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4 Ways Telehealth Is Improving Patient Care

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Telehealth is the practice of using medical grade computers and medical tablets to provide health care remotely. Telehealth practices put doctors in closer contact with distant patients, save time and energy with instant communication, and improve point-of-care services with accurate and detailed information. As our world becomes more and more connected, such practices will assume increasingly larger roles in the medical industry.

The practice of telehealth requires specific medical computers set up for such duties. When used properly, they can improve patient care in a number of ways, which is the ultimate goal for any medical organization. Four of the most prominent means are discussed below.

Time is a Factor in Wound Care

Immediate trauma usually requires immediate treatment, especially when it comes to physical injury and wounds. Getting to the emergency room can take up a great deal time, however, and yet the physician won’t be able to perform a diagnosis until the patient arrives on-site. That can lead to issues with dressing and care of the wound, and in some cases can even make the injury worse.

Telehealth practices provide a valuable advantage here. Using a tablet PC, the EMT can take a picture of the wound and send it to the hospital while the patient is en route. That allows the physicians to perform a preliminary diagnosis – including determining the cause of the wound, the extent of the damage, and any further danger to the patient, if any – without having to wait until the patient reaches them. That, in turn, allows them to recommend proper dressing and initial care for the wound, which can help stabilize the injury and minimize the damage. It also allows them to prep X-ray machines if broken bones are a factor and clear similar devices for immediate use when the patient arrives: further reducing the time required to treat the injury.

Rural Services Can Extend Their Reach

Not every patient can readily reach a care facility. People in rural areas, for instance, may be many miles from a proper hospital, while shut-ins and patients without ready means of transportation might be physically unable to reach care even if it’s not that far away. Physicians can schedule house calls, but it takes an effort to reach a distant patient, which limits the number of people they can treat in a given day and wastes a great deal of time in transit.

According to a 2017 study from American Well, 69% of U.S. adults believe that video conferencing will provide the best overall care (as opposed to merely 26% who thought a phone call would be best, and 5% who thought an email would be best). The same study also found that patients tend to trust their primary care physicians more than doctors who they do not know.

Telehealth practices allow doctors to virtually visit these patients. The physician can perform a diagnosis, prescribe medication, consult on long-term care, and even take readings with help from the patient or a local caregiver. That cuts down on transit time and allows patients without ready access to health care to receive qualified treatment. Telehealth allows PCPs to give their distant patients genuine face time, which reduces anxiety as well as allowing the patient to remain in comfortable and familiar surroundings.

Mobile Clinics and “Street Medicine” Practices Are Much Improved

Mobile clinics are a vital service to many communities, allowing doctors to travel anywhere with advanced medical devices in tow. According to a study by The American Journal of Managed Care, there are some 2,000 mobile clinics operating in the United State, 44% of which offer primary care services. They can include anything from bloodmobiles collecting donations at schools or offices to “street medicine” services providing care for the homeless and other at-risk demographics.

Telehealth practices can improve such services by keeping the mobile clinic in touch with experts and facilities they might not have otherwise. There are only so many staff members one can place in a mobile clinic, after all, and only so many pieces of equipment that can be practically placed on the vehicle. But telehealth can connect the station back to the hospital: sending patient data for analysis, consulting medical experts who wouldn’t otherwise be accessible, and connect the team on the street to the same resources a patient would have were they to receive care in the hospital itself.

For example, consider a mobile clinic serving a homeless shelter, including a patient with a skin condition that can’t readily be identified. By the time the staff back at the hospital pinpoints the condition, the patient may be long gone and unable to be readily found. But a connection via a medical tablet PC allows the staff to instantly consult a dermatologist back at the hospital, and receive both a diagnosis and a recommendation for long-term treatment in a single session.

Bedside Treatment Becomes Much More Convenient

Telehealth practices aren’t limited to locations outside the hospital or care facility. Patients being treated in a given clinic may not be able to leave their beds, or can do so only with great difficulty, which complicates their treatment considerably. There is a considerable benefit to being able to bring a computer on wheels right up to the patient’s bed, not only for a specialist or primary care physician to conduct a consultation while they’re off-site, but for fast diagnoses in the middle of the night or during similar periods when a specialist might not be on hospital grounds.

Consider the case of nursing homes, for instance. Many homes offer visits from physicians for their residents, but don’t have a doctor on permanent staff. Yet residents often have limited mobility and if they require treatment after the doctor has left for the day, it might entail an ambulance trip to the hospital: wasting precious time and putting the patient under unnecessary physical strain. Telehealth practices allow the nursing staff to contact the doctor, wheel a medical cart computer right to the patient’s bedside, and get a diagnosis and treatment plan in a fraction of the time and effort it would take otherwise.

Cybernet Manufacturing offers medical tablets with the features required to smoothly integrate telehealth practices with the remainder of your operation. Contact us today to explore your options.

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Understanding How Medical Computers Enhance EMR Capability

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Technology in hospitals has advanced greatly towards automation and electronic document storage to improve the lives of patients and facilitate the jobs of medical professionals. As of 2015 96% of all non-federal acute care hospitals had adopted basic EMR software. Even in rural areas adoption was at 80% – up from just 53% as recently as 2013. As with all tools, however, adoption isn’t enough. How you use a tool determines if you are maximizing its effectiveness and your ROI. Since the introduction of EMR systems, medical computers have presented new methods of accessing healthcare information and services. Here’s a brief look at how these systems are changing healthcare information roles.

