In the fall of 2010, Ben Moore paced the halls of Victoria General Hospital as an worry-ridden dad whose newborn daughter was suffering complications.
He lived outside of the neonatal intensive care unit for two months, and noticed B次元官网网址� as a telecommunications engineer and a guy who owned a smartphone B次元官网网址� that communication between patients, nurses and doctors seemed unnervingly outdated.
He had a lot of questions about his daughterB次元官网网址檚 condition. The nurse often paged the on-call doctor, and then waited for a call back. Doctors, to MooreB次元官网网址檚 surprise, still use beepers, a technology that largely vanished from common use a decade ago.
B次元官网网址淚 was in the hospital with an iPad and I couldnB次元官网网址檛 believe they were trying to page a doctor,B次元官网网址� he says. B次元官网网址淚t caused a lot of frustration and anxiety waiting (for answers).B次元官网网址�
Moore and his wife emerged from VGH with a healthy child and a nugget of an idea B次元官网网址� to replace beepers with smartphone-based system, a device almost all doctors carry anyway.
B次元官网网址淒octors say (pagers) work, that theyB次元官网网址檙e reliable. They love the pager and they work where you canB次元官网网址檛 get a wireless signal,B次元官网网址� Moore says, laughing at what he calls the B次元官网网址減age and prayB次元官网网址� system B次元官网网址� medical staff send a page, and then pray the message gets through.
B次元官网网址淣inety per cent of doctors are carrying smartphones, but those arenB次元官网网址檛 being used for critical communication. Smartphones arenB次元官网网址檛 secure and they arenB次元官网网址檛 reliable.B次元官网网址�
Moore, 37, who attended Claremont secondary before moving to Ontario, where he graduated from Waterloo University, launched the startup company SmartPager with his friend Mike Ferguson, a 30-year-old software engineer who went through Mount Doug secondary, Camosun College and Vancouver Island University.
Ferguson hears insider stories of awkward communication flow from his wife, a licenced practical nurse. B次元官网网址�(Nurses) could call a pager number and wait for hours,B次元官网网址� he says. B次元官网网址淪ometimes (my wife) would call doctors at home, so the doctor would be pestered to no end.B次元官网网址�
Prying prized pagers from the fingers of doctors might be a tall order, but Moore and Ferguson quickly recognized the lucrative and widespread potential for modern communication within medical fields.
They established a base in Saanich at the DataTech Business Centre across from Reynolds high school, and have spent the last year developing the SmartPager app and back-end call centre software. In January, the system launched with a team of surgeons in Phoenix, Ariz.
The system allows medical teams to flow confidential patient information, discussion and diagnoses via texts, audio messages, and images on smartphones through a secure cloud network. It can persistently B次元官网网址減ageB次元官网网址� the on-call doctor until the message is read, or flip the query to the next doctor down the chain of command. It can even mimic the beep-beep pager as it exists now for diehard users.
B次元官网网址淲e want to make communication between patients and doctors as organic as possible, so that itB次元官网网址檚 effortless to get what you need,B次元官网网址� Ferguson says.
At the point the light bulb went on in MooreB次元官网网址檚 head, SmartPager wasnB次元官网网址檛 viable. Even a few years ago, pager signals could penetrate into the depths of dense hospital buildings, where cellphones networks died. Now almost all hospitals have reliable and widespread WiFi networks.
But the backbone of the system is its network security and reliability B次元官网网址� SmartPager has to conform with onerous information privacy regulations, called HIPAA in the U.S. and FIPPA in Canada.
Creating an app that transmits voicemails, texts and images between smartphones isnB次元官网网址檛 new, but creating one that meets security thresholds and has 99.999 per cent uptime is a high technical barrier.
For that, Moore and Ferguson teamed up with University of Victoria computer engineering professor Jans Weber through Mitacs-Accelerate, a federal program designed to fund research and development collaboration between industry and academics.
Weber and a graduate student helped integrate security into the app and validated that the system conformed with HIPAA and FIPPA standards (the company says SmartPager is compliant with privacy laws in the U.S. and most of Canada, although not in British Columbia. Moore said they plan to install a dedicated SmartPager server in Vancouver to meet provincial law).
