Pulsara Blog

"Technology is a tool that, when used appropriately, can change lives."

Pulsara's Chief Marketing Officer, Kris Kaull, was recently on the Med Inspired podcast where he discussed his long career in paramedicine, today's culture in EMS and how it affects the success of medics, and what advice he has for new clinicians. 

In the episode, Kris stressed the impact mentors in EMS can have -- both good and bad. Good mentors, he said, can make all the difference in a young medic's success. And, fittingly for Mental Health Awareness Month, Kris urged mentors to realize the potential they have to help other clinicians who may be struggling with the weight the industry can place on the psyche. Be aware of opportunities to help fellow medics, whether clinically or personally. "It's about paying it forward and encouraging people who are trying to build something," he said. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: Special thanks to our guest blogger, Reid Kiser, Founder, President, and CEO of Kiser Healthcare Solutions. Reid is an innovative leader who has served in a variety of capacities with healthcare organizations over the past 20 years addressing healthcare quality, performance measurement, data analytics and reporting, and business systems design. He currently provides strategic consulting services and subject matter expertise through client engagements and multi-stakeholder panels focused on improving healthcare quality. He can be reached at rrkiser@kisersolutions.com.

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Quality is a critical piece of the health care equation. To date, so much focus (and rightfully so) has been placed on prevention and management of chronic conditions, and more recently, overuse and inappropriate use. After all, these contribute to a significant chunk of our industry’s healthcare costs. But what about all of the inefficiencies and waste our systems generate when it comes to provider communications and care delivery? It's hard for most people who don't work in healthcare to get over the fact that fax machines still hold a place on countertops at our medical facilities. And providers still wear beepers on the belt loop? Clutter is a term that comes to mind, thanks to my wife’s teachings.

When it comes to healthcare, we track a lot of metrics. We know how many beds the hospital has and the number of annual ED visits. But there's one area that is still uncharted territory: just ask anyone in the hospital how many teams they have. I promise you will hear crickets.

At Pulsara, our focus is on real time TEAM communication that crosses healthcare entities. Okay, but which teams exactly are we referring to? While the answer is essentially endless (Pulsara can be used for ANY patient, ANY condition, ANY EMS or Hospital team member), here are 10 teams that immediately jump to mind when asked what our customers use Pulsara for.

Earlier this month, Pulsara Founder and CEO, Dr. James Woodson teamed up with Georgia Trauma Commission Trauma System Planner, Billy Kunkle, to present a webinar hosted by Becker's Hospital Review about regional systems of care and how they help improve patient outcomes. The following is an excerpt from a Becker's article about the key points of the webinar.

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

It’s almost a guarantee these days …

As I aimlessly wander around a store checking window shopping for things I don’t need, I overhear other people around me uttering under their breath, “Does this spark joy?”

Now if you have no idea where that expression comes from, then you need to get yourself caught up on the Art of KonMari AKA the Tidying Up craze that is sweeping the world!

For someone as obsessively tidy and clean as myself, seeing others discover the oh-so-lovely principles of a decluttered life … well it’s like finally getting to scratch an unbelievable itch. Marie Kondo — an organizing guru — has worked her way into the homes of millions of people, sparking a wave of organizing and decluttering that is literally changing people's lives.

And I love it! (As do a number of our own OCD Pulsara team members. Check our our CMO’s sock and t-shirt drawers!) 

So what on Earth does this have to do with Pulsara?  

EMS1.com recently featured Pulsara's Founder and CEO, James in an episode of their Inside EMS podcast, where he discussed regional systems of care and how they impact effective communication. Below is an excerpt of the accompanying article, as well as the podcast episode for your listening pleasure. 

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In this episode, co-hosts Chris Cebollero and Kelly Grayson are joined by Founder and CEO of Pulsara Dr. James Woodson. Dr. Woodson shares his expertise by defining documentation and how it relates to good patient care, as well as the role and responsibility of providers to use effective communication and shares his opinions as to why EMS has trouble connecting with the care team.

“When I signed us up [for Pulsara], I had no idea I’d be one of the patients to use it.” -  El Dorado Fire Chief Mosby.

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

The secret to effective communication is knowing how and when to share your message. This is something that, after 20 years of marriage, I am finally starting to grasp the concept of.

Let me explain: When we communicate with others, we can do so in two ways -- in real-time (synchronously), or we can deliver a message that can be consumed by the recipient when it is convenient for them, (asynchronously).

For instance, I have found that when communicating with my wife about an injury to one of my children, a phone call, no matter what time of day or night, is warranted. Information is shared between us that is used to make decisions in the care and treatment of those injuries, and an action plan is set in place quickly. This real-time, synchronous communication lets us be as efficient as possible under time-sensitive conditions. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: Special thanks to Courtney Chumley, FACPE, for writing today's blog post. You can connect with her on LinkedIn. 

Picture this: You receive a 911 call for chest pain, and on arrival you are quick to identify that your patient is having a STEMI. You quickly load the patient into the medic unit and then notify the receiving facility you are on the way. You find out later that your patient went to the cath lab and is now in recovery doing well. Job well done….or was it?

What would your life be like if one day someone came and took your smartphone away from you, never to be used again? I can tell you without a doubt, I would feel totally lost. In fact, I'd be pretty useless -- I remember very few phone numbers and even fewer email addresses! Plus, I can't even remember how we found our way to new restaurants or friend's houses in other cities before our map apps! 

