Ridgefield, NJ (PRWEB) December 20, 2013
In June, 2013, the Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville, GA installed two CAREpoint Workstations from General Devices for their newly-remodeled Medical Communications (MedComm) Center. Shortly thereafter, they became the first medical center to utilize CAREpoint’s new Instant Recall option which allows staff to replay incoming calls immediately and forward them to the mobile devices of appropriate personnel, via General Devices’ HIPAA secure e-Net Messenger system. The result has been a significant streamlining of their medical communications center procedures.
According to Scott Masters, Director of Emergency Medical Transportation, “Our medical communications center is busy 24/7, servicing over 20 counties and responding to 60-70 EMS ambulance calls a day. In the past, our MedComm center was overwhelmed with the variety of equipment needed to respond to the various types of contacts we receive—phones, multiple radios, faxes, and such. The CAREpoint Workstation funnels it all into one device. It also allows us to receive 12-leads reports for incoming cardiac patients.”
Masters explained that they worked with the engineering staff at General Devices to escalate development of forwarding capabilities for CAREpoint’s new Instant Recall option. According to Jimmy Nejmeh, Director of Operations for General Devices, “For stroke, STEMI, and major trauma calls they wanted the ability to get all the necessary information about the incoming patient to downstream professionals exactly as it was received. The CAREpoint, with Instant Recall and e-Net Messenger, makes that possible.”
Masters continues, “For example, when an ambulance calls to report an incoming cardiac patient, the MedComm agent will enter all necessary information about the patient, and receive the 12-lead report, on the CAREpoint Workstation. Then, using CAREpoint’s e-Net Messenger option, he can attach the audio clip of the medic’s call along with the 12-lead report to a message and distribute it immediately to all members of the cardiac team. They can then make the decision whether to open a Cath Lab or not.”
The result, according to Masters, has been increased efficiency and quality. “We no longer have to make multiple phone calls to team members and there is no chance of incorrect or incomplete information being relayed. And we don’t have to hand-deliver documents. And since all the data entry is done prior to the ambulance’s arrival, “patient parking”—the time a patient waits before being moved to a room—is almost eliminated.”
He concludes by saying, “Instant Recall has definitely gained acceptance with our physicians. In fact, now if the medic’s call is not attached to a message, the physician is likely to message back and request it. CAREpoint and Instant Recall will play a key role in our new hospital in Braselton when it opens in the spring of 2015. And we will look to General Devices when we consider future expansion in to the areas of mobile telemedicine and Community Paramedicine.”
“We are proud to welcome Northeast Georgia Medical Center to our family of CAREpoint users,” says Curt Bashford, President of General Devices. “From the outset they saw the value of the CAREpoint as not only a means of receiving notifications, but as an integral component of emergency communications. Their input on the development of the Instant Recall option was especially valuable to us. We look forward to working with them as they explore the full potential of our suite of solutions for emergency medical communications.”
Northeast Georgia Medical Center is one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals (according to Healthgrades®) and among only twenty large community hospitals named to Truven Healthcare’s list of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals. The 557-inpatient, 261-skilled nursing bed Health System serves almost 800,000 people in more than 13 counties across Northeast Georgia.
For more than a quarter century, General Devices has been the leader in providing products and solutions for connecting EMS prehospital care providers with emergency medicine in the hospital and beyond. Connecting care providers for tomorrow's healthcare today.
