Posted on: March 1, 2023
How many times do you have to type in your ID and password during your shift? Three? A dozen? More than twenty? Not anymore!
Staff at Victoria General Hospital (VGH), Gorge Road Hospital and the South Island Surgical Centre have a new tool to streamline their time logging in and out of computers so they can spend more time on patient care.
OneSign Tap N Go works with staff proximity access cards (prox cards) to help staff unlock screens and move between workstations faster than they could by typing in a username and password dozens of times a day.
Nursing student Brook Borner (left) and RN Siya Kaseya like the extra time for patients and learning that Tap N Go has given them.
Siya Kaseya, RN at the VGH postnatal unit, says, “I came in one morning and [the Tap N Go system] was here. My coworker said, ‘Just tap it’. I did the one-time registration and was able to use it right away.”
Instead of signing in with a username and password each time they use a computer, medical and clinical staff can sign in with their username and password at the beginning of their shift, then “tap in” and “tap out” for up to four hours and move swiftly between computers, reducing their need to sign in to only a couple of times per shift.
Tegan Holley, CNL on VGH 6N acute medicine, appreciates the change. “We’ll take anything that makes the job faster and gives us more time with the patients. It definitely saves time.”
Dr. Mark Mallet, hospitalist, initially surprised at the appearance of the Tap N Go system at VGH, is now a daily user. “It works – it speeds things along.”
VGH Interim Site Director David White recognized the work of the support team, which has now wrapped up there and is moving on to Royal Jubilee Hospital (RJH), preparing for a March 31 go-live.
“Overall, because of the support it was a very simple implementation and people have enjoyed it. It’s really made our jobs easier in the long run. For the other sites that haven’t started it yet, it’s a great thing coming their way,” says White.
At RJH, users will start seeing Tap N Go hardware at their workstations through March, with tent cards reminding them that the system will not be active until March 31.
When RJH goes live, that will bring the number of locations using Tap N Go to nine, including:
- West Coast General Hospital
- Cowichan District Hospital
- Chemainus Health Care Centre (Urgent Care)
- Nanaimo Regional General Hospital
- Oceanside Health Centre
- Victoria General Hospital
- Gorge Road Hospital
- South Island Surgical Centre
- Royal Jubilee Hospital
Tap N Go activation is currently in the planning stages for more acute care locations around Island Health.
For more information about OneSign Tap N Go, please visit the OneSign Tap N Go web page at the IHealth website.