Intelligent Software Automatically Assigns Nurses

A new software program matches patients and nurses by applying a protocol engine intended to tackle the complexities of patient assignments.

The MedAptus (Boston, MA, USA) ASSIGN for Nurses platform replaces the cumbersome manual assignment process that most charge nurses or assistants currently use, which is slow, inefficient, and often unfair because of imbalanced workloads. Instead, ASSIGN automatically taps into a patient census from the electronic health record (EHR), along with data from the hospital’s nurse scheduling software. All major EHR systems and nurse scheduling software programs are compatible.

It applies protocols such as patient acuity, geography, continuity of care, and others simultaneously into order to intelligently match patients with the right nurses. Once the assignment process is completed, the final list is then automatically generated and distributed, either electronically or in print. The entire process takes minutes to complete, and can work in any unit and with any staff size, while at the same time requiring minimal IT staff involvement during implementation.

“Not only can ASSIGN for Nurses handle the complexity of balancing multiple protocols, but it does so quickly and easily,” says Eugene Schneider, President and CEO of MedAptus. “We wanted to create a product that specifically addresses one of the most pressing challenges nurses face. So much is affected by nurse workloads; it’s nice to be able to provide software that dramatically improves such an important nursing function as patient assignments.”

Studies show heavy nurse workloads can have a significant impact on patient safety and satisfaction, length of stays, and readmissions. Imbalanced workloads can also lead to frustration, feelings of unfairness, and even burnout. In 2016, MedAptus also launched ASSIGN for Physicians, which applies similar rules-based algorithms to rounding assignments.

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