Henry Ford Macomb Hospital recently switched to the PerfectServe system to reduce communication breakdowns among its clinicians. PerfectServe is a clinical communications system linking hospitals and practices that automatically routes calls and messages to physicians in the manner in which they wish to be reached. By transitioning to PerfectServe, the hospital has facilitated more peer-to-peer communications among physicians, improved the coordination of care and reduced risks. In this interview we speak with Dr. Steven Harrington, a leading cardiac robotic surgeon at Henry Ford Macomb Hospital, about his use of the PerfectServe system and how it helped with effective care coordination. Henry Ford Macomb Hospital is located in Clinton Township, Michigan.

Describe your position at Henry Ford Macomb Hospital. What is a typical day like for you?
I am the medical director of cardiothoracic surgery, chairman of the quality committee for the hospital, as well as serve on the medical executive committee for the board of trustees. I also serve on the board of trustees and on the quality committee for the Henry Ford Health System. I have been a cardiothoracic surgeon for about 30 years now.

What procedures do you most often work on?
Typically I will perform about 1-2 cardiac operations a day. Approximately 75 percent of cases will be coronary revascularizations, which is typical for most cardiac surgeons. However, one of my specialties is that for about 6 years now I have been doing robotic cardiac surgeries; we perform anywhere from 100-150 robotic cardiac surgeries annually using the da Vinci robot system. This system gives us the ability to do, for example, a mitral valve repair surgery through about a 20-millimeter incision between a patient’s ribs, as opposed to a larger sternotomy incision in which we crack the patient’s chest open. We can also do lung surgeries using this system as well as several other operations. The other percentage of my day is spent doing medical administrative duties as medical director of cardiothoracic surgery and quality within Henry Ford Health System.

In what ways do you utilize PerfectServe? Where is it being used in your hospital?
At Henry Ford Macomb Hospital, the term we use for PerfectServe is “source of truth.” All of our physicians are on board with PerfectServe. Every single physician is enrolled in the PerfectServe network, so if you’re part of the Henry Ford Macomb Hospital, you’re given a PerfectServe number and put in the PerfectServe network. This allows us to have one single source for peer-to-peer communication as well as for nurse-to-physician paging. Therefore, there is no need to worry about trying to go through multiple answering services or paging systems or telepage operators trying to find people. All calls are directed through the PerfectServe system, which gives you the ability to contact physicians and peers instantaneously.