Team Pulsara

Using the Pulsara app, a Cincinnati-area health care system significantly cut down its time to treatment for cardiac cases.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following content originally appeared on EMS1.com as paid content sponsored by Pulsara. Special thanks to our guest bloggers, the EMS1 BrandFocus Staff. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: Special thanks to Cynthia Bradford Lencioni for writing today's blog post. You can connect with her on LinkedIn. 

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Security vulnerabilities are a concern for everyone in this day and age when it seems there’s a major security incident in the news each week. And unfortunately, health care entities have been specifically targeted for their sensitive, monetizable information.

Most medics have encountered a crashing Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) patient at some point in their career, and chances are not all of those cases were managed perfectly. This can be a challenging group to assess and treat, especially because your patient is likely very scared and anxious.

Pulsara has teamed up with EMS1 to produce an original video series of critical paramedicine tips and techniques, called Progressive Paramedicine. In this week's video, Pulsara's Brandon Means reviews three things to remember when managing the crashing CHF patient: 

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Bozeman, MT -- April 1, 2017 -- In a shocking turn of events, Pulsara's former VP of Development, Erich Hannan, has recklessly abandoned his team to pursue his alternative, competitive solution to the care coordination platform. 

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St. Elizabeth Healthcare, in Edgewood, Kentucky, decreased the time to treat critical heart attack patients by 30 percent.

Edgewood, KY – Mar. 30, 2017 – In the past year, St. Elizabeth Healthcare in Edgewood, Kentucky, significantly decreased the time-to-treatment for heart attack patients, following an effort by stakeholders from every part of the care team to collaborate and improve processes that speed up care. This improvement was due also in part to the use of a mobile app, Pulsara, which puts timely, clear information in the hands of everyone responsible for caring for the patient, both inside and outside of the hospital.

For patients who arrived at St. Elizabeth Edgewood via ambulance, the average time from first medical contact (FMC) — defined as the moment emergency medical services (EMS) first arrives at the patient’s side — to the administration of artery-opening treatment in the hospital dropped 30 percent, from 103 minutes in the first quarter of 2016 to 72 minutes in January 2017. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends aiming for a time-to-treatment of less than 90 minutes because it has been associated with better outcomes for heart attack patients.

Time is critical in the ability to care efficiently and effectively for patients, especially for STEMI cases. To remain viable in today’s cost-and-quality focused healthcare environment, hospitals must strive to achieve best practice patient care (or exceed such measures) while demonstrating strong clinical competencies for top results at the lowest operational cost. Meanwhile, technology and treatment advances are also changing the way patient care is provided and streamlined, including care from prehospital entry through discharge.

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[Bozeman, MT] — Mar. 23, 2017 — James Woodson, MD, Founder and CEO of Pulsara, was recognized as a recipient of an EMS10: Innovators in EMS 2016 Award at a ceremony at the EMS Today Conference & Exposition last month. Hosted by the Journal of Emergency Medical Services (JEMS) and sponsored by Physio-Control, a part of Stryker Corporation, the EMS10 awards recognize ten individuals who made significant innovative contributions in EMS in the previous year. Over 40 nominations were considered for this year’s award.

A panel of EMS professionals selected the ten distinguished winners, who “each displayed initiative, creative thinking, action-orientation and a desire to positively impact EMS, patients, and their communities,” according to JEMS.

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[Bozeman, MT] — Mar. 14, 2017 —Duke University School of Medicine researchers found that patients with stroke received faster treatment when emergency medical services (EMS) activated the stroke team from the field than patients who presented by other methods of arrival.

The researchers conducted a retrospective analysis of 12 major medical centers that used Pulsara’s Stop Stroke, a mobile application that allows EMS transporting a stroke patient to notify emergency department staff and stroke specialists with the tap of a button on a smart phone. Using data from March 2013 to May 2016, they found cases activated by EMS in the field resulted in significant reductions in door-to-CT scan and door-to-needle times as well as an increased likelihood of meeting door-to-needle goal when compared to cases activated in the emergency department.

