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14 min read

10 Things You Need to Know to Increase Interagency Cooperation and Collaboration

By Team Pulsara on Dec 04, 2020

EDITOR'S NOTE:This article originally appeared on EMS1.com. Special thanks to our guest author, Michael Fraley of EMS1 BrandFocus. 

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It is probably safe to say that as long as humans have been sharing space with each other, there has always been some level of conflict. Struggles between coworkers can come from competition, innovation or a desire for improvement. Handled incorrectly, though, that conflict can also lead to inefficiencies, stagnation and harm to all parties involved.

Topics: EMS Connected Teams 10 Things You Need To Know
3 min read

Save Money and Improve Patient Outcomes with Pulsara

By Kinsie Clarkson on Nov 23, 2020

“A 500-bed hospital loses more than $4 million annually as a result of communication inefficiencies.” — National Center for Biotechnology Information

There is a communication crisis in hospitals today, as doctors and nurses are forced to use pagers, fax machines, and other forms of outdated technology to communicate critical patient information. These old technologies don’t talk to each other, either — so your staff ends up spending hours every day collecting, repeating, recording, and re-recording information. From the routine consult to critical COVID-19 management, these kinds of workflows negatively affect patient outcomes and organizational efficiencies. That’s a lot of valuable time down the drain.

Topics: Communication Connected Teams Systems of Care Telehealth
5 min read

Patient-Centric Emergency Medicine’s New Standard: Mobile Communication

By Kinsie Clarkson on Nov 16, 2020

Are you using old, non-patient-centric communication technologies like pagers or phone calls (or even WhatsApp) to solve present-day healthcare challenges? Do you ever wonder if there's a better way to connect your care teams? 

At the European Resuscitation Council Virtual Congress on Oct. 24, 2020, Greg Brown, RN, Pulsara's Western Regional Sales Manager, hosted an exclusive webinar exploring just that. In "Patient-Centric Emergency Medicine: Why Mobile Team Communication Across Healthcare Organizations is the New Standard," Greg discusses how to improve acute care team communication and patient outcomes by switching to mobile technology — and why it is imperative to inter-organizational success.

Topics: Communication Technology Time Sensitive Emergencies Connected Teams Miscommunication Systems of Care COVID-19 Inter-Organization Communication Telehealth
5 min read

Night Shift: Streamlining Communication for Off-Hours Patient Events

By Team Pulsara on Nov 13, 2020

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

Emergencies don't slow down for nights and weekends. What can we do to improve outcomes for patients admitted during off hours? 

If you’ve ever done long shift work in the hospital setting, you know how taxing it can be. Being on for a long stretch is both mentally and physically exhausting. When that work falls on off hours, those stressors are magnified. Working nights and weekends adds an immense layer of complexity to already high-risk situations. Emergencies don’t slow down after hours. STEMIs, traumas, and codes all arrive during the night, just the same as during the day; but with less staff present and fewer resources, you also have to deal with calling in all the necessary members of the care team. 

Topics: Technology Time Sensitive Emergencies Connected Teams Off Hours Care
2 min read

Video Interview: Australia’s Latrobe Regional Hospital & Ambulance Victoria

By Kinsie Clarkson on Nov 04, 2020

Earlier this year, in the weeks before COVID-19 changed life and healthcare as we know it, Latrobe Regional Hospital near Melbourne, Australia, was busy laying the groundwork for a new communication system between their hospital teams and Ambulance Victoria. Over the course of the next few months, Latrobe was able to implement Pulsara for treating patients across multiple departments, including stroke, mental health, pediatrics, trauma—and most pressingly, COVID-19. 

Topics: Stroke Press Communication Telemedicine Connected Teams COVID-19 Telehealth Customer Success Australia
7 min read

Study: Lower Door-to-Needle Times Linked to Lower All-Cause Mortality

By Kinsie Clarkson on Oct 30, 2020

A new study shows that every 15-minute decrease in door-to-needle time is linked to lower all-cause mortality. How can we work to reduce door-to-needle times?

When a neurologist utters the phrase "time is brain," the implication is that every minute counts in treating each stroke patient. A recent study is further confirming what stroke teams have known since 1993: efficient treatment is everything to better outcomes in stroke care. 

Topics: Stroke Communication Time Sensitive Emergencies Connected Teams
3 min read

An Easier Way to Coordinate Care—No Matter Where You Are

By Josh Jordan on Oct 23, 2020

Have you ever had to coordinate care for a really sick patient that needed an immediate transfer or consult, and had to divert your attention away from the patient in order to get in touch with all the necessary team members? Have you ever been frustrated by just how much time and runaround it takes to get everyone on the same page? 

Physical distance is part of the package when you’re trying to coordinate care for patients. Whether you’re down the hallway or miles apart, getting the right information to the right people at the right time can be a challenge. That’s why having clear, established lines of communication is vital to successfully coordinating patient care.