Making Charting Less of a Time Drain

Probably the most dramatic shift since the widespread adoption of EMR software has been in how patient charting is done. In the past, charting was a paper process that took up hours of a nurse’s time each shift, taking away from actual time spent on patient care. Even today however, some hospitals and facilities still require nurses to do their charting at the nurses station, which means that time is still wasted transcribing data into the EMR software. Time that could be spend tending to patients.

Medical cart computers that are certified to run EMR software can help alleviate tedious processes like this. Instead of charting at a central location, nurses can go room to room, administering to their patient’s needs, and chart in “real-time”. What sets these computers apart from regular commercial grade computers is two-fold. First and foremost, they are medically certified devices that have been cleared for near patient use. Second, they use integrated RFID, fingerprint and smart card readers to ensure secure log-in, keeping patient data safe and secure as mandated by HIPAA.

Making Anesthesiology Safer

There is no time when a patient is more vulnerable or when a hospital’s risk and liability are greater than when surgery is being performed. The role that anesthesiologists play in mitigating both risks can’t be understated. Unfortunately, a lot of facilities still use antiquated processes when it comes to anesthesiology. There are certain realities that must be adhered to in an operating room. The sterile nature of the rooms and regulations regarding electrical medical equipment often times leads to anesthesiologists being forced to monitor patients and record vital information on paper. We’ve even heard of one example where the anesthesiologists were monitoring the patient from outside of the operating room because their equipment was deemed safe for near patient use. This is a massive liability that is easy to fix.

Medical computers are built and designed for these applications. Fanless medical computers are safe for sterile environments. A true medical computer will also be UL60601-1 certified for near patient use and IP65 rated for cleaning and disinfection. Large displays with touchscreens also make it easier for the anesthesiologist to enter patient vitals, meaning there is less time doing data entry and more time administering to the patient. Here’s one example of one of the advanced surgical centers in the country made the switch to fanless medical computers in their operating rooms to enhance their patient care.

 

 

Remote Patient Care

It’s not always the case that patients are able enough to travel to a doctor’s office. Disabled individuals and shut-ins will need in-home care. Mobile health clinics might be necessary in rural areas. Mobile clinics are also an important pieces of the healthcare puzzle in underserved areas. There are several reasons why an individual might not be able to gain reliable access to healthcare on their own. But mobile technology now allows healthcare to come to them, if not in their homes, at least in a more convenient location to them.

Medical grade tablets have completely changed healthcare. In-home nurses can bring these devices with them and record patient information directly into an EHR system. The same can be said of mobile health clinics. Patients can use a table to enter medical histories or sign up for patient portals so they can access their records from home. Practitioners can even engage in telehealth consultations to share test results or help diagnose ailments. And all data is immediately recorded in an EMR solution every step of the way.

Preventative Medical Care – The Future of EMR

As before, healthcare has “developed legs” and evolved to become so comprehensive that healthcare tracking is something that can remain with patients. Since the rise of the Internet of Things and wearable devices that track our health, patients are taking better preventative steps for healthcare. Instead of periodical healthcare snapshots, physicians can look at a profile of patients with ongoing health metrics and identify conditions that can lead to more serious health complications years down the road. This allows for a further understanding of illness which can push the boundary of medical education and progress. Many experts believe that blockchain technology will allow healthcare networks to aggregate hundreds of thousands of anonymous data points to identify risk factors and health trends, ultimately leading to early diagnosis and preventative health plans. And of course, medical computers will be at the forefront of connecting the dots.

These are just a handful of the ways that medical computers are maximizing the way hospitals and other facilities are using their EMR software. EMR software, like all technology, will continue to evolve and grow and the way that it is used on a day to day basis will improve the outcome of patients everywhere. For more information on how to improve your EMR investment you can contact us here.

 

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3 Ways to Automate Tedious Paper Processes in Hospitals

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Nurses and doctors often voice the desire to go paperless. A recent report from International Data Corporation shows that about 40 percent of healthcare institutions have implemented paper reduction processes to operate a little greener. Although these efforts have improved a hospital’s environmental footprint, the costs of paper, ink, and daily printing are still skyrocketing. Who would have thought behind all the sophisticated medical procedures that paper processes are still expensive? Well, we’re here to provide some methods of solving perpetual paper problems that hospitals face consistently. The answers lie in technology.

Anesthesiology Enhanced with a Fanless Medical Computer

An anesthesia record is simply an account of drugs administered, procedures followed, and patient responses. Documenting it requires frequent sampling of data to ensure the patient is subdued during surgery. We’re sure millions of anesthesia administrations happen annually—one anesthesia paper record for every administration can add up over time. Plus, If you’ve ever seen an anesthesiology record for a patient, it’s almost like reading a difficult foreign language backwards. We trust in an anesthesiologist to read their own handwriting—as the rest of us may not be able to—but when transcribing it from the page to the screen as the common practice is today, that’s never a perfect two-step process. It’s basically doing double work, recording the results on paper and then entering that into the computer. Not only that, but the monitoring process is time-intensive and takes too much attention away from the patient. Wouldn’t it be nice to just track anesthesia with a computer directly? Ah, but there’s one problem. Regular computers aren’t allowed in an operating room during anesthesiology administration for surgery. That requires a dust-free environment to protect the patient, so an EMR system with fans wouldn’t do—unless you’re using a fanless medical computer.

