Team Pulsara

Teller County, CO develops a first-of-its-kind telehealth program using Pulsara as the backbone for rural health communications

BOZEMAN, Mont., August 16, 2021 — Pulsara, the leading mobile telehealth, communication, and logistics platform that unites healthcare teams and technologies across organizations during dynamic events, published new details on Teller County, Colorado’s groundbreaking community paramedicine and telehealth program. Reporting on their initial challenges, the solutions they found, and results, the “911-INITIATED TELEMEDICINE: Next-Level Patient Care for Rural Colorado” case study reveals a new pathway forward for EMS agencies across the globe.

As COVID-19 escalated across the country in early 2020, EMS and hospital leaders in Teller County, CO identified that residents were reluctant to seek care—for any condition—at the hospital. “Up to 40% of our EMS volume does not want to go to the hospital once 911 arrives,” said Dr. Jeremy DeWall, EMS Medical Director for the Teller region. “Looking at our numbers, the fear was that we were missing a large group of people who were without healthcare or afraid to go to healthcare because of COVID-19.” 

Leveraging their already thriving community paramedicine program, Teller County’s Ute Pass Regional Health Service District and Emergency Medical Specialists, PC set in motion a new 911-initiated telemedicine program, utilizing Pulsara’s telehealth capabilities to address the acute needs of the community. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article originally appeared on EMS1.com. Special thanks to our guest author, David Wright, MS, PA-C, NREMT-P, for EMS1 BrandFocus. 

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The most important initial care step is to stop the burning process, but it’s also critical to know how to identify the type of burn and estimate the total area affected to help select the most appropriate destination for the patient

You and your partner are responding to a 911 call. Dispatch informs you that your patient suffered a burn. There is no additional information available at this time because the caller is quite panicked.

Your mind starts to race – maybe it’s a child who pulled a hot pot of noodles on top of themselves, maybe it’s a teenager playing with gasoline, maybe it’s a firefighter who was battling a fire, maybe it’s a grandparent who fell on a space heater.

No matter the situation you find when you arrive on scene, there are a few basic principles that apply to all burn patients. Here are 10 things EMS providers need to know to better assess and treat burns.

To further support care teams, Pulsara introduces enhancements to the communication platform’s calling capabilities.

BOZEMAN, Mont., July 28, 2021 — Pulsara, the leading mobile telehealth, communication, and logistics platform that connects healthcare teams across organizations, announced today a recent enhancement to the platform: Pulsara calling featuring group video conferencing. This upgrade, available for all users of the platform at no extra charge, includes the ability to add multiple team members as needed across organizations and adds overall improved usability—including configurable default behavior for camera and speaker and advanced controls for call participants. 

“The group video conferencing addition to Pulsara calling marks an exciting next step in Pulsara’s journey to improve the lives of people in need and those who serve them,” said Erich Hannan, Pulsara’s Chief Technology Officer. “We've heard loud and clear from our customers how important exceptional audio and video experience is to support and enhance patient care. Pulsara calling with group video enables even more powerful and streamlined communication and collaboration across teams and organizations.”

When our customers experience the benefits of Pulsara—from faster door-to-needle times and minimized errors to improved team communication and reduced costs—it goes without saying that we love to share and celebrate their successes. LewisGale Regional Health System in southwest Virginia is just such a case, recently releasing both a press release and video testimonial about how Pulsara is helping them better support their patients and care teams.

From their press release:

“EMS plays a vital role in improving care for these patients, and we’ve known for some time that patients with life-threatening conditions receive faster treatment when EMS activate the appropriate hospital team from the field,” said Steven Pasternak, MD, emergency department medical director at LewisGale Medical Center. “This new, cloud-based, mobile technology further decreases the amount of time it takes to communicate vital data and activate hospital teams compared to traditional methods of communication between ERs and EMS. For example, if a patient has had a suspected cardiac event, the EKG administered by EMS in the field can be transmitted in real-time to the hospital, which enables the hospital to be ready to perform, if necessary, a cardiac catheterization procedure to open blocked arteries as soon as the patient arrives.”

