VU University Medical Center Amsterdam collaborates with IBM to enhance communication between healthcare professionals with analytics

Amsterdam and Armonk, N.Y. - 28 Jul 2016: VU University Medical Center Amsterdam in the Netherlands today announced it is teaming with IBM (NYSE: IBM) to deploy analytics-driven IBM MobileFirst for iOS apps, designed to better coordinate and communicate data across healthcare teams. The Message for Healthcare app will be the first of a suite of IBM MobileFirst for iOS apps that VU University Medical Center Amsterdam will implement to help improve collaboration between members of their healthcare teams.

"As a University hospital with a strong emphasis on research and education, VU University Medical Center Amsterdam has always had a natural focus on stimulating innovation and spreading new technologies and methods,” said Wouter Bos, chairman VU University Medical Center Amsterdam . “During the last two years VU University Medical Center Amsterdam and VU University have made a joint effort with our internationally recognized successful Mobile Learning Initiative, to enable all students and teachers to be truly mobile. Our next step is making our healthcare professionals more accustomed to a working environment where mobile is the standard.”

IBM MobileFirst for iOS apps transform how healthcare employees manage their work as they care for patients, putting critical data at their fingertips in a security-rich mobile environment. With a sleek, easy-to-use interface and functionality powered by analytics, Message for Healthcare is designed to help VU University Medical Center Amsterdam staff using iPhone communicate more effectively, to help improve their responsiveness to patients.

“In integrating Apple and IBM solutions, medical organizations are seeing the possibilities and impact of the mobile shift in the healthcare workforce. VU University Medical Center Amsterdam will be at the forefront to help drive this innovation with a mobile-led strategy that will empower our employees and enhance how we care for all of our patients, enabling a more value based healthcare,” said Marc Koster, Director of Strategy & Innovation of VU University Medical Center Amsterdam .

Other IBM MobileFirst for iOS apps that could strengthen this collaboration in the future and simplify how patient information is shared are:

• Hospital Lead: enables charge nurses and care managers to access real-time information so they can quickly organize, prioritize, and monitor individual activities for an entire unit

• Hospital MD: provides doctors access to more comprehensive patient data and effective task management tools for more effective coordination with their care teams

• Hospital RN: keeps nurses and care teams continually connected, while allowing nurses to tap into critical patient information from integrated systems of record the moment it’s needed for more efficient care delivery.

“IBM is working closely with organizations to design and deploy made-for-business apps to lead their digital transformation,” said Mahmoud Naghshineh, general manager, Apple partnership, IBM. “We teamed up with VU University Medical Center Amsterdam to empower healthcare professionals like doctors and nurses with apps that provide access to critical information and insights in an efficient, consumable way so they can deliver the best possible care to patients.”

About VU University Medical Center Amsterdam

VU University Medical Center is the university hospital affiliated with the VU University Amsterdam. VU University Medical Center Amsterdam got rated as the best academic medical center in The Netherlands in terms of patient care, education and research. At the end of this year the planned merger between the two university hospitals in the city of Amsterdam will build the largest hospital in The Netherlands, containing 1,730 beds, 15,000 employees and a turnover of $1.7bn.