JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Communication failures disrupt physician workflow, lead to poor patient outcomes, and are associated with significant economic burden. To increase efficiency with contacting a team member in a hospital, we designed an information directory app, InHouse Call.

Objective:

To describe the design of InHouse Call, objectively compare the usefulness of the app versus traditional methods (operator or pocket cards, etc.), and determine its subjective usefulness through user surveys and Net Promoter Score (NPS).

Methods:

Pilot study utilizing Before-After trials. The effectiveness of InHouse Call in connecting the user with a contact in the hospital was measured through timed trials comparing the amount of time spent in attempting to make the connection using traditional methods versus the app. Usability was measured through exit surveys and NPS.

Results:

The average time spent connecting to the correct contact using traditional methods was 59.5 seconds compared to 13.8 seconds when using InHouse Call. The degree of variance when using traditional methods was 1544.2 compared to 19.7 with InHouse Call. A call made using the traditional methods deviated from the mean by 39.3 seconds compared to 4.4 seconds when using InHouse Call. InHouse Call achieved an NPS of 95.

Conclusions:

InHouse Call significantly reduced the average amount of time spent connecting with the correct contact as well as the variability to complete the task. The app garnered a high NPS and positive subjective feedback.