The dual advantage of these computers is they protect the patient and they also streamline data sampling during anesthesiology administration, removing the paper process altogether. We’ve heard of use cases how some anesthesiologists were highly relieved that the process for data sampling was instant and didn’t need transcription—their computer did all the work and it saved them time. Not only does this save time, but it also allows the anesthesiologist to focus more on the patient, rather than on data entry. Suddenly, the tedious and error-prone process of paper data sampling turns into a process handled solely by the anesthesiology application. Imagine a stack of paper one million sheets high, one for every anesthesia operation done annually in a hospital and suddenly the savings are clear. 

Interoperability Still a Concern

Three surveys released in 2015 performed by researchers from the Office of the National Coordinator point to improved interoperability among hospital data systems. However, transmitting records from one EHR system to another was the least “improved-upon” function—clearly, efforts in improving interoperability have been made, but there’s still room to grow. So naturally, nurses and physicians resort to printing out records. Consider that printing out records consistently could lead to a drain on time and money—we shudder at how much ink still costs today. But the fact remains that there are still paper-heavy processes because of systems that don’t play nice with each other.

Large EMR systems, like Epic or Cerner, eliminate interoperability issues by bringing multiple applications and processes under one software. But in order for these complex software systems to work properly, you need a medical grade all in one computer that is compliant with their requirements. The high interoperability features of these software packages generally operate seamlessly, but it takes a computer powerful enough to run them. It’s not realistic to remove paper processes entirely—sometimes jotting down a note doesn’t really need a computer system—but we’re sure you can see a reduction in administrative costs from using the right kind of system coupled with high-interoperability software.

Registration Woes End with a Medical Grade Tablet

Paperwork—a dreaded life requirement that everyone faces at some point. It’s reported from some sources that patient registration on paper costs healthcare 45 billion dollars annually. Admissions packets average around 14 sheets of paper—multiply that per new patient, per day, and suddenly that price makes a lot of sense. Millions of hospital registrations happen annually, and with each paper-based registration, errors can be introduced and set procedures can lengthen registration time, and costs continue to climb. 

To specifically reduce administrative costs (and save the environment), patients and medical staff can all benefit from using a medical grade tablet so the process of entering patient information and storage is immediate. Attack one of the higher expenses in healthcare by using a tablet for administrative uses, reducing paper usage, curtailing ink usage, and even ensuring fewer errors with proper registration software. Plus, the medical grade tablet’s easy-to-clean screen and antimicrobial housing keep germs at bay inside of hospitals and doctors’ offices. Unfortunately, that doesn’t take the work part out of paperwork, but we’re sure some folks like taking the good over the bad. 

The way to a paperless future lies within technology; by using the right kind of medical grade all in one computer, your institution can see less of an investment in paper, ink, and costly printer repairs while also ensuring patients get the best available healthcare. In short, go green and save some green. Contact us to learn more.

 

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3 of the Most Common Patient Complaints and Ways to Reduce Them

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Patient satisfaction isn’t an easy task to handle within a hospital; people are already in places they don’t want to be, and the smallest gesture in improving a stay can travel miles for a patient’s well-being. It’s up to staff to perform those small gestures and take advantage of them for the betterment of people. Not taking advantage of those small details could result in patient complaints. Patients file complaints on a consistent basis, and rightfully so; sometimes small mistakes, unrefined processes, and archaic procedures just result in a bad experience. There are several reasons why a complaint might arise, and all of them should serve as examples on how to improve—lest the hospital suffers bad return rates, scathing online reviews—you get the idea. Here are some common patient complaints and what can be done to reduce their frequency greatly.

Let’s Communicate, Not Procrastinate!

Insufficient communication is a constant for complaints. It might be the case that a nurse forgot to notify next of kin if a patient’s medical conditions change, or maybe there isn’t enough social activity to ease someone’s mental health while they’re bedridden. Regardless, communication problems often rank within the top five for any hospital, but there are some ways to improve communication between patient and practitioner, or even among medical staff.

Medical staff can achieve higher patient satisfaction ratings by using a medical cart computer or a mounted medical computer in the patient’s room to demonstrate how a patient’s illness is affecting them. Plus, it’s likely the case throughout the hustle and bustle of daily hospital operations that communication isn’t the best between nurses and doctors. Medical tablets keep communication at a constant rate so there’s no information falling through the cracks. Nurses can receive updates with patient orders directly to a tablet while doing rounds, or can video conference with an attending physician in a remote location. All parties can stay up to date, minute by minute, so the focus can remain on getting the patient the care they need and send them away, healthier than before.

In addition to the importance of communicating test results and other pertinent medical information with patients, it is equally important for the mental well being of a patient to be able to communicate with loved ones. A medical computer mounted on a patient table can have the dual purpose of allowing a patient to video conference with family members, check social media accounts, and mitigate any feelings of isolation while admitted.

Patients Need Better Sleep

Another common complaint is a difficulty in getting a good night’s sleep. Hospitals operate on a 24/7 cycle, so ambient noise won’t be avoidable. However, there are ways to reduce noise in a patient’s room. A lot of hospitals are mounting computers in each patient room, but this presents a lot of challenges to a patient. With these devices running 24/7 components heat up and need to be cooled. The last thing a tired patient needs is for a computer fan to go off next to their bed in the middle of the night. A fanless medical computer is best for in-room devices. Why?

