Sarasota Memorial Hospital: Enhancing Excellence

When Voalté sought to test its technology, it turned to Sarasota Memorial Health Care System. A regional referral center known for the breadth and depth of its patient care, the 806‐bed facility is Florida’s second largest acute-care public hospital and one of the nation’s most respected.

As the only hospital in Southwest Florida that has been ranked repeatedly among America’s 50 Best Hospitals by U.S. News & World Report and as one America’s Safest Hospitals by Forbes.com, Sarasota Memorial has a strong commitment to excellence. It has received the Magnet Nursing Services Recognition from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) — the nation’s highest honor for excellence in nursing and one that has been earned by less than 5 percent of U.S. hospitals.

Voalté management believed that Sarasota Memorial’s reputation, vision and commitment to their nursing staff would be a perfect fit with the company’s fusion of the three most essential methods of point-of-care communication — Voice, Alarms and Text. After discussions between Trey Lauderdale, Vice President of Innovation for Voalté, and Denis Baker, Sarasota Memorial’s Chief Information Officer, the hospital enthusiastically agreed to pilot the iPhone-based Voalté One solution

In June Voalté One went “live” at SMH. The hospital staff worked closely with the Voalté team to gauge the success of the application, including how easily the nurses adapted to carrying and using iPhones. A special feature of the application enabled nurses to provide direct feedback to Voalté. This helped the company fine-tune the product for the needs of the hospital’s individual departments and users.

During the 60-day pilot program, nurses were better able to respond quickly to patient’s needs while noise and confusion in rooms and hallways was significantly reduced. The findings of a private study revealed that there were 78 percent fewer overhead pages during the program, prompting patients to wonder why the hospital was so quiet.

The test of Voalté One was so successful that following the commercial release, the system was expanded to other units of the Sarasota Memorial Health Care System. Today, there are more than 400 nurses, and point of care workers improving the patient experience with Voalté.

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