Connecting Acute Care Teams Better with GD e-Bridge™

THE CHALLENGE

Having served the community since 1957, Southeast Health Medical Center (SHMC) located in Dothan, AL has always kept up with changing healthcare technologies to best serve its patients in the region. In 2017 SHMC  was looking to improve communications between Emergency Medical Services (EMS) that occurred via phone, web and 2-way radio. They also wanted to promote continuous quality improvement (CQI), using better digital voice & data logging, reporting tools and documentation, as well as to have more secure mobile notifications between EMS, the Emergency Department (ED), trauma, cardiovascular and neurology teams. In doing so, they hoped to improve the door to treatment time for trauma, STEMI and stroke patients brought in by ambulance.

THE SOLUTION

To accomplish their goal, Southeast Health Medical Center needed to change their process and upgrade their EMS-ED communications and so, they implemented the GD CAREpoint™ and GD e-Bridge™ solutions from General Devices. The GD solutions allowed the medical center to better manage all of their EMS related activity.  SHMC’s initial thrust was to use the features of the new solutions such as the secure messaging and forms to begin improving the workflow processes and plan to use more of the advanced mobile telemedicine features as the system becomes more integrated into daily use and behaviors.

EFFECTS AND RESULTS

The upgrade to the GD e-Bridge Telemedicine application and CAREpoint Workstation allowed SHMC to improve their communication between the EMS ambulances and the emergency department (ED). The medical center is also using the secure messaging features of GD e-Bridge which now allows them to communicate seamlessly with the other acute care departments in the hospital so that time-sensitive information is  shared promptly across the teams.

The results experienced at SHMC are typically scene in patient care and cost reduction including:

• Improving EMS call handling and notifications from 2-way radio, phone and web
• Reduce door-to-treatment times for Stroke, STEMI and Trauma
• Provide secure mobile notifications and vitals to remote Cardio, Neuro and Trauma teams
• Simplify and manage prehospital 12-Lead ECGs from any monitor
• Enhance CQI with better documentation, digital voice/data logging and reporting tools
• Implement a HIPAA-secure platform for Mobile Telemedicine pictures, video and data
• Overall enhancement to online medical direction and decision support

The GD CAREpoint and GD e-Bridge mobile telemedicine application have allowed Southeast Health Medical Center to utilize new technology and to improve workflows that their previous process would not have allowed. More specifically, SHMC is now better prepared for ambulance patients which in-turn improves EMS-ED hand-off and shortens time to treatment – all  important for saving lives and improving outcomes for their patients and community.

About Southeast Health

Southeast Health is a dynamic, growing organization with a 420- bed hospital located in Dothan, Alabama. The hospital offers services such as critical care, emergency & trauma, neurosurgery, stroke care and surgical services. SHMC believes in offering high-quality and evidence based care leads to more lives saved and less time in the hospital.

About GD (General Devices)

GD enables smarter patient care by empowering hospitals, EMS, community healthcare and public safety with the most comprehensive, interactive, configurable, affordable, and integrated FDA listed medical communication and mobile telemedicine solutions. The benefits of which are enhanced workflows, minimized risk, reduced costs and improved patient outcomes. Learn more at www.general-devices.com