Computers with fans can often reach noisy levels! A computer with a fanless design provides cleaner, quieter environment to help a patient get a better night’s sleep. Fanless computers are also safer, as they don’t blow dust, germs, and other microbes through the air, which could lead to nosocomial infections.

Hurry Up and Wait to Feel Better

We all know the story—calling up to make an appointment, leaving a message, waiting for a phone call, answering a call and waiting on hold for the nurse for scheduling, getting transferred to another physician—hurry up and wait is a constant struggle for outpatients. We’ve all done it ourselves, so why would you want your patients to endure that? Would you prefer your patients to wait longer to feel better? We wouldn’t either, but waiting is a common complaint that a strong percentage of patients mark down on complaint sheets.

With the advent of telehealth, patients can access their hospital scheduling department through a web portal and send off their symptoms within a few minutes. Doctors are notified via a medical tablet that a new request for appointment is in, and then can receive symptoms, previous medical conditions, current medications, and likely diagnoses—all within a fraction of time from the “old ways.” The patient can get an earlier appointment scheduled, get into the office, see the doctor, review diagnosis and facts, and then have their prescription signed for at the point of care. And in some cases, a diagnosis or course of treatment can be prescribed without the patient ever even needing to go to the office. You’ve just saved your operations hours and reduced the wait time for your patient significantly, all because every process was handled electronically through a medical tablet. That’s technology working for you and your patients.

When addressing problems with better technology, suddenly we turn a hospital experience from a terrible necessity into something positive. The last place anyone desires to be is on a stretcher or hospital bed, but through the use of medical tablets and other devices, we might be able to put a spark in day-to-day struggles that people experience, whether in-patient or out. Get people feeling better again, quicker, and you’ll see fewer complaints, possibly more sparkling reviews, a higher attendance rate, and perhaps even better career satisfaction among the hospital staff. It’s said smiles are infectious, and we tend to agree. Contact us to learn more.

 

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3 Methods of Reducing HAIs in Hospitals

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The US Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion has seen a decline in HAIs (Healthcare-Acquired Illnesses) in the past recent years. For instance, invasive MRSA infections have seen a 36-percent reduction between 2009 and 2014 per the health.gov website. That’s the result of a combined effort of following the specific action plan available on the site. However, healthcare as a whole can always make stronger efforts to reduce HAI contraction frequency. There are many tech-related problems that still contribute to the number of HAIs (and related deaths) that can be fixed by ensuring your hospital technology meets the grade. Here’s how to combat them with the tech in your hospital.

Dust-Free is a Must

One of the contributing factors for HAIs is something we can’t see very well—dust. Dust is more dangerous than we think, but it’s important we unpack what that term means. A large percentage of dust consists of dormant, decaying, and live microscopic particles, often particles that can be hazardous to patients. A healthy individual’s immune system is capable of protecting against stray floating particles, but to hospital patients under surgery or with compromised immune systems, many precautions need to be taken. One single infected particle from the air settling inside of a patient with an open wound can turn a hospital visit into an infection that can spread to the masses.

Experts in the field stress that fanless medical computers are important for hospital use but are mandatory for surgical procedures and anesthesiology efforts. A fanless design is a proper feature on a medical computer that significantly reduces the risk of HAIs and airborne infections. A computer without a fan intake won’t liberally spread dust mites and bacteria through the air. Besides, fans are considered heavy failure points for computers. A fanless construction won’t perform the impossible by eliminating all dust, but it opens up more possibilities for medical practitioners—like running the medical computer at the bedside to record a surgical video. Regardless of the use of the medical computer, a fanless design is superior for cleanliness. It boosts device longevity too.

HAIs Go Beyond Dust Into Microbes

Fanless designs are great for clean environments, but there’s still a presence of pestilence that we aren’t able to see. We invite you to take a closer look at any surface with a high-powered microscope to see what dangers lurk on nearly every surface in a hospital. Microbes thrive on all surfaces, especially surfaces that are frequently touched thousands of times per day. A computer on wheels that nurses take room to room is no stranger to touch, so this kind of computer needs a little more oomph to protect everyone against the smallest of threats.

Every true medical computer has an antimicrobial housing with a resin mixed into the plastic to help reduce HAIs. Fanless design is a necessary feature for a clean-room environment, but an antimicrobial housing is that extra “oomph” feature that a proper medical computer should have. It discourages microbe spread and growth. HAIs can be reduced further with these integrated features you’ll find in computer on wheels.

Spray Directly on the Medical Computer

It’s easy to be in a mindset of “constant cleaning” when in a hospital. Typically there are hand sanitizer stations at every patient door and at nurse stations, so seeing disinfectant everywhere helps to remind everyone to wash up often. Even with strong efforts in keeping clean hands, infections are still possible. Computers on wheels are highly frequented by hands (especially those with touchscreens), so disinfecting the computer is a no-brainer for physicians and staff. The problem lies with the computer itself—not all of them are built to take constant sprays. One sudden flick of the wrist could send a jet of industrial disinfectant onto a capacitor, and suddenly you’ve turned a cleaning problem into an expensive IT problem. That’s why you should look for a medical grade computer with an IP65 rating.

An Ingress Protection rating of IP65 is prime for a reduction in HAIs because you can spray directly on the sealed screen without worry of damaging the components of the computer. Besides, bacteria have an affinity for hiding in the nooks and crannies of unsealed bezels, reducing the effectiveness of a direct disinfection. It’s just a superior solution to tier-1 computers found in a retail store.

