United Regional is a 565-bed acute-care facility and the only full-service health care system in the region. Its services include a lead level III trauma center, cancer treatment center, technologically advanced cardiac and surgical services and a dedicated pediatric and level II nursery.

“In an increasingly consumer-driven marketplace, it is vitally important for hospitals to ensure that caregivers spend the majority of their time at the patient bedside, rather than flipping through charts at the nurses’ station” said Bob Rossi, senior director for CDW Healthcare. “A customized cart solution that addresses patient admission, care documentation and medication administration equips clinicians with effective tools that help speed the delivery of care and enhance patient outcomes.”

CDW Healthcare technology specialists collaborated with the health care system’s IT department and several clinicians to understand their unique requirements. After numerous discussions, the CDW Healthcare team committed to build, configure and deploy a mobile computing and medication administration solution that equips the health care system’s emergency department (ED) and inpatient care units with customized carts. The cart solution supports a variety of ongoing initiatives, such as bedside ED patient admission, care documentation via an electronic medical record and a positive patient identification system intended to reduce medical errors.

The mobile solution includes a variety of technology that supports the health care system’s multiple initiatives. The documentation carts are equipped with laptops configured for wireless use, tablet PCs and washable keyboards and mice. Medication carts were also deployed and included modular, passcode-secured storage drawers as well as specialized handheld scanners to enable proper medication administration. Caregivers first scan their badge, then the medication container’s barcode and finally the patient’s wristband, a process meant to reduce medical errors while pursuing the Five Rights of Patient Care, an initiative which focuses on ensuring patients receive the correct drug and dosage delivered via an appropriate route at the prescribed time.

To prevent the health care system from being overwhelmed with a single large shipment of carts, CDW Healthcare coordinated a “just-in-time” delivery schedule that met United Regional’s unique needs. CDW Healthcare deployed the technology over a period of approximately two months, ensuring that a specific number of carts arrived on the date and time specified by the health care system. The staggered shipments allowed United Regional to incorporate the technology in phases, streamlining deployment processes and enhancing efficiency.

“CDW Healthcare’s ability to build and configure a customized solution, coupled with the depth of their vendor partnerships, vastly simplified our acquisition process,” said Dwayne McKee, manager of application and project planning for United Regional. “Furthermore, their willingness to manage the deployment schedule enabled us to bring much-needed technology to the patient bedside quickly and efficiently. Now we have the infrastructure in place to support our long-term goal: a paperless clinical environment that provides each patient with safe, quality care they deserve”

About CDW Healthcare
CDW Healthcare is a leading provider of technology solutions focused exclusively on serving the healthcare marketplace. Working closely with more than 15,000 healthcare organizations nationwide, its customers range from small rural providers to large integrated delivery networks. The dedicated healthcare team leverages the expertise of CDW technology specialists and engineers to deliver best-in-class solutions from data center infrastructure through to point of patient care. The company’s technology specialists and engineers offer expertise in designing customized solutions, while its advanced technology engineers can assist customers with the implementation and long-term management of those solutions. Areas of focus include notebooks, desktops, printers, servers and storage, unified communications, security, wireless, power and cooling, networking, software licensing and mobility solutions.