Hospitals Using Technology To Advance Patient Care

Source 10tv.com

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Technology is helping save lives in central Ohio, and allowing Franklin County medics to wirelessly transmit their readings right to a doctor.

When heart attacks strike, Ohio State University Medical Center Cardiologist, Dr. Vincent Pompili, knows that time is a patient's enemy, 10TV's Andy Hirsch reported on Tuesday.

"Every minute that you save, or are able to get blood flow back into the heart, you'll improve heart muscle function," Pompili said.

New technology allows the patient can skip the emergency room, and informs the doctor while they are being transported to the hospital. The doctor already knows what to expect before walking into the operating room. 

At OSU, that has helped cut down on the time it takes to open up a blocked artery by about 30 minutes, Hirsch reported. 

"So it's not even just improving heart muscle function, but improving the fact that of if these patients will live or die," Pompili said. "As we fast forward into the future this is going to be a model of care that will be, probably, very standard in hospitals."

At OhioHealth hospitals, technology is improving everything from communication to the recovery process.

OhioHealth Director of Telemedicine, Gretchen Roberts said its eICU program has helped Dublin Methodist Hospital be named one of the country's most wired hospitals.

The machines give two-way communication between patients and a team of critical care nurses at a different location. 

"The benefit to the patients up there is they actually have an extra set of eyes on them," Roberts said.

Medications are scanned, and a ticker points out the correct drugs to fill in the pharmacy. 

Rooms offer food, gifts, or information about a patient's ailment at the touch of a button, and the staff uses a device called Vocera to communicate with patients and each other. 

No pagers or phones helps cut down on noise and hospital staff said it all helps create an atmosphere more conducive to healing.

"You're able to ride that wireless platform that introduces those technologies that ultimately lead to a better patient experience," said OhioHealth's Chief Information Officer Michael Krouse. "That's a patient experience that makes you feel better.  It gets your spirits up and it proves to be a speedier recovery."