The encryption and communication protocols on the SmartPager system are as stringent as possible, Weber says, but balances the need for ease of use and quick transmission. B次元官网网址淥verall this is where health care needs to go B次元官网网址� more mobile, with better information and secure information flows.B次元官网网址�
Nothing is foolproof, he notes, but the system is more secure than paper records that fill shelving in medical offices, and more secure than doctors sending patient information over unsecured texts or emails.
B次元官网网址淗ealth information systems have lots of concerns about privacy and security and how that information is maintained,B次元官网网址� Weber says. B次元官网网址淲e have to put this in contrast with paper records. ThereB次元官网网址檚 a lot of paper out there up for grabs, things potentially donB次元官网网址檛 get shredded, thereB次元官网网址檚 no encryption on documents sent between a lab and a medical office.B次元官网网址�
Moore and FergusonB次元官网网址檚 startup remains a small operation with another half-time employee in Saanich and two programmers out of Eastern Europe. But clients are coming to them B次元官网网址� about 200 medical professionals are piloting or will pilot the SmartPager system, mainly out of the U.S., but also a few in Waterloo, Ont., and at Vancouver General Hospital. So far, the Vancouver Island Health Authority hasnB次元官网网址檛 come knocking.
SmartPagerB次元官网网址檚 largest client group involves about 85 doctors working out of the Centre for Orthopedic Research and Education (CORE) in Phoenix. CORE surgeon Dr. Jason Scalise says it wasnB次元官网网址檛 hard to abandon pagers.
The reliability of paging networks is eroding daily, he says, and that standard texting between doctors and staff presents a B次元官网网址済rey areaB次元官网网址� in terms of what is allowed under HIPAA. B次元官网网址淭he entire paging infrastructure in the U.S. is physically failing,B次元官网网址� Scalise says from his office in Phoenix. B次元官网网址淚f a page doesnB次元官网网址檛 get through, the recipient and sender would never know.
B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檝e transitioned to (texting) but weB次元官网网址檝e got patience compliance issues. There is a debate on how OK it is to text patient information. ItB次元官网网址檚 something that is a problem.B次元官网网址�
The SmartPager system allows his medical centre to track the 2,500 to 3,000 daily messages and log response times and information flow.
B次元官网网址淪ometimes we have people say they havenB次元官网网址檛 got a call back. This allows us to track that. This is going to be really helpful,B次元官网网址� Scalise says.
B次元官网网址淲e want to make sure it works for our work flow. Then we will be pushing it on other doctors outside our organization so that if they need to get in touch, they can use SmartPager and not call a call centre to take a message, type it out and then send it to me.B次元官网网址�
Doctors in Greater Victoria remain largely wedded to the B次元官网网址渃rude and antiquatedB次元官网网址� paging technology, as UVicB次元官网网址檚 professor Weber describes it.
Dr. Neil Boyle, a GP who works at Jubilee and Victoria General hospitals, agrees that the 30-year-old paging system is of dubious reliability, and said that pages can be easy to miss.
Reforming that system, he says, is a low priority for health care providers, and would need to be replaced with something uncomplicated and easy to use.
In the meantime, many doctors routinely use their smartphones to text non-specific medical consultation information and surgery scheduling with other doctors, an imperfect but useful way to communicate, Boyle says.
B次元官网网址淣o names or genders or anything sensitive,B次元官网网址� he says. B次元官网网址淲e are certainly careful about what we send in messages.B次元官网网址�
On the other hand, Boyle carries two different pagers and a cellphone, and says that pager beeps can be loud and intrusive while talking with patients. Having one catchall gadget would be a dream come true, but Boyle isnB次元官网网址檛 expecting that to happen any time soon.
B次元官网网址淲e all recognize there is a problem, but in the world of problems itB次元官网网址檚 not that big,B次元官网网址� he says. B次元官网网址淏ut if (a new system) saved me 15 to 20 minutes each day, it would be valuable given how full a day is.B次元官网网址�
For more on SmartPager, see .
editor@saanichnews.com
