Jewish Hospital in Louisville has gotten a lot of publicity lately for its new iPhone application that lets people track waiting times at its emergency rooms.
Which is very cool. But smartphone apps are just the hand-held tip of the healthcare iceberg.
Think about this: When ambulance crews transport heart attack patients to Baptist Hospital East, they transmit via wireless technology an EKG to the hospital’s Emergency Department.
The procedure shaves valuable time for the department to prepare treatment for the patient before he or she hits the door.
Baptist East was the first hospital in metro Louisville to employ this high tech procedure when they collaborated with Anchorage EMS.
It is but one high-tech tool transforming healthcare in the U.S.
At a time when you can download a smart phone app giving you every Kentucky Revised Statutes, or another linking to a national paint store chain to order a custom paint color, wireless high-tech is touching just about every aspect of modern life.
Healthcare is not immune.
Last month, the FDA approved an iPhone app that lets a physician view their hospitalized patient’s digital tests, such as MRIs and CTs, anywhere. Mobile MIM, developed by MIM Software, reproduces images of incredibly detailed resolution.
Baptist East doctors view patient test results from their office or home via computer, tablets or other Internet-based devices. Baptist East radiologists read images taken at their off-site clinics (Baptist Eastpoint and the Baptist East Diagnostic Imaging Center in Middletown), never having to leave home or hospital.
These are just a few of the high-tech tools that Baptist East uses in healthcare, says Sharon C. McCrillis, a board-certified surgical nurse and director of clinical informatics for Baptist Healthcare System:
We currently support a variety of electronic devices to meet the needs of clinicians. We have physicians accessing our Physician Portal using the iPad, Malata Zpad, and Samsung Galaxy. This allows them to round with patient information at their fingertips. The Portal is also accessible to the physician remotely. Currently, iPhones and Androids are our most popular devices for Mobile Portal. Remote access is also available from their office and home PCs.
Some physicians use the nursing units’ “computers on wheels” units for rounding because it gives them a workstation as well as access to information.
On the hospital floor, nurses use “companion phones” so they can reach each others more easily and so their patients can reach them directly.
Nurses even use barcode scanners and Baptist East’s medication barcode technology that plugs each patient’s medication profile into a closed loop medication administration process to layer an additional safety step in patient care.
What’s ahead on the digital healthcare tech front?
GE Healthcare has introduced Vscan, a portable ultrasound device not much larger than an iPhone. For physicians, it adds the powerful tool of the ultrasound to the function of the low-tech stethoscope.
Other technology firms are developing special sensors that help healthcare workers monitor patients remotely, in locations ranging from the hospital bed to the home.
McCrillis says there’s even more technology on the way.
“We foresee a growing number of devices being used in the coming months, especially as we progress with physician order entry. Fast, secure access to systems and information is a win-win situation for the clinician, the patient, and their family.”
More than a novelty: Baptist Hospital East goes for cutting edge in high-tech medical revolution
Jewish Hospital in Louisville has gotten a lot of publicity lately for its new iPhone application that lets people track waiting times at its emergency rooms.
Which is very cool. But smartphone apps are just the hand-held tip of the healthcare iceberg.
Think about this: When ambulance crews transport heart attack patients to Baptist Hospital East, they transmit via wireless technology an EKG to the hospital’s Emergency Department.
The procedure shaves valuable time for the department to prepare treatment for the patient before he or she hits the door.
Baptist East was the first hospital in metro Louisville to employ this high tech procedure when they collaborated with Anchorage EMS.
It is but one high-tech tool transforming healthcare in the U.S.
At a time when you can download a smart phone app giving you every Kentucky Revised Statutes, or another linking to a national paint store chain to order a custom paint color, wireless high-tech is touching just about every aspect of modern life.
Healthcare is not immune.
Last month, the FDA approved an iPhone app that lets a physician view their hospitalized patient’s digital tests, such as MRIs and CTs, anywhere. Mobile MIM, developed by MIM Software, reproduces images of incredibly detailed resolution.
Baptist East doctors view patient test results from their office or home via computer, tablets or other Internet-based devices. Baptist East radiologists read images taken at their off-site clinics (Baptist Eastpoint and the Baptist East Diagnostic Imaging Center in Middletown), never having to leave home or hospital.
These are just a few of the high-tech tools that Baptist East uses in healthcare, says Sharon C. McCrillis, a board-certified surgical nurse and director of clinical informatics for Baptist Healthcare System:
We currently support a variety of electronic devices to meet the needs of clinicians. We have physicians accessing our Physician Portal using the iPad, Malata Zpad, and Samsung Galaxy. This allows them to round with patient information at their fingertips. The Portal is also accessible to the physician remotely. Currently, iPhones and Androids are our most popular devices for Mobile Portal. Remote access is also available from their office and home PCs.
Some physicians use the nursing units’ “computers on wheels” units for rounding because it gives them a workstation as well as access to information.
On the hospital floor, nurses use “companion phones” so they can reach each others more easily and so their patients can reach them directly.
Nurses even use barcode scanners and Baptist East’s medication barcode technology that plugs each patient’s medication profile into a closed loop medication administration process to layer an additional safety step in patient care.
What’s ahead on the digital healthcare tech front?
GE Healthcare has introduced Vscan, a portable ultrasound device not much larger than an iPhone. For physicians, it adds the powerful tool of the ultrasound to the function of the low-tech stethoscope.
Other technology firms are developing special sensors that help healthcare workers monitor patients remotely, in locations ranging from the hospital bed to the home.
McCrillis says there’s even more technology on the way.
“We foresee a growing number of devices being used in the coming months, especially as we progress with physician order entry. Fast, secure access to systems and information is a win-win situation for the clinician, the patient, and their family.”