Provider On-Call Scheduling System

Project Background NDNQI Scores for Nurse/Physician relations in AIP- PACU dropped from 3.45 in 2011 to 3.27 in 2012 Further surveys given to PACU nurses revealed that the top three areas for improvement pertaining to nurse/physician relations were: 1.Physicians are easy to get in touch with when I need to 2.I know which physician to call for each patient 3.The on call schedule is easy to read and interpret

Project Background The on call schedule software used here at UCH is AMiON and it is pivotal to these top three complaints and was chosen as the topic of a performance improvement project by PACU nurses Mary Hurlbert and Sarah Welchert Process improvement (Janet McIntyre) and Hospital switchboard (Rebecca Gilleland) collaborated on the project

Project Background The primary focus of this project has been to educate nurses on how to utilize the AMiON program to more efficiently communicate with the physicians they need AIP PACU was used as a pilot unit for this education with pre and post education testing to measure improvements in nursing knowledge of AMiON

Project Background Other goals for this project include 1.Educate all nursing staff on AMiON and including education in new staff orientation 2.Collaborating with physicians and residency coordinators to make AMiON more consistent and user friendly 3.Creating a PACU specific list in AMiON that pulls together the contact info for commonly called providers in one place

Results of education in PACU Average scores on a basic AMiON knowledge test increased from 72% to 100% after attending a short education presentation on the topic I’d like to share this education presentation with you today Feel free to follow along with the knowledge test

What is AMiON? AMiON is a software application used at UCH to post and maintain the physician on-call schedule. This schedule facilitates fast access to providers for important patient care matters. Easily accessed on the Hub or through the Internet, UCH staff and physicians can find out who is “on call” for a given service or department, and how to contact that provider.

Why is AMiON important? UCH physicians and staff use this tool to contact attending and other physicians for answers to important, often urgent, patient care questions. Switchboard operators and Access Center staff often use AMiON to connect community physicians with UCH physicians. AMiON empowers all staff to know who is on call for a service, and how best to contact that physician.

How do I access AMiON? There are three ways to access AMiON: Quick Links on the HUBAny Internet Browser Android® or iPhone®

How do I access AMiON? Quick Links on the HUB:

How do I access AMiON? Any Internet Browser (even from home):

How do I access AMiON? Android® or iPhone® via a free app from iTunes® or Google Play®:

How do I access AMiON? This training will focus on access using Quick Links on the HUB.

What will I learn in this training? This training will focus on three primary uses for AMiON. At the end of the training, you will receive instructions on how to access the very robust help functions provided by AMiON. You will learn: How to find out and contact the person on call for a specialty How to locate a phone number by name How to send a text page directly from AMiON.

How do I access AMiON? The password for AMiON at UCH is “uco”. Be sure to enter it in all lower-case letters. You will use this password no matter which method you choose to access AMiON.

How do I find who is on call? One of the most common uses of AMiON is to look up a phone number. On the initial screen, numbers are listed alphabetically by department for the current date and time.

How do I find who is on call? Use the Departments filter to narrow down your search to broad areas of specialities.

How do I find who is on call? If you need to find who is on call for a different date, you can change the date filters.

How do I find a specific provider? If you need to look up a provider by name, you can type the name (or a portion of the name) in the search box and it will list all providers in the system whether on-call or not.

How do I send a Text Page? If a pager number displays underlined, it is an active link and you can click that link to send a Text Page.

Enter your name and message in the appropriate boxes and press send. How do I send a Text Page?

AMiON has a robust help menu that will teach you to perform the many functions of which the system is capable. Access this help menu at For suggestions on how to improve the system or for assistance with more complex issues, please contact Rebecca Gilleland, Supervisor of Switchboard Services at How do I learn more about AMiON?

Text Page with AMiON vs. Metrocall In the past, nurses have been taught to use the Metrocall link on the HUB to send text pages to physicians.

Text Paging with AMiON vs. Metrocall When sending a text page with metrocall, there is no way to tell if the recipient has a text-capable pager, so you can not be sure that the message will be read Contrary to popular belief, not all providers at UCH have text capable pagers!

Text Paging with AMiON vs. Metrocall With text paging in AMiON, the system only allows you to send text pages to recipients who have text-capable pagers Recipients who do not have text capable pagers will simply not have their number in hyperlink blue text Most services are gradually moving towards having text capable pagers

Text Paging with AMiON vs. Metrocall There is also no tracking mechanism with Metrocall, so if your text page was ever called into question, there is no way to audit when and what was sent Text paging in AMiON includes a track mechanism so that text pages can be audited by switchboard staff

How do I get more detailed information? One way to get more information on a provider is to look at the notes attached to a provider description, appearing as a red outlined diamond shaped symbol next to the service name. Hover your mouse over the symbol to read the text in the note.

How do I get more detailed information? Another way to get more detailed information about a physician service is to click on the blue hyperlink department name (example: general surgery) This will take you to a secondary view that gives additional detail for that department

Where does the info in AMiON come from? The on call schedule is created by a physician in each department, typically a chief resident. This schedule is then entered into AMiON by that department’s residency coordinator, who is an employee of the School of Medicine. These residency coordinators are also responsible for keeping the schedule updated and responding to complaints about inaccuracies. You will find the residency coordinator’s contact information at the bottom of that department’s call schedule on AMiON.

Communicating problems If you find that there is an inaccuracy in AMiON, you can or call the residency coordinator for that department so that they can correct the problem in AMiON.

What if I can’t find the physician that I need in AMiON? Not all physicians currently practicing at UCH will be listed in AMiON. AMiON is primarily an on call scheduling system so if a physician is not on call at all or never takes call, then they typically can not be found when searching AMiON.

E-Directory If a physician’s contact info can not be found in AMiON, it can typically be found in the E-Directory located on the HUB. This directory is in the process of being updated and consolidated so there may be some physicians also not listed here, but this should be very rare. If this happens, please contact me.

Conclusion If you have any questions or would like to bring this education to your unit or department, please contact me