 

A high frequency of Healthcare-Acquired Illnesses in a hospital or clinic puts the cleanliness standards behind doors into question. It’s important to be “clean conscious” at all times when working with people, but ensuring that all computers have these features can reduce HAI frequency and add an extra layer of protection for everyone, whether medical staff or patient. Take a stance against the microscopic culprits and arm your hospital with the best medical computers on the market today. Contact us to learn more.

 

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Mishaps in Hospitals from Inadequate Hardware Problems

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Technology is great. We can stick to 8 hour work days while increasing productivity and then go home to families or plan out our next self-driven project. Granted that’s what technology is supposed to help us do, but sometimes bumps in the road of problem A to solution B can be tech-central. Technology can fail, unfortunately. Thankfully, the time invested to restore tech to working order is a sacrifice hospitals are willing to accept to bring better and less erroneous healthcare to patients. However, when older and inadequate tech is more of a burden, it’s time to consider scrapping what used to work ten years ago with something that can reduce tech-related stress and hangups that drain more time than necessary to get the job done.

Spotty WiFi with Computers on Wheels

It’s a constant problem for the 21st century in hospitals everywhere—spotty wireless communications in every corner of the hospital building. Call up a nurse’s desk to ask what issues they’re facing with technology and inconsistent WiFi will be mentioned. Chalk it up to weakened signals from aging hardware and insufficient components. It’s not feasible to remove that problem for good, but it’s possible to pinpoint key factors in technology—mostly residing in a hospital’s medical computers—that can be improved so WiFi isn’t a problem of which patient room you’re in or where you’re standing. Here’s WiFi woes and ways to restore the fidelity in the “Fi.”

Take a hypothetical case—a nurse using a cloud-based EMR system on a cheap laptop finds that in patient room 105 the WiFi doesn’t kick in, and so entering information relies on memory, written notes, or a silly, cumbersome workaround. That’s not ideal for a hospital, especially when “zero” can be a dangerous entry for a patient refill or a different metric. If the IT department has ensured that the wireless infrastructure is the highest standard on the market, then the culprit lies within the laptop. The wireless card inside of the machine doesn’t communicate well with the wireless routers in the hospital.

If that’s the reason for the signal drop, it’s time for IT to consider upgrading their computing efforts to medical computers with Intel-certified wireless cards instead of laptops that power cheap alternatives. An Intel dual-band wireless AC card is the current standard for wireless technology in a hospital. Not only more secure, these cards have the know-how to switch between wireless routers on the fly without signal loss. Computers on wheels are often pushed through several hospital wings and floors, jumping from one wireless router to the next. Intel wireless cards are secure and stable enough to swap from router to router seamlessly. It’s a hardware standard that computers on wheels and medical devices need to operate optimally. Besides, less stress on the end-user is always a positive thing.

Hospitals Don’t Shut Down—Neither Should the Hardware

Twenty thousand hours. That’s how long a standard hard drive disk lasts per average metrics and regular use. It may seem like a lot, but that’s just over two years if you do the math. Medical computers operate at near 24/7 runtimes. If there’s a hard drive failure in two years, that’s not a very strong lifespan for a computer to store data. The last mishap a nurse or physician wants is for the digital rug to be pulled out beneath them with a hard drive failure while they’re busy entering patient data into a medical computer. The drive can’t be sent off to data rescue because it would violate HIPAA laws. So, what to do?

Thankfully, technology has improved hard disk storage so there aren’t moving parts to break—solid state drives have a longer lifespan than regular platter hard drives, but that doesn’t rule the smarter tech out of defect or an eventual kaput. A medical grade computer with a military-grade solid state hard drive will push that two-year average life cycle to beyond five years. If the looming storage failure is still a concern for staff—which can happen at any given moment—then a backup drive coupled with the original solid state can serve as a proper safety net. IT can clone the surviving drive and restore the medical computer to optimal working status. Besides, a computer cycle for a hospital should be five years to stay with EMR software development. Having a hard drive that’s graded to last beyond a purchase cycle is ideal.

Shoddy Medical Computer Touch Screens

Touch screens are breeding grounds for germs and bacteria. Introduce the dirt and grease from five separate individuals’ hands onto a touch-screen interface and an infection may reside somewhere in the fingerprint jungle. They’re not always the easiest to clean either—spray disinfectant directly on a medical monitor and the internal components could suffer from adverse effects from the disinfectant (broken pixels, unresponsive touch controls, or an immediate transformation into a paperweight) running into the crevices of the monitor. Some insufficient touch screen tech needs constant calibration to ensure what’s touched is the intended function. Pressing “Close” should never result in “Administer Medicine”—we shudder at that thought. But there’s still tech problems galore in working with touch screens that don’t measure up to what hospitals need.

The kind of tech needed in a hospital is what’s called 5-Wire Resistive technology. Avoiding too much tech-talk, it’s a more durable technology than capacitive because it holds up to scratches and cosmetic imperfections, it’s easier to work with since it doesn’t require skin contact, it’s cheaper to manufacture, and it lasts longer than the newer capacitive technology. Couple these features on a medical computer and bye-bye tech problems.

It isn’t intuitive to think of hard drives, touch screen technology or wireless cards when you’re talking about patient care. But in today’s HIT world, technology is one of the driving factors in providing the absolute best user experience for healthcare practitioners so they can focus on taking care of patients. For more information on how a computer designed specifically with healthcare in mind is different than a commercial grade computer you can contact us today to learn more about our medical computers.

