New patient information portal saves time, lives, and money for regional emergency services
WATERTOWN, NY ---- Emergency Medical Services (EMS) teams across the region have a new tool in their medical bag that is, during emergency events, helping to improve EMS to Emergency Department (ED) communications and improve the continuity of patient care, thanks to the work of the Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization (FDRHPO) EMS Program Agency.
Pulsara, a telehealth communication platform that helps EMS teams communicate with other healthcare providers and organizations, is now being used by 7 regional hospitals and by 63 EMS agencies in the eight-county region (Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Jefferson, Lewis, St. Lawrence, Warren and Washington counties). EMS and hospital staff can instantly communicate emergency patient information, including one-tap team notifications, image-sharing audio/video calls, and ETA’s. No matter which organization an emergency responder comes from, they will have instant access to the same information as the care providers on the scene or awaiting intake.
Jonathan Cole, Director of FDRHPO’s Regional EMS Program Agency, says the first interactions with Pulsara were with Glens Falls Hospital and Albany Med requesting agencies in the Mountain Lakes Regions that transport them to start utilizing the EMS to ED Communications platform.“
After seeing how useful it was in streamlining communications and finding out that our neighboring regions of Central New York, and Midstate were moving towards utilizing the platform for their communications, it only made sense that we started bringing our two regions on board,” he said. “But by rolling our platform out after Midstate and Central NY went live, we were able to see what worked well, and what didn't which in turn, allowed for a smoother rollout of the platform.”
Since then, Pulsara has been utilized by every hospital for EMS to ED communications and prenotifications, which are free of cost. Several local hospitals have purchased the Pulsara United Platform, allowing the facility to utilize Pulsara for its internal "team" activation. The system also can facilitate inter-facility transports helping get patients to definitive care.
“We understand the importance of change management and provide a true partnership with our customers throughout our relationship. Through years of deploying new technology into regional systems of care, we’ve learned that configuring the technology and providing staff training are just the first steps,” said Angie Cunningham, Sr. Customer Success Manager and Sales Manager for Pulsara. “The most important factor for care teams to get the most out of Pulsara really begins with adoption, building that personal and team daily muscle memory within the context of your system’s patient care workflows. And it truly works—Pulsara customers report average reductions in treatment times of between 22% and 68%. Once implementation is complete, we continue working with you as collaborative partners to provide resources, skills training, and tech updates in support of your ever-changing needs.”
“It (Pulsara) enables us to get important information to the hospital in a timely manner, such as vitals and Cardiac 12 leads,” said Christina Cool, Parishville EMS Captain of the Volunteer Fire Department. “You can also take pictures of an injury and or accident scene and send it to them so that the ER has a better understanding of what you are bringing them. This also allows the hospital to activate STEMI alerts, Trauma Alerts, and Stroke Alerts faster than they could before.”
The speed of information transfer and sharing is not the only positive that Cool says Pulsara has brought to the EMS agency.
“There is no longer a competition for radio time and making sure that the radio channel is free; There is no more repeating yourself because your report was not understood,” she continued.
Cool admits that when Pulsara was first introduced she was not on board with the app. The change from the system and procedures that EMS teams had grown accustomed to was working and she didn’t see the need for change.
“I was very much against the use of the Pulsara App when it was first brought to me but, after using it, I think I am one of its biggest fans,” she said. “We have found it to be very efficient.”
Lewis County Health System is one hospital in the region that has implemented Pulsara, which both the ED clerks and the ED clinical staff use. Administrative users include Bobbi Kahl, the Director of Emergency Preparedness, the CNO, one IT person, and the ED Nurse Manager.
“Pulsara has updated us to a more modern communication platform for our ED-EMS communications. Utilizing an app from the EMS end and a web browser from the ED end, our communication has greatly increased on the prehospital care side,” said Kahl. “EMS can give us name and demographic info, vitals, injury and illness information, and photographs before the patient arrives. This replaces what used to be a phone call between the ED and EMS. Phone calls still happen occasionally; however, for most patients, Pulsara allows information exchange to happen quickly, efficiently, and to a greater level than the traditional phone call. “For more information about FDRHPO’s EMS Program Agency, visit www.fdrhpo.org.
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