Patient monitoring as part of the HIS
This October GE Healthcare launched its new Carescape Monitor B 850 at the 22nd Congress of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM). Resulting from the expertise optimised in recent years through the acquisition of Datex Ohmeda and Marquette Electronics, the result is a successful integration of the patient monitoring platform with the inclusion of the hospital information systems (HIS), Siv Schalin, General Manager of Monitoring Solutions at GE Healthcare, told our Vienna correspondent Christian Pruszinsky.
‘Datex Ohmeda was very strong in the operating theatre and Marquette Electronics in critical care – to combine this power was the challenge for the new monitor.’ The bedside monitor was developed in close cooperation with the users – with a special focus on the ‘connectivity of the solution to the IT systems existing in the hospital, such as EMR, lab systems, diagnostic imaging systems. Another of the main benefits,’ she added, ‘is usability, in the sense that the software has been designed so that is customised for the different care areas, not just a solution for the operating theatre or ICU, but with different software packages for the place where it’s needed.’
Very important – not least regarding efforts to maximise cost efficiency – is the fact that the new monitor is compatible with existing systems and that earlier and existing Datex and Marquette installations can be upgraded to the latest technology standards. Hospital managements will surely appreciate these ‘protection of former investments’, GE points out.
The Carescape Monitor B850 can be customised for various clinical needs, including:
• ECG: Traditionally, when a patient experiences chest pain, the carer must find and move an ECG machine from a different location to the patient’s bedside. The Carescape B850 Monitor not only enables ‘cart-less’ diagnostic ECGs at the bedside, but also exchanges data with the MUSE ECG repository, facilitating ECG analysis and comparisons to the patient’s prior ECG, supporting more informed clinical decisions.
• Administering anaesthetics: Traditionally, because anaesthesia delivery and patient monitoring systems are often ineffectively integrated, anaesthetists have administered anaesthetics without real-time integrated anaesthetic management tools. The GE Navigator Applications Suite combined with CARESCAPE Monitor B850 analyses drug therapy information to model and predict the effect of anaesthesia-related drugs and drug interactions. This enables clinicians to visualise modelled anaesthetic drug effect predictions against live patient data, which supports patient tailored anaesthesia.
• Diagnostic Images: Lab Information & more—the new monitor enables bedside viewing of hospital EMRs, as well as X-rays, laboratory and other diagnostic reports, including the associated diagnoses of the hospital experts. ‘This quick, comprehensive view of the patient’s records encourages confidence as clinicians make critical decisions at the point of care,’ GE points out.
19.11.2009
