Team Pulsara

What if you could improve patient care—across your city, region, and even state—by streamlining communication and coordination between EMS and hospital teams? Texas hospital and EMS leaders are doing just that, utilizing new workflows built on a scalable telehealth communication and logistics platform. Since reworking their trauma system, they’ve improved efficiency, cut down on phone calls to multiple people, streamlined transfers, optimized continuity of care, and created shared awareness and accountability.

In this leadership roundtable with Jennifer Carr, MSN, RN, CPEN, TCRN, Vice President of Trauma Services at CHRISTUS Spohn Health System in Corpus Christi, TX, Randy Endsley, BSN, CFRN, CEN, LP, CMTE, Chief Medical Officer and Flight Nurse with HALO-Flight in Corpus Christi, TX, and Corey Ricketson, Sales VP at Pulsara, discover why they created this new system of care, what day-to-day operations look like, and how they are growing it across their organization and region.

Watch the full webinar and check out part 1 of our blog coverage below!

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article originally appeared on firechief.com. Special thanks to our guest author, John Erich, for FireRescue1 BrandFocus Staff.

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Triage at major events can be slow, and tracking patients can be difficult – Pulsara’s new functionality is aimed at improving both experiences

As it prepared for takeoff, the 737 couldn’t avoid the speeding rental truck that came crashing toward it through the fence beyond the airport tarmac. The resulting collision killed 14 of its passengers and crew, as well as the driver of the truck, and left 56 more injured.

First responders from multiple agencies rushed to the scene that morning last October at Preston Smith International Airport in Lubbock, Texas, to respond to the full-scale mass-casualty exercise. Medical personnel triaged the wounded and gave them special armbands the state now uses for patients experiencing time-sensitive emergencies, including victims of mass-casualty incidents. The bands contained individual barcodes that, with a quick scan, would take any responder at the scene to a dedicated care channel for that patient, where the provider could then enter the patient’s identifying and treatment information.

The testing of that technology – new functionality from Pulsara designed to help responders triage and track patients in major incidents – was one of the goals of the exercise, which simulated the kind of MCI that often overwhelms unprepared systems.

“We were looking for ways to improve patient tracking and incident awareness for all command staff on scene,” said Logistics Chief and Emergency Preparedness Specialist Brent Fox, NREMT-P, of University Medical Center EMS in Lubbock. “Pulsara allowed everyone on scene to have full visibility from any location once they joined the incident.”

That quick, easy shared awareness – with everyone who’s part of the response having access to the same information – is among several important benefits of the new tool responders to the Lubbock exercise got to experience firsthand.

Editor's Note: This post is adapted from a report first published by the Victorian Agency for Health Information, a division of Australia's Department of Health. Check out the original version here. 

A recent report published by a division of Australia's Department of Health, the Victorian Agency for Health Information, confirmed the benefit of using communication and logistics technology for patient care at Latrobe Regional Hospital in Traralgon, Victoria. New data from the Australian Stroke Clinical Registry showed as much as an 80% reduction in time-to-treatment for critical stroke patients.

Latrobe Regional Hospital is a busy regional health service in the eastern Victorian town of Traralgon, with 328 beds and 2,465 staff servicing a catchment of more than 270,000 people. The emergency department alone sees 42,000 people each year.

At the recent National Stroke Quality Improvement Workshop, Latrobe Regional Hospital shared how they used registry data to evaluate newly implemented technology designed to streamline day-to-day operations and facilitate better treatment times. The Australian Stroke Clinical Registry data played a key role in evaluating the use of Pulsara at Latrobe Regional Hospital, responding to staff questions about how the health service would measure the performance and impact of the new technology.

Pulsara's Chief Growth Officer, Kris Kaull, recently had the opportunity to sit down with Rob Lawrence on the EMS One-Stop podcast. In this episode, Rob talks with Kris about history taking and how to improve communication and gather better intel. Kris shares his top 10 hacks to improve your history taking, including thinking like a detective, thinking outside the box, understanding medical medicine, being a good listener, and more.

This podcast originally aired on EMS One-Stop on November 17, 2022. Check out part 1 of our blog coverage here, and then listen to the podcast and check out the full transcript of part 2 below.

Pulsara's Chief Growth Officer, Kris Kaull, recently had the opportunity to sit down with Rob Lawrence on the EMS One-Stop podcast. In this episode, Rob talks with Kris about history taking and how to improve communication and gather better intel. Kris shares his top 10 hacks to improve your history taking, including thinking like a detective, thinking outside the box, understanding medical medicine, being a good listener, and more.

This podcast originally aired on EMS One-Stop on November 17, 2022. Listen to the podcast and check out the full transcript below. 

UK hospital and ambulance organisations can now procure Pulsara via the Crown Commercial Service updated G-Cloud framework.