Make a plan for treating pediatric pain that includes managing unfamiliarity and stress in both the patient and their parents or caregivers

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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The most complete definition of pain is “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling that associated with, actual or potential tissue damage” (IASP). It is a highly complex and subjective condition in any patient.

With pediatrics, this complexity is intensified by the fact that paramedics don’t encounter pediatric patients as frequently, creating more unfamiliarity and stress. Challenges related to paramedic training and exposure to pediatrics often lead to myths and misconceptions. Here are 10 important things every provider should know about managing pain in children.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article originally appeared on EMS1.com. Special thanks to our guest author, Sarah Calams of EMS1 Frontline Voices. 

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Community paramedics are pioneering new ways to care for mental health patients – here’s how

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, EMS providers have seen an alarming uptick in patients refusing to go to their doctor’s office or the emergency room. Many others – including those with urgent conditions – have even been hesitant to call 911.

“We saw patients who were just foregoing all of their medical care – they were ignoring their emergency conditions,” said James McLaughlin, director of the community paramedicine program at Ute Pass Regional Health Service District in Woodland Park, Colorado.

To ease his community’s fears, McLaughlin introduced a new Healthcare Options Mobility and Engagement, or HOME, program, which pairs an in-home paramedic visit with a telehealth consult by a physician – like Dr. Jeremy DeWall, EMS medical director at Ute Pass Regional Health Service District.

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

Annual Celebrations Bring Us Together

National holidays bring people together. We spend time with friends, families, and neighbors. We unite in common celebrations. 

But this last year has been different. 

Unity

In healthcare, the word unity has taken on a much greater meaning in the wake of COVID-19. As the world buckled under the weight of a global pandemic and many retreated into isolation, healthcare providers pulled together and risked their own safety to serve others. Information was shared across borders to help each other navigate uncharted territory. 

We asked ourselves many important questions: Are we putting our needs aside for the health, safety, and security of the general population? Are we doing things for the greater good? Are we sacrificing the right things and for the right reasons?

CONNECT with industry leaders on the latest research and best practices in STEMI, stroke, and emergency management in a post-COVID-19 world. 

BOZEMAN, Mont., June 21, 2021 — Pulsara, the leading telehealth and communication platform that connects teams across organizations, announced today the company’s inaugural Pulsara CONNECT Conference. Slated for October 12-13, 2021, this FREE virtual international experience allows attendees to engage with world-class industry experts and thought leaders across the healthcare community. With four tracks—EMS/Community Paramedicine, STEMI/Cardiac, Stroke/Neuro, and DES/Emergency Management—attendees will take away tangible best practices that they can incorporate within their region. Topics include everything from the latest research and best practices surrounding time-sensitive emergencies to creating systems of care that scale in a world attempting to recover from COVID-19 and prepare for what might be next.

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

2020 was a year of pivots.

Movies being released on streaming services and Netflix rather than in theaters. Peloton and home virtual gym sales through the roof. Zoom & Microsoft Teams replacing the office board room. All of these are shining examples of our ability to use technology to adapt during the perilous times of COVID-19. With our need to remain connected while isolated, we saw everything from your cousin’s baby shower to your favorite artist’s concert taking place online.

So what was the answer that Pulsara, a company already based in healthcare communication and connection, had for the sudden need for flexibility that the global pandemic demanded?

Enter: Pulsara PATIENT. 

How one Mississippi hospital pioneered a cross-departmental triage workflow in their facility by leveraging a mobile-first telehealth communications platform

BOZEMAN, Mont., May 24, 2021 — Pulsara, the leading telehealth and communication platform that connects teams across organizations, announced today that St. Dominic Hospital, located in Jackson, MS, has pioneered an innovative new triage protocol that uses Pulsara’s platform to improve care team communication and patient care. After initially embracing Pulsara for front-end stroke and STEMI care, the hospital recently saw an opportunity to further improve other cross-departmental workflows via the same mobile-first platform.