Advantages of Powered and Non-Powered Medical Carts

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Any hospital or clinic will have a range of technology products to assist in patient care. Sometimes a hospital’s budget restraints can’t afford the latest in technology, so they opt for more financially viable solutions. Other times the needs of a medical staff might outweigh the potential high costs for equipment, so purchasing decisions might anchor to more sophisticated, familiar technology. The same is true for medical carts. When browsing for medical cart options, it’s important to note the positive aspects for each powered and non-powered medical cart. Here’s a look at both options in detail. We hope this serves as a guide to make a decision as to what’s right for your hospital and staff.

Advantages of Non-Powered Medical Carts

A non-powered cart meant for use as a workstation on wheels is going to be substantially cheaper than it’s powered counterpart. Battery-less carts with wheels and a few functioning devices (key lockable drawers, VESA mounts, etc.) can range in price depending on the quality of the build and the brand, but ballpark figures usually run under two thousand dollars for a strong solution. Hospitals and clinics looking to buy in bulk will definitely save in the long run when choosing a non-powered medical cart. Plus, since they have fewer components and no internal batteries, they weigh much less—reducing overall fatigue when a nurse pushes a cart around for several hours. They’re more maneuverable, have slimmer profiles, use fewer cables, receive power from the all-in-one computer installed on it, and there’s no bulky batteries—which, per the FDA, have been known to catch fire recently. They’re safer options because there’s no involving of electricity, no risk of abusing battery power, and can fit in tighter spaces. Typically, medical computers with hot swappable batteries are ideal on top of non-powered carts so you can navigate hospital hallways without worrying about wires, where they’re connected, and how long the battery life will last—especially if the mounted computer upon it has triple hot swappable batteries. A non-powered cart doesn’t need to be plugged in for a recharge. Instead, if the computer installed on it has swappable batteries, set the drained batteries aside to charge and install a freshly-charged set—they’re more stable than the battery technology in powered carts. Lastly, fewer components and functioning devices mean easier troubleshooting if a problem ever arises, meaning fewer IT requests.

Advantages of Powered Medical Carts

Powered carts have increased functionality with electronic locking drawers, built-in medication dispensers, the ability to power peripherals like barcode scanners or printers, powered height adjustment, LEDs that illuminate the keyboard and cart path, control interfaces, and other components that are better solutions for hospitals that want more mobile functionality.  Plenty of powered carts use different “modes” of operation to facilitate their intended use—”pharmacy” mode for instance on some keep all drawers unlocked so medications are easier to retrieve as someone makes their rounds to distribute to patients. Several carts have motor-powered height adjustment controls that can raise or lower the cart just by holding a button. You can select from a wider range of medical grade computers with a powered cart since a majority of the marketed computers don’t have hot swappable batteries—a necessary feature for non-powered carts. A powered cart is a more expensive option, but the functionality from the powered cart alone makes up for the difference in price.

Whichever type of cart is more fitting for your budget or hospital needs, ensure what is mounted to the cart is also sufficient for your rounds and patients. A medical cart without a proper medical grade computer could pose a potential risk when used near patients. For non-powered workstations, a medical all-in-one with hot swap batteries can help save some money while still giving you the functionality for bedside charting and other tasks. For powered carts, any medical grade computer could suffice, provided that computer meets the other requirements for use.  Neither choice is right or wrong. It just depends on the unique needs of your particular project. For more information, feel free to contact us.

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EHR and it’s Evolution into CHR: A Critical Look at Cutting-Edge Technology in Healthcare

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Epic CEO, Judy Faulker, recently expressed her view how Electronic Health Records are evolving into Comprehensive Health Records—a term that evaluates more than just a specific window of sampling an individual’s health from doctor visits. CHR is a term that may be invented as the new EHR, incorporating more data and analysis of a patient that stems from their in-clinic or hospital visits and their time outside of a medical facility too. Foraging into a new technology frontier that implies a near-constant evaluation of a person’s well-being may sound like an answer that physicians have been looking for, but anyone who is ever a patient (all of us) could be under the scrutiny of patient tracking technology that could be always on, always tracking. Yes, the benefit is physicians can understand the entire gamut of a patient’s health by seeing comprehensive snapshots of activity from day to day, but do the costs outweigh the benefits? Are we already in the pathway of the “Big Data” steamroller? Let’s take a critical look.

Are We Already Headed Down this Path?

Many individuals are already familiar with utilizing in-home tracking devices and food intake monitoring, so the “at home” concept of tracking health isn’t new. Wearable fitness trackers coupled with diet and exercise apps are near ubiquitous in society today. There are also several medical grade devices like blood sampling devices or blood pressure monitors to see how trackable vitals are measured outside of the doctor’s office and clinics. But now that CHR is becoming a reality for EHR corporations, there are implications to consider about how this data would be collected into a central repository. If CHR will incorporate the data from consumer-grade devices into an EMR system, how will this data transfer occur? Would EHR software developers have to build integrations for the hundreds of various fitness apps and wearables that are available on the consumer market.  Would we need to entrust app developers and wearable manufacturers with the responsibility of building those integrations? We could see EHR software developers create their own consumer apps and wearables, but that raises even more questions. Would software developers even want to enter the arena of app development and medical device manufacturing? And if they did, how do get a patient to willingly utilize something they may not want to?