Bozeman, Montana, USA, January 17, 2023 — Pulsara, the leading mobile telehealth, communication, and logistics platform that unites healthcare teams and technologies across organisations during dynamic events, has been listed as an approved cloud software supplier by Crown Commercial Service on the updated G-Cloud 13 framework. Because Pulsara is now available through this framework—under Lot 2, Cloud Software (SaaS), and the service categories of Healthcare and Information Communications and Technology (ICT)—organisations in the UK are specifically enabled to procure the Pulsara UNITED solution for hospitals and ambulance services. 

“The ability for healthcare organisations to access new and evolving technologies for efficient patient care is of utmost importance,” said Cynthia Bradford Lencioni, Pulsara’s EVP - Global Business & Chief Operating Officer. “We are thrilled to join the updated G-Cloud 13 framework, providing streamlined access to customers in the United Kingdom looking for digital health transformation solutions.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: This podcast originally aired on Becker's Hospital Review on December 8th, 2022. You can find the original post here. 

When a health system is looking for ways to improve patient care, there are a lot of factors to consider. How will new solutions affect existing workflows, and how will they reduce time-to-treatment for patients? 

In this Becker's Healthcare podcast episode, host Marcus Robertson sits down with Kate Leatherby, Sales VP - West, at Pulsara to discuss what challenges health systems are looking to overcome with Pulsara, how the platform overlays a health system's current workflow, what innovative ways seasoned customers are leveraging the platform to improve patient care, decreasing time to treatment, and more. 

Check out the podcast and read the full transcript of the interview below.

The integration brings data captured in Pulsara's communication platform into EPR's MedicWorks ePCR, improving team communication and reducing time on task.

BOZEMAN, Mont., December 20, 2022 — EPR Systems, Inc. and Pulsara join together to streamline patient care data exchange, bringing critical information to first responders on scene. Pulsara’s communication and logistics platformenables EMS and hospital staff to instantly communicate event-based patient information, including one-tap team notifications, image sharing, audio/video calls, and ETA alerts, all on a single app. EPR Systems MedicWorks electronic Patient Care Reporting (ePCR) platform provides first responders the interface to capture and record HIPAA-compliant patient data customized to their organization’s requirements.

“EPR Systems is a customer-focused company, and when one of our Texas customers asked for a Pulsara integration with EPR’s MedicWorks ePCR, we jumped at the opportunity to integrate with Pulsara, who was extremely helpful and welcomed our two systems working together,” says Jeff Jacobson, EPR’s Director of Business Development and 22-year firefighter paramedic. “Connecting these two platforms puts the power in the hands of the responder and healthcare team to deliver urgent care based on accurate data sharing. The integration eliminates dual data entry, which decreases data entry errors and creates a single point of communication—it creates the ‘data hygiene’ responders and healthcare teams need to do their job efficiently and deliver the immediate care patients need.”

Documentation Time Cut by 66% Compared with ePCR Used Before the MEDIVIEW and Pulsara Integration.

BOZEMAN, Mont., December 14, 2022 – Pulsara, the leading mobile telehealth and communication platform that connects healthcare teams across organizations, is pleased to announce a pair of technical integration and collaborative deployments with Beyond Lucid Technologies: first, at the Ute Pass Regional Health Service District (UPRHSD), then at the Delta County Ambulance District (DCAD), both in Colorado. 

Editor's Note: At Pulsara, it's our honor to highlight the stories of our customers and the work they do on behalf of their patients. On November 20th, the UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central team responded courageously to a mass shooting in Colorado Springs. The following article is an excerpt from their story, which was written by Erin Emery, Content Director at UCHealth, and Katie Kerwin McCrimmon, Writer and Communications Specialist at UCHealth. It was originally published on November 27th, 2022, on uchealth.org. Read the full story here. 

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The calls crackled over the police officer’s radio in the hospital ER: “Club Q … Active shooter …”

It was a little after midnight. Saturday night had been unusually quiet in the ER. But the early hours of Sunday, Nov. 20, were about to test medical pros who train to handle the worst possible emergencies.

Patients in dire need of their help were minutes away.

The police officer had been in the emergency department at UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central in Colorado Springs assisting with a suspected drunk driver when he heard the call about a horrific mass shooting. He immediately gave a heads up to the charge nurse.

She jumped into action, notifying her team throughout the emergency department (or ED as medical folks call it) along with other key people throughout the hospital.

“One of the police officers just told us that there was a shooting and we’re expecting anywhere from 15 to 20 people. We’re hoping it’s wrong, but if not, it’s all hands on deck,” the charge nurse told Kayla Ireland, who was working that night as Memorial Hospital’s nursing house supervisor.

“OK. I’m headed down there,” said Ireland, who had been working upstairs in the hospital.

