Dalcon Communication Systems, Nashville’s oldest continually operating technology company, today changed its name to Amplion Clinical Communications, reflecting the company’s focus on in-patient nurse communications systems. The change is on the heels of $3.75 million raised in new venture capital funding.

As part of the TNInvestco program to promote investment in innovative Tennessee businesses, the financing round was led by Nashville-based Solidus and Council Capital (through its Council and Enhanced Tennessee Fund). Amplion plans to use the funds to expand sales of its new technology to hospitals nationwide.

“Amplion is based on the Latin word ‘amplio,’ which means ‘to improve’,” said CEO David Condra. “That’s exactly what we’re doing. Our model improves the communication of real-time patient needs to caregivers. Extensive pilots have shown that it improves quality of care.”

Using Wireless Technology to Improve Patient Safety and Satisfaction

Amplion Alert, the company’s flagship solution to improving care quality, is a wireless, in-room communications system. The system enables clinical staff to care for patients’ needs in real time and track, manage and confirm the delivery of care. The system monitors timed activities such as rounding, bed turns and pain assessment, and emergent needs such as preventing patient falls.

Specifically, Amplion Alert:

• Helps reduce patient falls, pressure ulcers, alarm fatigue and other preventable episodes
• Improves nurse communication and workflow by ensuring the right caregiver receives the right messages at the right time
• Provides a mechanism for tracking and monitoring compliance with hospital care policies and protocols
• Increases hospital reimbursement by boosting HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Survey) scores for patient satisfaction
• Supports retention and recruitment of nursing staff by improving their ability to care for patients while reducing alarm fatigue by up to 97%

“In a hospital setting, nurses and caregivers are expected to remember a lot. They have to navigate many audible alarms and alerts whose sounds don’t necessarily identify the specific need or which patient needs attention. These dynamics make it challenging to give the best care possible,” Condra said. “For example, patients sometimes develop severe pressure ulcers because no one realized they hadn’t been repositioned for hours. Amplion’s technology helps prevent this.”

Amplion Alert also provides data to allow management to manage staffing ratios both to manage budgets and identify where additional clinical care support is needed. The system also promotes nurse retention and recruitment, since nurses feel more organized and documentation is incorporated into their workflow.

How Amplion Alert Works: The “Closed Loop Approach”

• The system sends care alerts as text messages to wireless phones assigned to individual caregivers and to the nurses’ station
• When a health professional accepts an assignment from the system, it is removed from the list of active alerts
• After successfully responding to a patient’s needs, the nurse confirms care by pushing a button on the in-room device

This closed loop approach allows hospitals to ensure proper care has been delivered and generates performance reports and improves patient care quality metrics.

Early Success

New Hampshire’s Androscoggin Valley Hospital installed Amplion Alert and hospital administrators report significant increases in the facility’s HCAHPS scores since then.

“We have not had a major fall in the two and a half years since we implemented the Amplion system,” said Clare Vallee, RN, MS, JD, CNE-BC, vice president at Androscoggin. “It has helped us change our workflow to make it more patient-centered, to do a better job of taking care of our patients.”

“We have highly satisfied customers and growing interest from hospitals across the country,” Condra said. “We’re excited about our potential to improve the patient experience and play a role in changing the overall delivery of healthcare.”

About Amplion Clinical Communications

www.amplionalert.com

Founded in 1979, Amplion provides clinical communication systems that take patient care to the next level. It supports hospitals of all sizes to improve quality, safety and cost of care while enhancing patient satisfaction. Amplion’s in-room alert and response system facilitates real-time attention to patient needs, compliance with care protocols, reduction of never events and the ability to track, manage and confirm the delivery of care. Amplion closes the loop so that nothing falls through the cracks.