CHR and Big Data: How Accurate is the Information?

A patient may be under the scrutiny of a doctor for monitoring their food intake for diabetes, and it’s likely a common thing some individuals may “cheat” on their diet—maybe someone once logged a dinner of chicken and vegetables when instead they indulged a large burger and fries. That second iced mocha of the day might get “forgotten” when it comes time to update their food log. The same propensity to “cheat” when recording time spent at the gym lifting weights, or doing yoga can creep in if we are entrusting the patient to log their own activity. So manual input data needs to be examined and taken lightly if it’s to be wrapped into CHR. Plus, there’s the question of accuracy of wearable devices—many aren’t as devices used in hospitals, clinics and doctors offices. How accurate is a pedometer? How accurate is a sleep tracking device you can purchase off the shelf? Can that be incorporated into a medical health profile? And furthermore, even if the comprehensive data is used for analysis for health, can that be considered an invasion of privacy?

Is the CHR Data Secure Enough?

With potentially thousands of different devices tracking different variables such as food intake, steps taken, heart rate, and other measurable factors, there’s a concern of how all that data might be transferred to EMR systems. Since hospitals have begun implementing BYOD practices among their staff, securing has become a massive point of concern. Medical grade computers are specifically designed with a number of privacy safeguards built into them to protect patient data. Now imagine the security risks if data is being transferred from millions of unsecured consumer devices. We’ve discussed at length in the past that patient medical records are even more valuable on the black market than an individual’s financial data. Now you have to consider millions of new vulnerabilities for hackers to try and exploit. So how would a transfer happen? Wireless transfer? Patient web portals? If CHR is to incorporate an unknown breadth of data, will HIPAA laws need to be rewritten to account for vulnerabilities that can’t be controlled by a healthcare facility or a doctor’s office?

CHR Data and the Implications of Insurance

Insurance companies evaluate a patient’s medical history gauge what their premiums should be. It’s a given that if someone smokes, healthcare is more expensive for them. If we are to enter a new era of healthcare data, can insurance companies utilize more comprehensive methods of evaluating someone’s health? If a patient claims that they run three times a week, and yet their pedometer shows no activity outside of walking, will that reflect on their bill? How far does the willingness go to track aspects of someone’s life? CHR is prepped to track not only how we treat ourselves, but our social lives too. Will all these medical and social effects on our well-being be reflected in insurance companies and their premiums? While the intent of CHR would be to compile the most comprehensive view of an individuals health, the information could very easily be used to create more “high risk” pools by insurance companies, and could even price some users out of the market completely.

These are just a handful of questions to ask as the encroaching concept of CHR starts to hit EMR companies. They’re evolving, perhaps for the better of our lives and health, but there are strong implications of privacy, accuracy, security, and unfortunately impact on wallets too. For now, EMR systems have not yet seen that evolution, and quite frankly they shouldn’t until these questions are answered. We’d love to hear your thoughts as well. Please comment below and let us know what you think about CHR.

 

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3 Ways Hospital Networks Can Impact Patient Care and How to Combat Them

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No hospital network is perfect. An entire infrastructure for patient information is at the whim of Murphy’s Law unfortunately, and one glitch in an entire system can throw off the operations of a hospital in the blink of an eye, costing a chunk of productivity time, money, and the worst—patient safety and health. Online sources point to previous cases of such flops, like the Martin Health System in Stuart, Florida. Their infrastructure recently had an internal hardware failure, setting back hospital EMR records for about two days. Although network systems and their medical computers were restored as quickly as IT could manage the problem, patient care significantly dropped and plenty of vulnerabilities were introduced. Here are a few problems hospitals face when entire networks turn haywire and solutions to minimize mishaps.

Power Outages Cause More Than Just Downtime

Let’s say you’re a medical professional making rounds for about 12 patients, suddenly the power drops out, and the emergency generators have failed! The patient infotainment systems in each patient room have shut down, EMR systems have stopped tracking, medical devices won’t operate, and you’re in the middle of a nightmare. It’s a more frequent problem than you would think. Hospital operations must continue even in downtime, so you’ll need to alter all your work to manual processes. To give you an idea of the severity of a power outage in a hospital, online sources report some patients at a major hospital were on electronic respirators that failed during an outage, and hospital staff attempted rescues by using manual respirators. Unfortunately, the manual efforts weren’t enough to sustain the patients’ well being.

So what’s the best way to combat the potential hazards of a full power outage? Medical computer systems with a hot swappable battery function can ensure you’re not without power. If you’re operating a respirator with a medical computer system that needs continuous power, using a system with sustainable battery life in the mishap of a failed power infrastructure can save lives. Even having a medical computer with an internal backup battery can be enough to bridge the gap between a power outage and getting backup generators online. Compromises in patient care won’t happen if your computer hardware is equipped to run on internal batteries.

Network Failures Cause a Wealth of Different Problems

Network infrastructures aren’t perfect, and at times components can fail—refer to the first paragraph about Murphy’s Law.  If you’re operating EMR software on a consumer-grade computer and the wireless network card fails, the problem will need to be diagnosed to take time away from patient care. This forces medical staff to resort to manual documentation and charting—which can introduce human error. Patients may get delayed medication, incorrect dosage, or the wrong medication because of a network hardware component failure. Compromises in patient care can happen simply because of the wrong hardware.

