Deborah Cardiologists Begin Using Beta Radiation to Prevent In-Stent Restenosis
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Deborah Implements Point-of-Care Blood Gas Analysis InstrumentsDeborah’s Departments of Pathology, Pulmonary Laboratory, Respiratory Care Services, Anesthesiology, and Adult and Pediatric Cardiac Catheterization recently began using blood gas analysis instruments at patients’ bedsides. The OPTI™ Analyzer, a point-of-care instrument manufactured by AVL/Roche Diagnostics, Indianapolis, IN, is able to provide staff with nearly instantaneous blood gas analyses, in patient rooms, intensive care units, and at bedsides in Deborah’s Pediatric Cardiac Catheteri-zation Laboratory and Operating Suites. The significant decrease in turnaround time for blood samples affords clinicians the ability to make much more rapid medical decisions, particularly during surgical procedures and the post-operative period.
“More informed medical therapy decisions are able to be instituted, much more rapidly, now that blood gas analysis is performed at the patient’s bedside,” said Gregory Conrad, MD, Attending Anesthesiologist, Deborah Heart and Lung Center. “Physicians in Operating Suites can now have blood gas results within a minute of the time the sample is drawn, allowing for more rapid and accurate decisions for our patients, and positively influencing the minute-to-minute care during surgery and the post-operative period.” Before the implementation of the point-of-care instruments, Deborah clinicians would draw blood samples from patients needing blood gas analysis. The sample would be put on ice and transported to a stationary analyzer in the Center’s SICU, Pulmonary Laboratory or, if drawn from a surgical patient, in the sterile corridor outside of the operating suites. If the nearest analyzer was in use, the clinician would have to wait to test the sample. Though analyzers delivered results in just two to three minutes, the process could take up to 10 or 15 minutes to complete. |
Because of the point-of-care capabilities presented by the OPTI™ Analyzers, blood gas analysis can be completed in less than two minutes, as transportation time has been nearly eliminated. An OPTI™ Analyzer is located in the MICU, Pediatric Catheterization Laboratory, Respiratory Care, and in each OR. Anesthesiologists no longer have to leave the OR or Pediatric Catheterization Laboratory to perform these tests, and clinicians in the MICU can get results in the Unit’s nursing station. Stationary units, AVL/Roche’s OMNI™ Analyzers, are still located in both the SICU and the Pulmonary Lab. Though the locations of the stationary instruments have not changed, the point-of-care units now located throughout the Center have lessened backup at those locations. Along with the portable OPTI™ and OMNI™ Analyzers came the need for communication between the stationary and point-of-care instruments located around the hospital. A computer system, also manufactured by AVL/Roche, stores, sorts and manages all data received from OMNI™ and OPTI™ Analyzers. The DataCare™ Critical Care Information Management System, which will soon be integrated to the Center’s Meditech operating system, communicates with each OMNI™ and OPTI™ Analyzer, and pulls the results of all tests into the server for storage. “The DataCare™ System takes the results from every test run on an OMNI™ or OPTI™ Analyzer and stores the information, according to the patient’s medical record number,” said Faith McGuigan, Registered Pulmonary Function Technologist, Pulmonary Laboratory. “That information is stored, and can be retrieved later for review.” Within the next few months, an interface will be tested and implemented, enabling patient information from DataCare™ to be sent directly to the patient’s electronic medical record in Deborah Heart and Lung Center’s operating system, Meditech. This benefit will virtually eliminate the possibility of transcription errors which can result when data is manually entered into Meditech, and further advances Deborah’s goal of a paperless medical record. Additionally, it is anticipated that, in the future, the DataCare™ System will be used as a hub, to interface Meditech with numerous other systems frequently used at the Center, including Glucometers, which monitor blood sugar levels, and Hemochrons, which measure activated clotting times. The DataCare™ System will then be able to collect information from all of these tests, sort it for storage, create a database for each type of test, and send all the information into the Meditech system. |
“One of the largest benefits of the DataCare™ System is its ability to function with other types of diagnostic testing equipment, including products made by other manufacturers,” said Joseph Manni, Director of Support Services, Deborah Heart and Lung Center. Within the DataCare™ System are numerous measures to maintain proper quality control. No user can operate any OMNI™ or OPTI™ Analyzer or DataCare™ station until proven competent on the system, and each user is timed out annually and must retake the competency evaluation before again using the instruments. User identity is stored with all test results, making mistakes easier to correct. Additionally, the System runs quality control evaluations daily on the point-of-care analyzers, ensuring accurate, reliable results from all units. According to Lynn B. McGrath, MD, Chair, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Vice President, Medical Affairs, the benefits of the newly-implemented analyzers and data management system are tremendous, both to the patients and staff of Deborah Heart and Lung Center. “Updating blood gas analysis instruments, and the coordinating data-management equipment, to be more user-friendly and cost-effective will most importantly impact patient care by reducing turnaround time, thus getting the relevant clinical data into the hands of clinical decision-makers sooner.” Dr. McGrath continued, “Clinicians at Deborah Heart and Lung Center are already experiencing the positive effects of the new equipment, and, upon completion of Meditech interfaces, anticipate additional improvements. Deborah’s use of the point-of-care OPTI™ Analyzers and the DataCare™ Data Management System represents significant steps to positively impact patient care, as well as a more streamlined medical records process.” Lynn B. McGrath, MD., Vice President of Medical Affairs and Chair, Department of Surgery |
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