Topics: Communication Time Sensitive Emergencies Connected Teams Interoperability
8 min read

Quadruple Aim: How One Telehealth Platform Is Changing the Game

By Kinsie Clarkson on Oct 21, 2020

Of all the various crises facing healthcare in 2020, there is one underlying root issue that directly affects all of them. It determines everything about every single patient's care journey, from each care decision to every patient outcome. 

However, very few healthcare professionals think to start with this issue in improving patient outcomes. 

What's the issue? 

Communication

Topics: Time Sensitive Emergencies Connected Teams COVID-19 Inter-Organization Communication Telehealth HIPAA Customer Success
2 min read

Australia’s Latrobe Regional Hospital Improves Door-to-CT Times by 68% with Pulsara (Case Study)

By Kinsie Clarkson on Sep 28, 2020

For Latrobe Regional Hospital (LRH) near Melbourne, Australia, streamlining communication has been a major area of focus, both to improve patient care and to strengthen collaboration across its healthcare system. Up until the beginning of 2020, they used a combination of phone calls and pagers to interface among Emergency Services, ED, and hospital staff—resulting in inefficiencies and challenging communication for caregivers.

Topics: Stroke Press Communication Connected Teams COVID-19 Telehealth Customer Success Australia
1 min read

St. Bernards Medical Center Improves STEMI Care Coordination (Case Study)

By Kinsie Clarkson on Sep 09, 2020

With state-of-the-art facilities and well-trained caregivers, St. Bernards’ cardiac teams were already achieving door-to-balloon (DTB) times well within the recommended guidelines for STEMI response. But that didn’t stop them from looking for ways to get even better.

“We have a lean process for STEMI response, but we needed a way to see the bigger picture for identifying areas we could improve,” said Lindsey Stacy, the hospital’s STEMI coordinator.

Topics: STEMI Press Communication Connected Teams Systems of Care Customer Success
2 min read

Better Stroke Care for NY Mount St. Mary's Hospital

By Team Pulsara on Aug 14, 2020

New York Hospital Improves Communication and Door-to-Needle Times with Pulsara

Just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, care teams at Mount St. Mary’s Hospital in Lewiston, New York realized that they needed a better way to communicate. According to an article published recently in a local Lewiston news source, Mount St. Mary’s chose to adopt Pulsara in order to open better lines of communication between EMS and emergency department staff.

Pulsara is a mobile-first telehealth and communication platform that connects teams across organizations. Through the use of mobile technology, Pulsara allows every member of the care team —from medics to nurses to physicians — to communicate on one dedicated channel for each patient. And for stroke patients at Mount St. Mary’s Regional Stroke Center, more efficient care team communication can have a major impact.

Topics: Stroke Communication Telemedicine Technology Connected Teams Interoperability Customer Success
7 min read

How Austin-Travis County Uses Pulsara to Manage the COVID Crisis & Beyond

By Kinsie Clarkson on Jul 29, 2020

As EMS agencies all over the country have struggled to handle COVID-19, many are searching for answers. How do we prepare for possible future waves of COVID-19? Outdated technology cannot keep up with the variety of new challenges. Is there a way to streamline communication and use mobile technology to solve problems and still deliver high-quality patient care? Could such a solution be flexible and scalable, able to handle any situation—even a pandemic?

When COVID-19 hit, Austin-Travis County EMS, serving the Austin, Texas area, had the tools at their disposal to build an efficient system to help mitigate the crisis. They embraced mobile technology in an effort to improve communication, minimize the risk of exposure to healthcare providers, and continue to provide patients with the smartest and most effective quality of care.

Topics: EMS Communication Connected Teams Community Paramedicine COVID-19 Customer Success
4 min read

Interconnected Teams: A Centralized Approach to Acute Care Medicine

By Team Pulsara on Jul 20, 2020

Time and accuracy in acute care are paramount at every stage of the care process, starting with dispatch and carrying through to the hospital. Time is tissue, and communication errors can lead to avoidable injury or even death. Care teams can’t afford to not get it right. Patients and their families are counting on them.

According to The Joint Commission, 80 percent of medical errors result from miscommunications between caregivers during transitions of care. Fueled by data like this, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has acknowledged that there is a communication crisis in healthcare: “Problems with communication between clinicians are pervasive and clearly result in preventable patient harm,” they state in their article on communication between clinicians. “Seminal studies have shown that poor levels of communication exist between clinicians at all levels of the health care system. The Joint Commission has found that communication issues are the most common root cause of sentinel events (serious and preventable patient harm incidents).” 

Miscommunication and treatment errors stem from a lack of a single effective communication method. Pagers, fax machines, and radios still dominate healthcare communication, and these technologies don’t allow care teams to communicate with one another as quickly or efficiently as they could. In order to establish effective team communication, then, it’s time to consider how mobile technology can help. 

