New solution accelerates path to digital maturity and enables clinicians to electronically record patient vital signs quickly and securely via shared mobile devices, improving quality of care and patient safety
London, England, January 18, 2019 – Imprivata®, the healthcare IT security company, announced that Bolton NHS Foundation Trust has extended its deployment of Imprivata OneSign® with the addition of Imprivata Mobile Device Access™. The new solution gives clinicians fast, secure, and auditable access to eObservations, a system that records patient vital signs, via shared mobile devices with just the tap of a proximity badge. Imprivata Mobile Device Access enables care providers to record and store patient observations securely at the point of care. Armed with accurate and up to date information clinicians can improve outcomes by ensuring that patients receive the right level of attendance based on their current status and clinical progression. By analysing patient observations, care givers can identify any signs of deterioration and make appropriate clinical judgements, significantly improving patient outcomes
Phillipa Winter, Chief Informatics Officer, Bolton NHS Foundation Trust comments; “The primary objective of the eObservations project is to improve patient safety and quality of care, ensuring patients receive the best care to improve outcomes. Imprivata Mobile Device Access is an important factor in achieving this goal. When time is of the essence, every second counts; clinicians now have fast and secure access to the most up to date patient information to inform clinical decisions and patient care.”
Bolton NHS FT already uses Imprivata Authentication Management, Single Sign-On and Virtual Desktop Access for strong authentication and streamlined access to virtualised resources in the Trust’s virtual desktop environment. The solution provides clinicians with fast and easy access to their applications and desktops on iGel thin-client terminals by tapping their identity badges onto terminals equipped with Imprivata OneSign proximity card readers. Bolton NHS FT were keen to build on this foundation and accelerate their digitisation journey.
In line with the paperless vision outlined in the NHS Five Year Forward View, the Trust was ready to launch the eObservations solution on mobile devices. A sample trial was conducted on a ward with several devices shared between a number of clinical staff members. To access the solution users were required to manually enter their login credentials into three separate applications using the onscreen keyboard in order to record a patient’s vital signs. The lengthy login times were proving unpopular in user trials and the IT team at Bolton NHS FT were keen to find a way of simplifying system access without weakening security processes or breaching audit requirements.
Imprivata Mobile Device Access provided the answer, the solution extends the capabilities of Imprivata OneSign and the Imprivata identity and access management platform enabling fast, secure access to shared mobile devices and applications with the tap of a proximity badge. Following successful testing and user trials, the solution was installed on 500 mobile devices which were deployed over 8 weeks as part of the eObservations project. As a result, Bolton NHS FT has been able to unlock the full potential of its devices, ensuring fast and efficient access to the eObservations system whilst maintaining security and auditability.
Brett Walmsley, Chief Technology Officer at Bolton NHS FT, explains; “The speed and responsiveness of the Imprivata team in understanding our requirements and the outcome we wanted to achieve was outstanding. They dovetailed into our existing deployment and training plans ensuring minimum disruption and no down time for staff, and worked tirelessly alongside our team to an aggressive timeline. Imprivata has been the critical component to the success of our mobile device project. We are excited about the future and about what we can achieve together. Imprivata is now our go-to provider for anything to do with authentication. We view them as very much a part of our innovative development team.
The project has been a great success, more than 1,000 members of staff have access to the mobile devices which are located in banks of between seven and ten devices on wards across the Trust. The ease of accessing applications has reduced barriers to using the devices, because staff can quickly log in and out of the tablets with just a tap of their badge. All staff use their own proximity cards to access the device which ensures they are logged in using their own credentials, resulting in accurate audit trails on patient care. Observations are conducted regularly on patients according to their care plan and entered directly via the mobile device, removing the need for maintaining paper records. The solution has been a key element in helping improve staff confidence, and removing barriers to using technology and delivering tangible benefits to clinicians and their patients.
Dr Simon Irving, Chief Clinical Information Officer at Bolton NHS FT, comments; “The Imprivata solution has minimised the administration burden on healthcare professionals and delivered tangible benefits in the care of patients. The positive impact has driven us to review what other applications we can make accessible via mobile devices to staff on the move. We now have the potential to deliver more applications into the hands of clinicians and utilise technology to make a measurable difference in patient care without compromising information security.”
The Imprivata solution has provided the Trust with a safe way of authenticating users, giving assurance to the safety of patient records and demonstrating compliance with audit processes, governance, and the General Data Protection Regulation.
Dr. Sean Kelly, Chief Medical Officer at Imprivata, comments; “Imprivata Mobile Device Access supports the mobility of clinical staff, bringing technology to the bedside by improving the use of shared clinical mobile devices. This project has been a great example of customer and vendor working in harmony to bring required new clinical workflows into practice, not only benefiting Bolton NHS Foundation Trust but the NHS as a whole. The dramatic results achieved and quick deployment has made a vital difference to the delivery of healthcare and enabled the Trust to take a significant leap forward towards their vision of becoming paperless by 2020.”
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