Until news of the shooting hit, the emergency staff and providers mostly had been helping people who were sick with the flu, RSV and COVID-19. But Memorial is a Level I Trauma Center, the highest level possible. That means that highly trained teams must be ready 24/7 for emergencies of all sorts — including a mass shooting.

The hospital is just 12 minutes and a little over five miles away from Club Q, which had always been a refuge for LGBTQ people. Now club goers who had been enjoying a fun Saturday night were fighting for their lives.

New feature assists with triage and tracking of patients during a crisis

Bozeman, Mont., November 29, 2022 — Pulsara, the leading telehealth, communication, and logistics platform that unites teams and technologies across organizations during dynamic events, announced today the official release of new functionality designed for incident management. The new platform capabilities are designed to help triage and track patients during mass casualty incidents (MCIs), multiple patient incidents (MPIs), floods, evacuations, and other disasters, as well as major planned events (e.g., concerts, sporting events, etc.). The platform provides responders with a clear line of communication around every patient on a familiar platform they use every day for patient care. When a stress event occurs, no additional preparation or training is required; everyone can continue using the same platform to respond confidently and efficiently in a crisis.

The first major test of the new functionality occurred in October in Lubbock, Texas, as the FAA conducted a full-scale crisis exercise at Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport. First responders from multiple agencies assembled to respond to a drill scenario that involved a rental truck crashing through tarmac fencing and colliding with a plane that was preparing to take off, injuring 56 passengers. During the simulation, first responders and city agencies used Pulsara's Incident Management functionality to enter patient information, communicate, and coordinate care. 

The key is to remember that kids get sick differently than adults and that physical findings may be more subtle

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article originally appeared on EMS1.com. Special thanks to our guest author, Jonathan Lee, for EMS1 BrandFocus.

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I have been fortunate during my career to be able to specialize in pediatrics, which has given me a unique perspective. It is pretty common to hear paramedics say that kids are difficult, but the truth is, kids are just different. When it comes to trauma, the basics are all the same: ABCs, bleeding control, and rapid transport. There are a few things that I do differently with children than when managing adults, and I am certain these can make things better for both you and your patient.

Weslaco EMS and Knapp Medical Center in Weslaco, Texas have adopted Pulsara to facilitate better communication between paramedics in the field and hospital staff, helping doctors more effectively treat patients after they arrive in the emergency room. Clinicians are using the Pulsara platform to share detailed information about a patient's condition.

Editor's Note: On August 1st, 2022, EMS1, Fitch & Associates, and the National EMS Management Association released their fifth annual EMS Trend Report, proudly sponsored by Pulsara. Because the articles and advice found within contain such critical subject matter, we've elected to publish each segment one at a time here on our blog. Read, enjoy, share, and take to heart the following information brought to you by the most prestigious thought leaders in EMS. Today's entry is written by Kerri Hatt, Editor-in-Chief of EMS1.

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Proven recruitment and retention strategies: Readers sound off on what’s attracting new talent and keeping members satisfied

Our goal with the EMS Trend Survey and Report is not just to identify areas of change, growth, and stagnation, but to also source solutions to shared challenges. Nearly all (97%) of the 3,000- plus respondents to the 2022 EMS Trend Survey reported some level of difficulty with recruitment and retention. We asked readers to share their innovative ideas to improve recruitment and retention, and any creative practices that are proving successful to improve staffing. We received thousands of comments, from those in services with above-average compensation and a track record of adequate staffing, to those whose organizations had recently implemented a change and were fully staffed for the first time in years.

Editor's Note: On August 1st, 2022, EMS1, Fitch & Associates, and the National EMS Management Association released their fifth annual EMS Trend Report, proudly sponsored by Pulsara. Because the articles and advice found within contain such critical subject matter, we've elected to publish each segment one at a time here on our blog. Read, enjoy, share, and take to heart the following information brought to you by the most prestigious thought leaders in EMS. Today's entry is written by Jay Fitch, PhD, founding partner at Fitch & Associates. 

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Will EMS Matter in The Future of Healthcare?

History teaches that if a profession doesn’t innovate, it loses relevancy.

In the 1950s and ’60s, railroads were the primary way people, goods, and services moved throughout America. Resistance to change and outdated work rules (e.g., requiring multiple conductors, even on freight trains without passengers) led to alternative transportation approaches and the expansion of air travel and freight. What outdated paradigms are limiting the future of EMS?

All ALS first response and third-party insurers requiring hospital transport for payment top the list.

Australian-based healthcare real-world feasibility study finds improved communication and faster patient care timelines when using Pulsara.

