1. 7/26/2016 Undergraduate Helps Develop Regional Patient Locator Service : Rutgers­Camden Campus News
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Undergraduate Helps Develop Regional
Patient Locator Service
By Caroline Yount
What if there is a mass emergency and you are trying to find your family members in a
hospital? Or a loved one is traveling and you believe she may have needed urgent
medical care?
A Rutgers University­Camden senior is part of a team developing a patient locator
service for the greater Philadelphia area that could help families connect with their
loved ones during times of chaos or dislocation.
HealthShare Exchange, the greater Philadelphia region’s health information exchange,
established the Urgent Patient Activity Liaison (uPAL) last year and first placed it on
standby in September for the Philadelphia visit of Pope Francis. HealthShare Exchange
links the electronic medical record systems of different hospital health systems, medical
centers and clinics. In anticipation of the pope’s visit, HealthShare Exchange member
hospitals opted to set up uPAL
Since then, the system has been geared up at times of major activity in Philadelphia,
including the Fourth of July weekend, and will be on­call during the upcoming

2. 7/26/2016 Undergraduate Helps Develop Regional Patient Locator Service : Rutgers­Camden Campus News
http://news.camden.rutgers.edu/2016/07/undergraduate­helps­develop­regional­patient­locater­service/ 2/2
Nam Dy
Democratic National Convention.
So far, uPAL has not been activated,
“but the system is ready to go at any
time in case of an emergency or
need,” says Nam Dy, a
management and finance major in
the Rutgers School of Business­
Camden, and intern with
HealthShare Exchange.
Camden resident Dy has been
working behind the scenes to help
improve the technology involved
with uPAL since his internship
began in the spring. HealthShare
Exchange extended his internship
for the summer.
For Dy, the experience has been
“so much more than just a summer
job.” From working on the logistics
of logging cases from a customer
relationship­management
perspective to dealing with vendors
to get the best prices for the
services the system requires, Dy
has been involved in different aspects of the project and an important member of the
team.
Dy credits the skills from his business school courses as giving him the tools he has
needed to work on this important project. For uPAL, the HealthShare Exchange uses
admission­discharge­transfer data feeds from member hospitals as a database of
locations for patients seeking emergency or inpatient care at regional hospitals. The
uPAL call center, staffed by HealthShare Exchange, is available to participating medical
centers fielding calls from worried family members about possibly injured or missing
relatives. HealthShare Exchange staff members can search the admission­discharge­
transfer data from the approximately 30 hospitals sharing this information to see if a
particular individual had been seen for medical care.
His helping and problem­solving work is not limited to off­campus endeavors. At
Rutgers University­Camden, he is involved with TRiO Student Support Services, a
program designed to provide enhanced academic and other support services to
undergraduates who are low­income, first­generation college attendees and students
with disabilities. The goal of the program is to help the students involved succeed and
graduate in a timely manner, well­equipped for future opportunities.
Dy has been an active TRiO student since he began his Rutgers education in the fall of
2013. He sees the program as a critical part of his success as a college student and has
been mentoring other students involved since its peer­mentoring program began in
2014. He now coordinates the student­led mentoring program.
In working with students and helping them acclimate to campus, Dy says the student
mentors show them resources that they may not know about, ranging from career
services to financial aid resources. Dy is proud of his own and fellow peer mentors’
efforts in helping new students find their way on campus. While the support students get