Editor's Note: The following excerpt originally appeared on the Healthcare Informatics website on March 7, 2017, and the article can be read in its entirety here. Pulsara is humbled by the incredible care teams in Colorado Springs who are tirelessly working and innovating to provide the best possible care for their community. A vision without action is worth very little. It is the hard work and dedication of these teams that is truly making the difference in acute care and in the lives of patients.

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Hospital physicians and nurses know all too well that time can make a difference when treating patients suffering from a heart attack or stroke. Unfortunately, gaps in communication between emergency responders and hospital staff is a persistent and common problem and can slow down the process of getting accurate, pertinent patient information from the field, such as the emergency medical technicians and paramedics on the scene, to the hospital staff.

To tackle these challenges, hospitals from two different health systems have partnered with each other and with a dozen local emergency medical services (EMS) agencies to use mobile technology to coordinate their care teams to accelerate time to treatment for critical care patients and to provide better care for stroke and heart attack patients.

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Read the full interview with Pulsara’s CEO right here.

[Bozeman, MT] — Feb. 17, 2017 — Healthcare Informatics has selected Pulsara to receive this year’s Innovation in Interoperability Award, which recognizes outstanding healthcare IT innovation that enhances clinician workflow, exchanges data, and/or reduces costs.

A panel of Healthcare Informatics expert editorial board members selected Pulsara for its innovative, industry-leading platform — the only solution of its kind that manages the entire care process from EMS through to definitive care. Pulsara performs like an app on users’ smart phones or tablets, allowing care teams to securely coordinate and accelerate life-saving care in emergency situations.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Special thanks to Scott Stanley for writing today's blog post. You can connect with him on LinkedIn. 

... No, it's not chocolates and flowers.

The medical research community is continually providing us with exciting new technology and clinical findings that can make our jobs in EMS easier and our treatments more precise. So why are we not always sharing these findings with our patients? Well I’m here to tell you, those 80’s parachute pants were great 35 years ago but it’s time to buy some new britches.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Special thanks to Kelly Meredith for writing today's blog post. You can connect with her on LinkedIn. 

Last month, we brought you some tips for making new company and department goals that your team can actually stick to (and can make any time of year). But I wanted to expand on the old concept of new years resolutions from a more individual lens, since I think it’s safe to say that many of us can easily get down on ourselves for not sticking to those lofty ambitions. Let’s face it, it’s an all too familiar tale...

EDITOR'S NOTE: Special thanks to Alison Bruns for writing today's blog post. You can connect with her on LinkedIn. 

Whether you're a doctor, nurse, EMT, IT specialist, hospital administrator, tech company CEO, etc. etc. etc., it's crucial to take some regular time out to reflect on your career performance and focus on your goals for the future. But, New Years resolutions can tend to get lost under the pile of your other to-dos. So how can you help yourself and your team stick to your new goals? For one, you can eliminate the obstacles of ‘falling off the wagon’ by engaging your team in the practice and holding each other accountable for the goals you make. Also key is to consistently document the progress of the goals you make for yourself both personally and professionally. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: Special thanks to Scott Stanley for writing today's blog post. You can connect with him on LinkedIn. 

The holidays are upon us. All is calm; all is bright. But not in your local Emergency Room. Or at your community’s fire station. For providers of health care and EMS services, the holidays can feel even more stressful than any other time in their busy work lives. In addition to the usual stress they encounter as part of their job descriptions, they are burdened with being away from family and loved ones, making their shifts even harder.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Special thanks to Alison Bruns for writing today's blog post. You can connect with her on LinkedIn. 

Well, the holidays are upon us once again. This time of year creates buzz around the office, the company and worldwide. And regardless of your industry, a heightened sense of cheer and joy is often met with year-end deadlines and multiple after-hours commitments, not to mention what your personal life begs of you. While the season can be fraught with anxiety, stress and unhealthy habits, there is a way to navigate your way to a happy and balanced 2017!

The healthcare technology company ESO is hosting the WAVE 2016 conference November 17-18 in Austin, TX to provide a venue to discuss healthcare interoperability, trends, data management, and the future of the healthcare industry. The company has invited Pulsara's founder and CEO, Dr. James Woodson, to speak at WAVE 2016. The Emergency Physician-turned-CEO will present about where healthcare communications and data to intersect.