Health Matters: Baptist Health improves emergency patient care with new technology
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – In the medical world, time is crucial. Now Baptist Health has a new tool that gets the patient to the doctor quicker.
In times of emergency every second counts.
“Time is critical,” Baptist Health emergency and transfer services medical director Dr. Wendell Pahls said.
Dr. Pahls knows just how important it is to get a patient to a doctor as quickly as possible.
“The longer it takes to achieve definitive care, opening up blood flow to those particular organs the longer the chances are that you’re going to have a less than desirable outcome,” Dr. Pahls said.
Now, that time is cut down drastically because of a new tool called Pulsara. It starts when the paramedics respond to a patient.
“Quickly scan the patients ID, get whatever initial tests such as EKG and immediately with a push of a button send it to the emergency department,” Dr. Pahls said.
Those tests are now being looked at by the experts at the hospital while the patient is on their way.
“We can look at it immediately say ‘this is a heart attack’ initiate Cath lab, push this information out to the cardiologist and have Cath lab, cardiology, have all of the people ready before the patient even leaves their home,” Dr. Pahls said.
With a team ready when the patient arrives, Dr. Pahls said this revolutionary technology is giving even the most crucial patients a fighting chance.
“When you can legitimately look at somebody and say ‘I have dramatically improved your opportunity to either survive and or have less bad outcomes with your strokes or heart attacks’ that’s a very satisfying experience,” Dr. Pahls said.
Gloss