LOS ANGELES & MALVERN, Pa. -- Supporting a new standard in superior patient care delivery at Pinnacle Health System, a four-hospital health system in Harrisburg, Pa., Siemens Medical Solutions (www.usa.siemens.com/medical) and Zynx Health (www.zynx.com) have successfully delivered evidence-based clinical knowledge to where it matters most - at the point of care. Among the first in the industry to do so, Pinnacle's three-phase pilot program has integrated ZynxCare(TM) nursing content with Siemens' clinical documentation solutions to support evidence-based practices and facilitate decision-making at the bedside - ultimately helping to improve clinical outcomes.

"Together with Siemens and Zynx, we have pushed past clinical boundaries to deliver the evidence our nurses need to make decisions based on the most recent research available," said Sheri Matter, RN, BSN, MS, chief nursing officer, Pinnacle Health. "By populating our plans of care with nursing knowledge and evidence, we are making it easier than ever to use the right information, at the right time, and in the right form."

"The integration of evidence-based care within the EHR is the future of healthcare," said Rosemary Kennedy, RN, MBA, chief nursing informatics officer, Siemens Medical Solutions. "By bringing clinical knowledge to the bedside, we are providing nurses with a reference shelf of vital care information at their fingertips. With this, nurses are spending less time executing orders and tracking down information, and more time managing patient problems and providing quality patient care - making evidence-based patient care a daily standard, rather than the exception."


Siemens, Zynx and Pinnacle Health partnered in 2005 to develop the three-phase program. Currently in its final phase, the program has brought significant value to Pinnacle Health, including a notable reduction in time spent developing institutional guidelines of care - a process that previously took months is now accomplished in just days - and has elevated the critical thinking process and collaboration between care teams.

"The alliance of Zynx, Siemens and Pinnacle demonstrates the true vision of the ZynxCare product," said Patricia Button, EdD, RN, director of nursing content, Zynx Health. "Nurses and members of the interdisciplinary care team are able to provide care at the bedside based on the most current industry research without any need to interrupt their workflow."

Starting with access to referential content, the first phase of the pilot provided links to Zynx evidence for four nursing-sensitive performance measures: patient falls, acute pain, pressure ulcers and smoking cessation. The second phase customized the evidence-based plans of care specifically for the health organization, seamlessly integrating the content within Siemens' care planning and documentation applications to address key patient issues at Pinnacle: pain management; prevention of surgical site infection; prevention of ventilator-acquired pneumonia; tissue perfusion and fall prevention.

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