Bozeman, Mont., September 1, 2022 — Pulsara, the leading mobile telehealth, communication, and logistics platform that unites healthcare teams and technologies across organizations during dynamic events, announced the publication of the British Medical Journal real-world feasibility study analyzing the effects of Pulsara on care team communication and acute stroke and STEMI patient treatment times. Titled “Real-world, feasibility study to investigate the use of a multidisciplinary app (Pulsara) to improve prehospital communication and timelines for acute stroke/STEMI care,” the study was conducted in Victoria, Australia with pre-hospital and within-hospital clinical teams. As a first-of-its-kind systematic analysis of Pulsara’s efficacy across the whole patient journey for treatment of stroke and STEMI, the study found that utilization of the platform resulted in significant patient treatment time improvements. 

“Implementation of the Pulsara digital communication application resulted in faster metrics of the patient arriving at hospital and being at triage when Pulsara was used, as well as patient off ambulance stretcher times for both stroke and STEMI cases,” reported study authors Chris F. Bladin et al. “Hospital metrics for stroke cases also improved significantly with door-to-first medical review and door-to-CT completed more rapidly.” 

Editor's Note: On August 1st, 2022, EMS1, Fitch & Associates, and the National EMS Management Association released their fifth annual EMS Trend Report, proudly sponsored by Pulsara. Because the articles and advice found within contain such critical subject matter, we've elected to publish each segment one at a time here on our blog. Read, enjoy, share, and take to heart the following information brought to you by the most prestigious thought leaders in EMS. Today's entry is written by Kerri Hatt, Editor-in-Chief of EMS1.

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EMS leaders respond to the 2022 EMS Trend Survey results with concrete steps to improve recruitment, retention, wellness, and safety

The EMS Trend Survey identifies where growth is needed to impact the sustainability and future of the industry. But growth requires a commitment to action.

We’ve asked a group of EMS veterans and up-and-coming leaders to identify areas where change is needed, as indicated by EMS Trend Survey results, and to offer action items for EMS supervisors, managers and chiefs.

By examining your service’s leadership strategies, and taking the steps outlined below, you’re on your way to elevating the safety, engagement and career health of your providers.

Editor's Note: On August 1st, 2022, EMS1, Fitch & Associates, and the National EMS Management Association released their fifth annual EMS Trend Report, proudly sponsored by Pulsara. Because the articles and advice found within contain such critical subject matter, we've elected to publish each segment one at a time here on our blog. Read, enjoy, share, and take to heart the following information brought to you by the most prestigious thought leaders in EMS. Today's entry is written by Anthony W. Minge, EdD, senior partner at Fitch & Associates.

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Translating data into information, and information into action

Survey questions for the EMS Trend Survey were developed through a collaboration between EMS1, Fitch & Associates and the EMS Survey Team – which was instrumental in collection and interpretation of data. The EMS Trend Survey was conducted online in early 2022. The survey was widely promoted and open to any member of the EMS community. More than 3,200 people responded, the most in the survey’s history. They represent a wide range of service models, certification levels and years of experience, and every region of the nation.

The 2022 EMS Trend Survey results reinforce what many of us see every day. More than two years into the pandemic, it’s still impacting every aspect of our profession – from recruitment and retention, to safety, to how you assess and treat patients.

As we have realized that this pandemic is not just a flash in the pan, but something we may be dealing with for a long time, we have also been able to move forward. Many innovations that departments initially put on hold because of COVID-19 have now been implemented. In other cases, changes wrought by this global health emergency now have uses well beyond COVID patients and may be with us, helping patients and the people who care for them, for years to come.

New functionalities enable healthcare teams to configure their ideal workflows for specific patient case types. 

Bozeman, Mont., August 4, 2022 — Pulsara, the leading mobile telehealth, communication, and logistics platform that unites healthcare teams and technologies across organizations during dynamic events, recently released six new patient types that connect distributed teams on a single flexible and scalable platform. From prehospital care to the many in-hospital teams and specialists, the new functionalities unite care teams around each unique patient case, enabling reduced treatment times, improved team collaboration, and streamlined transfers. 

"Pulsara's platform allows flexible interactions in and across any organization, enabling access to the people you need, right when you need them,” said Kate Leatherby, Regional Vice President (U.S. West) at Pulsara. “This capability is truly invaluable for all care teams. For any patient type, care team communication and collaboration are improved—and patient care is invariably improved in the process.”

Pulsara recently released six new patient types—behavioral health, obstetrics, and toxicology/overdose, which were previously reported on, as well as surgical emergency, pulmonary embolism, and shock/ECMO. These new functionalities expand the power of the platform and improve support and care coordination for additional types of patients. Each of these patient types allows clinicians to match their patients with the appropriate care teams and specialized resources through flexible and scalable interactions as the patient case evolves. Clinicians can leverage Pulsara’s telehealth video calling and photo sharing functionality to consult with other clinicians, determine the most appropriate disposition, and guarantee follow-up in the process.