Sentara Health has announced a technology rollout to enhance clinician-patient interactions across its network. All 12 hospitals, including Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center (SNVMC) in Woodbridge, have nearly 6,000 specialized smartphones designed to improve workflow and patient safety.
These devices are engineered to consolidate multiple tools—walkie-talkies, basic phones, pagers, and computer carts—into one device, allowing clinicians to focus more on patient care and less on juggling equipment.
Christy Grabus, SNVMC’s chief nursing officer, emphasized the positive impact of this integration. “This phone improves workflow and patient safety,” Grabus said in a press release. “All of this helps us prioritize and spend more time at the bedside with our patients.”
The smartphones are expected to speed up emergency admissions, shorten hospital stays, and hasten nurse response times. Furthermore, the phones aim to decrease ambient noise from alarms and bells, reduce staff movement within the hospital, and enhance the turnaround time for radiology scans.
