Case Study: St. Luke's Health System

St. Luke's Episcopal Health System has long been a pioneer in both medical procedures and medical uses of technology. Its Texas Heart Institute performed the first successful human heart transplant in the U.S. Among numerous awards in many areas of medical practice, it has been named a top ten Cardiovascular Center for 17 consecutive years in the highly regarded annual survey conducted by U.S. News & World Report.

St. Luke's has undertaken many technology initiatives to enhance both clinician productivity and patient care practices. Nearly a decade ago, their IT team began a pilot wireless network implementation with the goal of streamlining clinician work processes. Their pilot project evolved into a multi-facility network with most of St. Luke's staff now accessing data via wireless devices – real-time, 24 hours a day. A visit to St. Luke's today finds physicians and nurses using wireless laptops and tablet PCs to track and chart patient care. Medicines are dispensed after clinicians scan medication barcodes on patient ID bracelets with wireless barcode scanners. Case managers access information on-the-fly as they verify patient records and coordinate services with insurances companies. Even the hospital's nutritionists plan menus with patients and transmit those orders wirelessly to kitchen staff for later preparation.

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