Case Study: Villach Regional Hospital (LKH Villach)
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The Villach Regional Hospital (LKH Villach) is one of the most modern and efficient general hospitals in Austria. As part of the KABEG group of hospitals, it is responsible for the hospital, medical and healthcare needs of the population in Central and Upper Carinthia. A cross-border cooperation agreement means that staff also work with their Italian colleagues in the Friuli Venezia Giulia and Veneto regions of Northern Italy. |
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The hospital has around 1,800 employees in twelve departments and four institutes, caring for around 36,000 in-patients and 96,000 out-patients annually. It has over 758 beds, with a further 36 beds available for the chronically ill. |
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In 2003 the Villach Regional Hospital was the first general acute care hospital in Austria to be accredited by the International Joint Commission with more accreditations following in 2007 and 2010. LKH Villach has thereby achieved the highest international standards of quality assurance and patient orientation. |
Challenge
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In 2008, the Villach Regional Hospital commissioned its long-time partner NextiraOne with the task of integrating a redundant alarm system to provide a fail-safe alert system and enable the mobilisation of hospital staff during an emergency. A GSM integration project also enables the notification and mobilisation of staff who are away from the hospital. |
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As part of the new solution, NextiraOne also planned and implemented a centralised notification management system. This passes emergency calls, fire alarms and other alert calls to the DECT phones of doctors and nurses via a central management system. In the event of failure of the operational telephone system, the alarm server can transfer notifications to the Hospital’s DECT telecommunications system, which then effectively becomes the operational telephone system. |
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This innovative communications solution which is integrated into the voice network of the hospitals of the KABEG group in Klagenfurt, Villach, Wolfsberg, Laas and Hermagor, provides increased availability and faster response times, allowing staff to spend more time in patient care. |
Solution
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In an emergency, time is of essence. In the case of road traffic accidents, explosions and major fires, seconds can count in getting doctors, paramedics and nursing staff coordinated and ensuring the care of the injured. The Villach Regional Hospital has developed a disaster plan that NextiraOne has implemented with a redundant emergency alarm solution from NewVoice. |
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Firstly NextiraOne extended the existing NewVoice Mobicall alarm system by adding a second server. The network infrastructure has been implemented with redundancy in order to allow continuous alarm-ready status. In the case of a failure of the network connection the redundant server takes over locally the functions of the main server. The redundant distribution of all alarm information is carried out by the NewVoice Com-Port Splitter Box. |
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The alarm server is networked with the Alcatel-Lucent OmniPCX Enterprise PBX system and communicates directly with terminal devices. Staff at the Villach Hospital can use a web portal to keep themselves informed of the current status of the doctors and nurses who have already received alerts. |
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The alarm can be triggered through a telephone extension, a Web interface or an IP alarm box connected to the alarm server. The NewVoice alarm server sends the alert out to medical, nursing and administrative staff via DECT handsets and mobile phones. Employee data is automatically imported into the emergency alarm database from the personnel management system. This ensures that the personnel information and phone numbers are up to date. |
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The patient transportation system is also controlled by the alarm server and ensures route optimisation for the transportation of patients. The management of technical alarms, the fire alarm system and the central management system are all also handled through the system. The alerts are automated and transmitted to the terminal devices as mini-messages and tickets via TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol). |
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The scope of the disaster can trigger a range of different alarm scenarios and ensure a coordinated and fully automatic alerting of all necessary staff. Depending on the type of disaster the doctors, nurses and administrative staff are notified in three corresponding sub-groups. |
Benefits
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"In an emergency seconds count, whether in terms of being at the scene for patients or getting additional medical personnel into the LKH Villach Hospital. A well-functioning system of notification of employees in an emergency is therefore critical. Our partner NextiraOne has created a solution for us that meets these serious demands and allows us to operate faster and more effectively. " Ing. Josef Hattenberger, Technical Director, LKH Villach. |
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"The integration of all communications channels into a complete, fully redundant solution simplifies and speeds up communications for all personnel. This is particularly important in the healthcare sector: immediate notification must be guaranteed no matter where the employees are and what device they are using." |
Partners
NewVoice
Alcatel-Lucent