Ensuring your networked computers are equipped with proper wireless connectivity is one way to safeguard against network mishaps. First, it requires that the components of the computer are industrial-grade, made with high-quality transistors, diodes, and capacitors, to increase a Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) rating. Second, it’s best to utilize Intel-certified wireless network cards within your medical computer system to ensure high-quality connectivity in an environment where wireless communications are supremely important and likely to drop connection frequently. These two factors will reduce potential wireless hardware mishaps so patient care and data aren’t compromised.

Network Intrusions on your Medical Computer Systems Can be Devastating

Security in an online network shouldn’t be an afterthought; a single intrusion into a medical computer on a wireless network can introduce the wrong individuals onto a network, violating HIPAA regulations and compromising patient data for potentially thousands of people. Medical records actually sell for a pretty penny on the black market, more than credit card numbers, because people abuse them to get prescription drugs illegally. Plus, if there’s HIPAA violations it can cause a hospital between 50 to 100 thousand dollars per the severity of the violation—or it may end up shutting hospital doors.

To ensure patient safety and continued hospital operation, the solution is ensuring whatever medical computer systems you’re using have two-factor authentication protocols. Some states actually have TFA as a requirement. Plus, having a medical computer system with a Trusted Platform Module to encrypt the information is another layer of protection you can add so even if the internal hard drives are lost, stolen, or otherwise, the data on them can’t be easily read or retracted. Using a medical computer system with Imprivata Single-Sign On is one of the highest secure standards for medical professionals to safeguard information and make authentication easier than typing in huge, confusing passwords.

Disasters will happen in the medical world, but precaution can ensure fragile lives and important hospital operations aren’t sacrificed when mishaps strike. At Cybernet, we engineer our medical computers with these contingencies in mind. Ensure you’re protected by using the right medical computer systems to take care of patient needs—contact us today to learn more.

 

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How EMR Software Upgrades Can Drive Computer Hardware Updates

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The demand for computer capability has increased because of encroaching software complexity; we can no longer use clunky, old hardware to help our doctors and nurses complete an entire hospital shift. It’s not just a matter of how slow a process might run on a medical computer, but rather if a computer is compatible with software in question and how physicians interact with the computers. One of the reasons aging computers put restraints on the workflow for a hospital is because of increasing software demands, so here are several ways that software may drive the necessary upgrade in hardware.

Medical Computers are Popular for Multitasking

Computers don’t always serve just one purpose—multitasking is a commonplace activity, so what’s required is enough memory in order to support the concurrent programs they run simultaneously. Not enough RAM will turn any computer sluggish—multitasking and load time will suffer. It isn’t always easy to install more after deployment depending on the system. Some are sealed shut to prevent ingress, and so installing RAM may damage the internal components. Or, if the person installing RAM isn’t careful, the entire computer could receive electrostatic discharge turning it into a nice paperweight. The best way to address this problem is ensuring each computer in a deployment has more RAM than the minimum to run a particular software product. It’s a good idea to install the recommended level of RAM or go beyond what’s recommended. Thankfully, a lot of medical computers have customization options to choose how much RAM should be installed into the system before deployment.

EMR Systems Need Processing Power

If your EMR system is running sluggish, it’s time to upgrade. Most likely it’s a problem of an aged processor that can’t handle the number of Floating Point Operations Per Second (FLOPS), one measurement among many to determine the speed of a processor. Imagine all the frustrated doctors and nurses waiting to open a patient’s chart  while the computer cycles for several minutes just to display information. With the wide processor availability on the market, it can be a little confusing on what to select for a processor. Computers with Epic certification often run 6th generation Intel Skylake processors, common CPUs for a lot of Epic’s more complex modules. Medical staff can rest assured that the processor can handle software modules with ease and won’t suffer from excessive load times or computer hang-ups.

EMR Software Modules Utilize Touch Screen

A computer’s internal components aren’t the only factor in running a software product optimally. The way a doctor, nurse, or staff member interfaces with the software is also important. Imagine installing a VESA mountable computer only to find there’s no surface for using a keyboard or mouse and the computer isn’t touch-screen enabled! Touch screen functionality is important because it frees up the hands and removes the need for a physical keyboard if there’s no space for one. Plus, some EMR software products are only compatible with screens that are 24 inches diagonally in order to display all patient information. Computers with Epic certification are typically 24 inches or wider because of the visual aspect ratio for Epic; anything smaller and the software won’t run optimally—or at all.

Dedicated Video is a Must for some EMR Software

Surgeons using EMR software to give them instant video feedback—take an endoscopy for example—can’t use unclear, low-definition, choppy video to perform successful operations on patients. Upgrading to a surgical display equipped with a dedicated NVIDIA card is best for surgeons so they’re able to see in real-time what they’re doing as they perform on patients. Integrated video cards don’t provide that level of sophistication, so they pale in comparison to what a surgical display might provide.

Increased Software Security Means Increased Hardware Security

HIPAA violations are no laughing matter, and EMR software is developed with security in mind to prevent those violations. However, the software here dictates the requirements for hardware. Without a Trusted Platform Module (TPM), patient data is at a greater risk. TPMs encrypt patient information so drives can’t be pulled out of a medical computer and installed into a different computer, adding a layer of protection to sensitive information.

At Cybernet, we work with our partners to understand the complex challenges that healthcare IT professionals face on a daily basis. Because of that, we have engineered a full line of medical grade computers specifically engineered for multiple hospital and healthcare applications. For more information you can check out our website or contact us here.