Dräger Medical introduces New WiFi-Based Patient-Worn Telemetry System

Dräger Medical, Inc., has announced FDA 510k clearance for its new Infinity® TeleSmart system featuring a compact device capable of monitoring ECG and SpO2. Infinity TeleSmart provides the performance of a full-size patient monitor, packaged in a compact patient-worn telemetry device for adult and pediatric patients. Built-in ACE® (Arrhythmia Classification Expert) and pacer detection algorithms enhance ECG processing and reduce false alarms.

Infinity TeleSmart addresses three major challenges of telemetry monitoring:

• Viewing patient information at the patient's side — Unlike traditional telemetry, Infinity TeleSmart has a color display that shows the patient's ECG for all monitored leads, heart rate, SpO2, and electrode status. It also shows patient demographics to help confirm the patient's identification before giving medications, taking blood samples, or performing treatments.
  
  
• Hearing and managing alarms — Infinity TeleSmart has built-in alarming and alarm controls, which provide alarm alerts both at the patient's side and the central monitoring station. The color display helps the clinician to assess the alarms and respond accordingly.
  
  
• Cost and effort associated with disposable batteries — Infinity TeleSmart has a built-in rechargeable battery. The battery can be recharged via a bedside charger or at a multi-device charger at the central monitoring station.

Based on the industry-standard 802.11b WiFi technology, Infinity TeleSmart provides continuous standalone monitoring — even if the patient moves out of the hospital's wireless network coverage area.

Working together, the Infinity CentralStation and Infinity TeleSmart enhance patient care management by providing fast data access, rapid assessment, decision support and clinical reporting. Moreover, when Infinity TeleSmart is used with our Infinity OneNet shared network infrastructure solution, hospitals can use their industry-standard 802.11b (WiFi) access points for both telemetry and patient monitoring. Wireless data exchange and signal integrity is facilitated with bidirectional communication between Infinity TeleSmart and the Infinity CentralStation.

Source: Dräeger Medical

St. John Companies Introduces ID-Link^TM Patient ID
and ID-Link^TM Laboratory

Hospitals now have a cost-effective way to implement barcoded wristbands and identify lab specimens for improved patient safety.

The St. John Companies, Inc., a leader in patient identification and patient safety products, has introduced ID-Link^TM Patient Identification, its newest patient safety system.

Industry experts agree that barcoding promotes patient safety by ensuring that patients are properly matched with clinical orders and activities such as medication administration, laboratory tests and blood transfusions. The ID-Link^TM suite of products promotes patient safety by enabling facilities to implement barcoded patient wristbands without the time, energy, and expense usually associated with that effort. The ID-Link^TM Patient Identification module gives hospitals the choice of using standard thermal or laser printers. In addition to easy and "painless" implementation of barcoded wristbands, hospitals can use the system to print labels for use throughout their facility.

"Many customers have told us that barcode implementation is far too time-consuming, too complicated, too expensive, or too resource-intensive. Because of our commitment to patient safety, we felt it was important to develop a way for hospitals to enhance patient care and implement barcodes without draining their financial or human resources," said Rosalyn Ben-Chitrit, VP of business development, patient safety. "Working with one of our technology partners, we created ID-Link^TM Patient Identification which is a perfect solution for anyone wanting to take the first step in improving patient care through improved patient identification — implementing barcoded wristbands."

Using technology that sits between the hospital's Admission-Discharge-Transfer information system and local or networked printers, ID-Link^TM Patient Identification uses existing data and data streams to create barcoded patient identification wristbands and labels. "We made a concerted effort to develop a cost effective and easy-to-implement solution that doesn't get in the way of existing hospital systems. We also wanted to be sure to offer customers a way to create barcoded wristbands even when the hospital's main system is unavailable, so we included a 'down-time' functionality as a key component of our system," notes Andy Bishop, director of business development and the lead designer of ID-Link^TM.

Building off of the patient identification module, St. John has used its laboratory and blood bank expertise to launch the ID-Link^TM Laboratory module, a self-contained system designed to improve safety through proper identification of laboratory specimens at the patient's bedside. Several sites have been using the system since mid-2006 with exceptional results.

Source: The St. John Companies, Inc.

Please send items for possible inclusion in Trends, to: Susan Carr Editor Patient Safety and Quality Healthcare susancarr@psqh.com Information for this section has been compiled from industry press releases.

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