As Americans, we all rely very heavily on our phones, tablets, and other devices (in fact, a recent survey found that 1 in 10 millennials would rather lose a finger than never use a smartphone again). I would also be embarrassed to admit how far I have driven to retrieve my device when left somewhere. I am willing to bet you're either laughing at me or with me at this point because you have done the same! The truth of the matter is that if our mobile technology is so prevalent in our everyday lives, then why shouldn’t we leverage mobile technology to make our jobs easier too?

“Every nine minutes a person in Australia suffers from a new or recurrent stroke. The growing burden of stroke care around the globe highlights the need for advances in treatment, particularly rapid identification of symptoms and quick delivery of definitive care.” 

EMS World recently published an article describing how “Australia is employing new technology to improve stroke coordination and care.” We're honored to say that this new technology is Pulsara!

The article describes how there are limitations to linear care and how this can cause unwanted delays specifically with communication and moving the patient from one area of care to the next. With stroke care, this is not an isolated problem that only affects the US, but is recognized throughout the world.  

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

Recently, NAEMSP published a study on the importance of the quality of EMS communication handoff during pediatric resuscitations. As quoted in the study, they state “The Joint Commission has identified ineffective handoff communication as a contributing factor in 80% of serious medical errors. The quality of handoff communication from EMS to ED teams for critically ill pediatric patients needs further exploration.”

“In today’s interconnected and complex healthcare environment, an EMS leader must understand when and how to collaborate, both within the organization and with outside partners.”

Last month, EMS1.com published “The State of Collaboration in EMS” white paper, to help inform EMS leaders about the importance of and tips for collaboration within their own organizations and with outside entities.

One region featured in the white paper was Colorado Springs, CO. The region was struggling to connect the more than twelve fire and EMS organizations and five hospitals (who are part of two larger hospital systems), particularly when trying to communicate key information for time sensitive emergencies. The feature in the white paper discusses how EMS leaders in the area were able to unite all care teams, regardless of the entities they worked for, around a common goal of improving quality of care for patients in the community by reducing delays due to miscommunication.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following content originally appeared on EMS1.com. Special thanks to our guest author, Tim Nowak for EMS1 BrandFocus. Tim is the founder and CEO of Emergency Medical Solutions LLC, an independent EMS training and consulting company that he developed in 2010. He's been involved in EMS and emergency services since 2002 and has worked as an EMT, paramedic and critical care paramedic in a variety of urban, suburban, rural and hospital settings. He’s also been involved as an EMS educator, consultant, item writer, clinical preceptor, board member, reference product developer, firefighter and hazmat technician throughout his career.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Last week, EMS1, Fitch & Associates, and the National EMS Management Association released their third 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. 

About the authors: Jay Fitch, PhD, is a founding partner of Fitch & Associates, and has spent more than four decades serving the EMS community as a leader, author, speaker, educator and consultant. Guillermo Fuentes, MBA, is the Fitch & Associates partner specializing in communications and technology. He previously served in operations and leadership roles in public safety in Montreal and the Niagara region of Ontario.

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EMS is at a critical juncture in its maturation, and it is the perception and attitude of those who work in the industry that will impact the future. Culture change can only happen if leaders recognize it’s needed, and the profession takes concerted efforts to make it happen.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Special thanks to Greg Brown, MN, RN, for writing today's blog post. You can connect with him on LinkedIn. 

Last week, I introduced the first of three main obstacles I've identified in my time as a Charge Nurse: "Lack of Staffing Resources for the ED." If you missed it, you should really check out part 1 here to get some context. 

In this series, I'm discussing not only the challenges Charge Nurses face in our roles, but also the importance of maintaining a positive outlook in efforts to best keep up the morale of the rest of our teams. This next issue can be particularly difficult to tackle with a calm face, especially since it's all about the well-being of our patients. But, taking a second to breathe can help maintain relationships and ensure better outcomes for everyone involved.

Medical errors in healthcare kill about 400,000 people per year secondary to medical error.

On top of that, you have 10,000 serious medical complications every single day, which affects 1 in 5 Americans.

And, 80% of these medical errors are due to miscommunication.

According to Dr. James Woodson, Founder and CEO of Pulsara, these facts are what drove him to transition from practicing medicine full time to focusing on making the Pulsara platform a reality. 

"A lot of our staff still use pagers," Dr. Woodson said in a new podcast episode hosted by Medic2Medic. "But 50% of all pages go to the wrong person in acute scenarios. That's a massive source of miscommunication that causes complications and delays. And, in many places in the U.S. we don't have systems in place to remedy in real time when those call lists are wrong."

[NOTE: Pulsara recently spent at day at the FirstNet Innovation Lab in Boulder Colorado where Pulsara is now installed. The Lab is a centralized location to showcase the capabilities of FirstNet. Pulsara is collaborating with FirstNet to showcase the importance of real-time team communications that crosses healthcare entities. Thank you @FirstNet for your hospitality. — Shawn Olson & Brandon Means]

I recently heard a story about a STEMI patient that really drove home the magnitude of healthcare's communication problem. In this case, a member of the care team had administered a medication, and in the haste of the emergency, this critical piece of information was missed by other members of the care team. Can you predict what happened next? Yep. Another clinician administered the exact same dose again moment later. Luckily, the error wasn't life threatening, but it easily could have been.

Dr. Christopher Johnson recently authored an article about the Dangerous Game of Telephone in Hospitals.  In the article, he describes his experience as an attending physician where hospital staff tends to adopt a passive voice and third person sentence construction when discussing any decisions doctors, nurses, and other staff members make about a patient's care.