BOZEMAN, Mont., May 19, 2021 — Pulsara, the leading mobile telehealth and communication platform that connects healthcare teams across organizations, announced today that the company was named a 2021 SIIA CODiE Award finalist in the category of Best Business Technology Pivot. Finalists represent the best products, technologies, and services in software, information, and business technology.

Acknowledged as the premier awards program for the software and information industries for over 35 years, the SIIA CODiE Awards are produced by the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA), the principal trade association for the software, education, media, and digital content industries. Pulsara was honored as one of 153 finalists across the 43 business technology categories, including two categories in response to COVID-19.

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

EDITOR'S UPDATE: The ET3 program is mentioned throughout the below article. Please note that, as reported by JEMS.com on 6/28/23, the federal government is ending the ET3 program. According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, “This decision does not affect Model Participants’ participation in the Model through December 31, 2023.” Read the full article on JEMS for more details: ET3 Program Comes to an Abrupt End. Be advised that Mobile Integrated Healthcare and Community Paramedicine are separate initiatives and are unaffected by the ET3 program termination.

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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Imagine that you are a paramedic in a rural region who has been summoned by 999 dispatch to the scene of a home accident. All you know is that there is a patient with suspected burns who is counting on you to save his life. When you arrive on scene, you quickly determine that your patient is a young child of about eight years of age with third-degree burns on at least 20% of his body, including his upper torso and head. He is deteriorating rapidly into shock. Given the extent of his injuries, you realize that per protocol, he needs immediate transport to a burn centre. As your partner begins to start an IV, you radio the regional command centre to provide the patient’s status and urgently request critical-care transport via air ambulance. Precious seconds turn into minutes as you stand by waiting for a reply from the command centre with an ETA for the air ambulance team... 

CHI St. Vincent Adopts Advanced Communication System for Heart Attack, Stroke, and Trauma Patient Care

CHI St. Vincent became the first health system in Arkansas to implement the full suite of Pulsara communication capabilities for coordinated teams to dramatically improve responses for every patient type, including ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) heart attacks, stroke and other trauma care scenarios. Pulsara is a telehealth and communication platform that enables HIPAA compliant, dynamic networked communications between EMS, hospitals, and other healthcare providers for any patient event. Following successful Arkansas trials at multiple hospitals that saw average Door-to-Device treatment time for STEMI patients reduced by 19-percent, allowing cardiologists to get patient blood vessels reopened faster, the Arkansas STEMI Advisory Council proposed that healthcare services begin adopting Pulsara statewide in April 2020.

BOZEMAN, Mont., April 21, 2021 — Pulsara, the only mobile telehealth and communication platform that connects healthcare teams across organizations, announced today that the company has been honored as a finalist in the 2021 Excellence in Customer Service Awards presented by Business Intelligence Group.

“On the frontline of our uncertain times are customer service professionals and suppliers without whom we wouldn’t be able to live as comfortably as we have for the last year,” said Maria Jimenez, Chief Operating Officer of the Business Intelligence Group. “It is our honor to recognize Pulsara as they are leading by example and making real progress on improving the daily lives of so many.”

Editor's Note: The following blog is based on the webinar Plug the Hole! Leveraging Telehealth to Stop System Leakage, sponsored by Pulsara in collaboration with Becker's Healthcare. Their complete list of top takeaways can be found here.

With many health systems still dealing with financial stress from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more important than ever to ensure money and market share are not lost to competitors. One way to reduce unnecessary patient transfers and revenue leaving the organization is by using a telehealth and communication platform to connect facilities.

That's what Forrest Winslow, RN, BSED, NRP, Northeast Regional Sales Manager for Pulsara, discussed during a March 23 workshop at the Becker's Healthcare Telehealth Virtual Forum. 

View the full webinar below or read on for the top takeaways you won't want to miss.