The Electronic Bed Board (EBB) Application is a tool that is used in all inpatient nursing units to keep track of patients in beds, the status of each bed, and the availability of beds. The use of color-coding in the application allows the user, at a quick glance, to see the status (empty, dirty, arrived, isolation, pending admit, pending transfer, pending discharge, discharge for death, closed, out of service, etc.) of each bed and bed availability throughout the hospital. The SMS ADT system sends HL7 admit records to the EBB. Once the patient has arrived in EBB, the unit clerk controls the movement of the patient by performing transfers, discharges and patient updates on each patient. The unit clerk updates bed status for each bed as needed. The EBB application currently uses a terminal emulator control to perform these transactions in the SMS ADT system.
A new system called the Electronic Whiteboard is currently being piloted in the PICU. This software/hardware combination connects to the EBB database and displays Bed, Patient, Doctor and Nurse information on a large scrolling touch-display. Basic changes can be made quickly by the providers. The EBB team is working closely with decision makers in the hospital to improve this application for release into more units in the hospital.
The EBB team has begun working on the specifications to rewrite EBB as a web application rather than a desktop application. EBBWEB will integrate the Patient Assignment System (PAS) into it and will look at using predictive modeling to help determine patient flow.
