Welcome to the opflo News Page!

Several people have been asking us about our newest feature, dynamic contact groups. Contact groups in opflo suite allow users to set up communication groups, combining SMS, paging, WhatsApp, and more into logical groups. Communication is accessible via all modalities – you can send a text message that is then received by others by SMS, WhatsApp, or page, depending on their preference.

One hospital uses this feature to coordinate urgent / emergent airway calls between a dynamically changing group of attendings, residents, and anesthesia techs. By using dynamic contact groups, all parties are on the same page in real time and without delay to take care of their patients efficiently.

Dynamic contact groups are different than predefined, static contact groups. Static groups you or an administrator defines up front. For example, John (mobile), Sally (pager), Jason (mobile) in the Pain Service group.

Dynamic groups change automatically, day by day or hour by hour, as determined by the rules in the opflo suite application. For example, you can define an “Airway” group, and depending on who has been assigned to the airway shifts for the day, the system will automatically assign the correct person to the group. So today it will George and Martha but tomorrow it will consist of Jenny and Mark, without any manual change by users or administrators.

Dynamic groups can also be created and joined on the fly, via SMS or app. Any numbers of users can send an SMS to the opflo chatbot (e.g., !join airway) and then automatically be added to the airway group. These groups are then reflected in the opflo app as well. Everyone can see who has joined through the app or by sending a message to the chatbot (e.g., !list airway).

Our newest quarterly update has been released to our customers! We’ve worked overtime to help our healthcare workers communicate more effectively in these chaotic times by introducing group messaging and enhancing our real-time event messaging. Group messaging allows you to message individual or groups of staff via SMS, pager, WhatsApp, e-mail, and in-app. Event messaging informs users in real-time of critical events. We’ve also spruced up the user interface to make it easier to access features. More ways to improve your hospital’s peri-operative efficiency and save hard earned dollars!

• Group messaging allows staff to use or create messaging groups so they can communicate with them quickly.
  • SMS (mobile text), pagers, WhatsApp, e-mail, and in-app notifications (as well as any combination of them) are supported.
  • Messaging groups can be dynamic, based on shift type (e.g., include staff who are currently on Airway shift) and service type (e.g., all staff in Cardiac today).
  • Combine static and dynamic groups so that certain people are always messaged in addition to the dynamically generated users.
  • Groups are shareable with other users so people don’t have to recreate existing groups.
• Updates to the settings module. We’ve added more settings so administrators can now manage more opflo suite related settings from within the app instead of via an external database management tool.
• A faster, redesigned mobile app that allows you to view your cases, make case equipment requests, view daily assignments and locate staff, view your monthly work calendar, and send messages to other users.

Get more details by logging into the Customer Access area.

Things have been quiet on the blog, mainly because we’ve been hard at work on a new release! Our latest release includes a bunch of new features and updates to our favorite modules, and all are guaranteed to improve your hospital’s peri-operative efficiency and save hard earned dollars!

• Real time and historical performance dashboards show you operating room performance both in real-time and over the last weeks, months, and years. Real time dashboards allow managers to detect and respond to delays immediately. Historical dashboards allow administrator to utilize data analytics to determine if improvement projects are having desired results and identify additional bottlenecks.
• Administrators can now manage all opflo suite related settings from within the app instead of via an external database management tool. Add / remove staff, roles, permissions, and more via the new settings module!
• Our mobile app has been updated to include real time monitors and and alerts, as well as view personal case info and make case requests.
• Our new case requests module allows users to request anesthesia tech and nursing resources directly from the app (mobile or desktop). Techs and pre-op nurses can then use the app to organize resources and call patients to pre-op at appropriate times to maximize on-time starts.

Get more details by logging into the Customer Access area.

Another quarter, another release! Our latest release is our best yet, with several new modules being released and performance updates to existing modules:

• Real time performance monitors and alerts keep you informed of delays in the Operating Room, such as patient no shows, missing paper-work, and excessive turnover times. Designated users can choose to get paged or get in-app notifications informing of them of issues proactively, or can view the real time performance monitor to see the information about problem cases.
• Staffing assignments allow schedulers to coordinate staffing changes for every service on daily basis as well as keep track of special requests, shift assignments, and case assignments. Staffing statistics are available on real time basis, to allow more equitable service and case assignments. Once assignments are finalized, notifications can be sent to providers, along with their assignments via link or PDF report.
• New staffing reports and work calendars make sure no staff member is inadvertantly left off the schedule and each user can view their daily assignment, call schedule, and sign out times.
  
  

Get more details by logging into the Customer Access area.

Data protection and user privacy are important topics that opflo takes very seriously. We have make some additional updates to our policies, and these are available at our Privacy Policies page. Please feel free to email us with any questions!