feet, is key to maintaining a high level of satisfaction among the residents and their family members. “As spread out as our assisted living facilities are, it is important for our nursing staff to be able to be reachable at a moment’s notice at all times, no matter where they are on the premises,” Minter explained. “They need to be able to respond to a call bell from a resident immediately and provide the resident some assurance without having to interrupt the task that they’re working on at that particular moment.”
Minter stated that they sought to find a new system that would maximize the productivity and response times by allowing their nurses to receive call bell notifications and telephone calls on a single device. “Our previous system did not have that functionality and we knew that there had to be some technology out there that would give us that capability in one device.” The system would also need to deliver exceptional range to ensure that the nurses could receive calls throughout the facility.
The Solution: The DuraFon PRO Cordless Business Telephone System
The functionality that Sentara was searching for was found in a solution that paired the EnGenius Technologies DuraFon PRO system to a nurse call system from Jeron Electronic Systems. Sentara deployed 20 rugged DuraFon PRO handsets across the three assisted-living facilities for use by the nursing staff.
Minter explained that the Jeron Nurse Call System offered functionality that the Sentara Village facilities required, and he knew that the right cordless phone solution was from EnGenius. “The DuraFon are known for their range, and we needed to make sure that our nurses would not have to worry about ever being out-of-range on the property.”
Designed for use in harsh environments, the rugged DuraFon PRO handsets provide industry-leading range, functionality, and durability. “We put a phone in the nurses’ hands or in their carts to give them the ability to answer the call bell and receive telephone calls on a single device.”
The Results: Reliable Communications Throughout the Expansive Properties
Combined with the Jeron Nurse Call Systems, the EnGenius DuraFon PRO systems ensure that residents and outside callers can contact the nursing staff regardless of where they are on the property.
“The nurses are very pleased in terms of the range of the DuraFon handsets and they definitely meet their needs,” explained Minter. “We’ve never had any problems with them being out-of-range, which is particularly impressive given our expansive properties.” Minster also stated that they are pleased with the performance of the DuraFons, they plan to also provide handsets to their maintenance personnel.
According to Minter, not only do the EnGenius DuraFon PRO systems enhance the productivity of the nursing staff, they also directly benefit Sentara’s customers. “The customers are responded to more quickly, while outside calls and our internal customers get their needs met. The EnGenius DuraFon is certainly one of the tools that we’re using to make for a better patient experience.”
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