Malvern, Pa., June 4, 2009 - Siemens Healthcare announces the general availability of the latest version[1] of Soarianâ Clinicals, the Siemens enterprise-wide healthcare information system that streamlines information flow to support healthcare providers' operational and administrative initiatives. New Plan of Care functionality empowers care teams with tools to implement their patient-specific collective care plan derived from best-evidence content.
Plan of Care is specifically designed to create workflow efficiencies for the clinical team while providing tools and technologies to help customers monitor and measure their performance indicators and promote continuous improvements in quality and practice at the point of care.
The 271-bed CentraState Health System in Freehold, NJ was one of two U.S. institutions to beta test Plan of Care for several months before fully migrating to the latest Soarian Clinicals version in March 2009. The healthcare provider started by mapping out a clear vision and a unified effort to ensure clinician and interdisciplinary care team buy-in was achieved early on in the process. CentraState also developed a roadmap that included several critical capabilities they deemed essential in determining a successful implementation, including creating hospital-validated plans of care with as few keystrokes as possible and providing highly patient-centered and customized plans of care that would become a living, breathing reference during the patient stay.
To date, CentraState has developed over 140 care plans and has maintained close to 100 percent compliance that every patient admitted to the hospital has a care plan assigned to them within the first 24 hours of admission.
Pinnacle Health System, which became the 10th hospital in Pennsylvania to become Magnet certified in 2006, also began Plan of Care beta testing towards the end of 2008 before going live on Soarian Clinicals' latest version in March 2009. The 552-bed multi-facility health system in Harrisburg, Pa has already implemented Plan of Care functionality in over 20 different workflow channels to help its hospital staff and clinicians identify and overcome specific workflow-related challenges based on data findings.
"As a nurse executive I look for innovative tools and strategies that will support my nurses in their day to day work, making them more efficient and able to deliver safe and quality patient care, "said Sheri Mater, RN, BSN, MBA, Chief Nursing Officer, Pinnacle Health System. "Siemens has given us these tools. Information technology is a key tool in healthcare today and provides the support necessary to help us ensure that things are not missed or fall through the cracks. It is essential to our nurses' work."
Existing Functionality Enhancements
In addition to Plan of Care, the latest Soarian Clinicals version also delivers enhancements to existing functionality, including Soarian Emergency Department, new Soarian Analytics & Reporting capabilities, wireless compatibility with Blackberry®, and iPhoneTM/iPod, broadened CPOE usability, and more.
By migrating to the latest Soarian Clinicals version in March 2009, the five-hospital Main Line Health in Bryn Mawr, PA was one of the earliest adopters of its enhanced functionality, including Results Management, Clinical Documentation, and Medication Administration. According to Main Line Health, they sought to enhance their ability to better utilize existing key Soarian functionalities and broaden their Soarian application use throughout their healthcare delivery model.