Vocera Edge Comms

Can't believe how poorly designed

The only thing that is useful about this app is that it is HIPAA secure. However, I cannot dictate within the app using the Apps microphone feature which would presumably allow me access to a medically informed vocabulary. I must use my thumbs or dictate with the phone's dictionary, which is not Medical and prone to problematic mistakes that may not only require multiple back and forth for correction, but could even lead to patient harms. Typing with my thumbs on a tiny virtual keyboard for accurate and detailed messages is never going to happen. So all communication through the app is compromised because I cannot type on a natural sized keyboard or dictate with an app that provides medical vocabulary and is HIPAA secure for the dictation itself. Note: our campus has disabled the voice message option, which would obviously get around some of these problems. But even those aren't as bad as something that it took me a ridiculously long time to realize (I've been using it for several years): it arbitrarily assigned me a Vocera phone number that people might try thinking they can communicate with me. Of course, they cannot. I do not have a phone that is set up for it. And when I sat down with IT to connect my phone properly so that people using the Vocera Edge virtual number would be connected to my actual cell number, I discovered that it requires a particular toggle that is 4 to 5 steps deep in settings to be turned on when I am on campus, on the campus secured Wi-Fi network, or toggled off when I am off the campus secure Wi-Fi network (e.g., at home or on the road). There is no way that I am ever gonna remember to do that. And there is no way that any other human is going to be remembering that 100%… So unless you are doing Medical shift work, were you truly can not worry about shutting down Communications the moment you leave the campus--in other words, if you are in a position where you sometimes must be on call, or work some days at a different setting that does not use the primary campus Wi-Fi network, you have to remember to do this yourself every time you go on or off that network? Even using a campus issued Phone does not get around this problem. I'd give this zero stars if I could. Carrying around a separate PAGER is something I'm more likely to remember then a total of five steps deep twice a day, or 4 to 6 times a day if I have an errand or two to run on my breaks.

Needs an overhaul

Disconnects often New update makes me as a physician put subject lines for new messages which is extremely unnecessary Tagging patients doesn’t work well unless you’re on the computer web app.