The labor and delivery unit in The Johns Hopkins Hospital is now using a high-tech digital board that shows photos with the names and roles of all staff members working on the unit, thanks to the computer-based Tap N Go system that uses employees’ ID badges. Images are pulled from JHED accounts, and roles are assigned and managed through a Web application.

Beginning with the charge and triage nurses, the big Care Team Board in front of the nurses’ station on Zayed 8E includes nurses, physicians, environmental care staff, patient service coordinators, clinical technicians, unit associates and many other roles in the unit. With a quick check of the board, a nurse can put a face to the name of an attending physician, while a physician can identify an anesthesiology resident before heading to the operating room.

Improved communication leads to improved coordination, users say. Consider it an idea whose time has finally arrived.

Ten years ago, Susan Will, a patient safety nurse in labor and delivery, thought a staff ID board would help build successful teams. She encouraged staff members to post their photos, names and roles on a magnetic board when they reported to work. As the initial system required staff members to remember to remove and replace their photos each day, the process was ultimately deemed too burdensome.

After the unit moved to the Sheikh Zayed Tower in 2012, a new Care Team Board was created as a Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) project, in collaboration with the Integration Services Group in Information Technology.

“With a larger staff and a bigger physical unit to navigate, the CUSP team saw a real need in knowing who was on the unit and who was doing what,” Will says. She and clinical informatics coordinator Rhonda Johnson took their problem to Eric Schmitt and Kirby Smith of the Integration Services Group, who helped produce the digital solution. 

Labor and delivery is now adding a second Care Team Board on the other side of Zayed 8, while the neonatal intensive care and pediatric emergency units have already implemented their own boards.