Wolters Kluwer Health Expands Nursing Procedures Product to Support Interdisciplinary Collaboration

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 13, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading global provider of information and point-of-care solutions for the healthcare industry, has expanded use of Lippincott's Nursing Procedures and Skills to include a broad range of hospital-based clinicians including nurses, respiratory therapists and others.  These expanded capabilities can help hospitals better support interdisciplinary collaboration.  The product -- the leading online procedures solution for clinicians at the bedside -- also has been renamed "Lippincott Procedures," a move that reflects an already growing use among non-nursing clinicians.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130925/PH86273LOGO-b )

The enhancements expand the product so that both nursing and non-nursing clinicians can use it to access and maintain all of their institutionally mandated procedures.  In addition, a new set of evidence-based procedures designed for respiratory therapists has been added -- the first new discipline in addition to nursing.

As the industry continues to focus on improving outcomes, coordinating care and communication across disciplines is critical to patient care goals.  Lippincott Procedures supports this effort by being more user-friendly and capable of encouraging collaboration and better communication.  Now, the hospital can use the product as its core procedures manual across disciplines and many groups of clinicians from respiratory therapists to physical and occupational therapists, to nutritionists and pharmacists.

"Health System customers have already started expanding the use of Lippincott Procedures across departments and disciplines," said Carolyn Dalton, Senior Digital Product Manager, Wolters Kluwer Health, Professional & Education.  "Nurses know and love the product but we didn't want its name to be a limiting factor for others who can also benefit from it."

Ushering in a new era of broader use, a total of 75 evidence-based, step-by-step procedures on Respiratory Therapy -- designed specifically for respiratory therapists -- have been added to the database and are now available online.  Customers can search and browse the entire database of procedures across Nursing and Respiratory Therapy or can search either discipline separately.  The product also introduces customization features that allow customers to add additional disciplines and Standards content within the product, enabling their inter-disciplinary team users to access all of their institutional procedure and standard information from one point-of-care solution.  Each discipline can be searched independently and can be set up with default search parameters by department.

The new functionality and customization features, according to Dalton, are going to help customers maximize the use of the product.  As hospitals move towards centralizing their processes, having the step-by-step procedure information all in one place will increase the efficiency of the clinical staff.

Dalton also said it has improved the product's design and user-interface while retaining all of the features and functionality of the previous version.  This foundation enables Wolters Kluwer Health to expand the product further into other disciplines, which it plans to do in the future.

Lippincott Procedures is one of the most widely deployed, web-based software applications used by hospitals and other healthcare institutions.  It gives clinicians accurate, step-by-step guidance for more than 1,400 evidence-based procedures.  Video clips and high-quality visuals that aid in understanding accompany most of the procedures.  Skills checklists and competency tests for each procedure are provided to help facilities verify staff competence. The entire content set of procedures will be updated at a minimum every 12 months, with more frequent updates when critical regulatory or compliance information becomes available.

Lippincott Procedures, part of the Lippincott Nursing Solutions suite, is available as a group subscription to hospitals and other healthcare facilities.  The product is accessible from any Internet-enabled device including PCs and mobile devices, such as iPad and Android tablets, and as an iPad app.  To learn more or to purchase, visit LippincottSolutions.com/Procedures, or call 855-695-5070, and follow Lippincott Nursing Solutions on Twitter @NurseSolutions.

About Wolters Kluwer Health
Wolters Kluwer Health is a leading global provider of information, business intelligence and point-of-care solutions for the healthcare industry. Serving more than 150 countries and territories worldwide, Wolters Kluwer Health's customers include professionals, institutions and students in medicine, nursing, allied health and pharmacy. Major brands include Health Language^®, Lexicomp^®, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Medicom^®, Medknow, Ovid^®, Pharmacy OneSource^®, ProVation^® Medical and UpToDate^®.

Wolters Kluwer Health is part of Wolters Kluwer, a market-leading global information services company. Wolters Kluwer had 2012 annual revenues of €3.6 billion ($4.6 billion), employs approximately 19,000 people worldwide, and maintains operations in over 40 countries across Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. Follow our official Twitter handle: @WKHealth.

SOURCE Wolters Kluwer Health