Topics: Technology Connected Teams Inter-Organization Communication
8 min read

How Cy-Fair Fire Department Prepared for and Continues to Mitigate the COVID-19 Crisis

By Team Pulsara on Jul 02, 2020

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

At Pulsara, we're committed to helping your organization recover from the initial COVID-19 wave, and prepare for current and future cases. One such way we're striving to equip care teams is by publishing thought leadership and real life examples of how other health systems have successfully managed COVID-19 and its widespread effects.

When COVID-19 hit the U.S., Pulsara client Cy-Fair Fire Department was prepared. They immediately put protocols in place to help mitigate the spread, which they are continuing to use and refine, and even put together a few informational videos to help other EMS agencies. Read on to learn how Cy-Fair was able to prepare for the first wave, and what they are currently doing to manage and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 by leveraging innovative technologies and systems.

On January 23rd, while the world was watching the evolution of the COVID-19 crisis overseas, the command staff at the Cy-Fair Fire Department met to plan their response. Headed up by Assistant Chief Justin Reed and Communications Chief Angela Burrer, the group began to discuss the threat they knew they were about to face. 

With a service area covering 156 square miles and a population of approximately 475,000 people, the Cy-Fair team knew the potential impacts for the area were enormous. Clear communication was going to be important, they decided, so after that initial meeting, they chose to schedule daily morning video/phone briefings for all on-duty personnel and recorded them for those that were on a response. 

As the virus slowly advanced towards the United States, Cy-Fair staff recognized the logistical concerns of providing appropriate clinical care, recognizing patients early, being mindful of overtriage, and managing personal protective equipment and force protection. They made it a priority to plan accordingly.

Topics: Connected Teams COVID-19 Customer Success
4 min read

Upcoming Webinar: The Next-Gen Communication and Telehealth Plan of Action for Your Hospital

By Nathan Williams on Jun 22, 2020

Regulatory and reimbursement changes, coupled with present day challenges, require C-suite healthcare executives to think differently. Your acute care, collaboration and coordination solution needs to be scalable and flexible to span across all phases of healthcare. In this Becker's Hospital Review webinar, featuring experts from the Pulsara leadership team, learn how clinicians and thought leaders are creating a new path forward, based around HIPAA-compliant, secure, mobile-first telehealth communication platforms.

When: Wednesday, June 24th, 2020 | 12:00 pm EST / 11:00 am CT / 10:00 am MT / 9:00 am PT

How: SIGN UP HERE

Keep reading to learn more!

Topics: Technology Connected Teams Telehealth
2 min read

Longview Regional Medical Center Achieves Record STEMI Treatment Times (Case Study)

By Kinsie Clarkson on Jun 12, 2020

Longview Regional Medical Center (LRMC) has long had a well-designed and fully functioning process for identifying and rapidly treating STEMI patients. The hospital was meeting its goal of keeping door-to-reperfusion times under 60 minutes; as a result, patient outcomes were generally very good. Despite their satisfactory performance, the teams at LRMC believed they could reduce their treatment times even further to improve patient outcomes.

Topics: STEMI Press Communication Connected Teams Systems of Care Customer Success
2 min read

Lessons in Care Coordination from a Kitchen Remodel

By Brittney Nelson, BSN, RN, SCRN on Jun 10, 2020

Right before shelter-in-place struck, my husband and I started remodeling our kitchen. It’s a relatively small kitchen, and we have done the majority of the work ourselves. Because of this, the number of people needed to complete the job was significantly smaller than if we had hired a contractor.

However, over the last few months I have grown increasingly frustrated by trying to coordinate communication between the small number of individuals required to finish the job! Between window installers, countertop installers, and tile installers, I have been making tons of phone calls trying to keep the ball rolling and ensuring everyone is lined up appropriately. It’s a lot of work keeping track of everyone, and it takes up a ton of time just to make sure everything will run like it’s supposed to.

You may be wondering how this relates to time-sensitive emergencies. Kitchen remodels are the polar opposite of time-sensitive emergencies in most ways — after all, they’re not at all life threatening or serious. But as I began to realize, they can be equally as frustrating in the coordination and communication department.

Topics: Communication Technology Connected Teams
3 min read

PRESS RELEASE: Missouri’s Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center First in State to Embrace Leading Edge Telehealth and Communication Platform, Pulsara

By Team Pulsara on Jun 08, 2020

How one rural hospital is leading the charge to leverage innovative mobile technology for improved care team communication and collaboration.

Topics: Press Connected Teams
8 min read

Better Communication for COVID-19 & Beyond: Colorado Springs + Pulsara

By Kinsie Clarkson on May 29, 2020

As EMS agencies all over the country have struggled to handle COVID-19, many are searching for answers. How do we prepare for possible future waves of COVID-19? Outdated technology cannot keep up with the variety of new challenges. Is there a way to streamline communication and use mobile technology to solve problems and still deliver high-quality patient care? Could such a solution be flexible and scalable, able to handle any situation—even a pandemic? 

When COVID-19 hit, UCHealth Memorial Central and the Colorado Springs Fire Department were more ready than they anticipated. They had already put in place a communication solution that would enable them to better manage and mitigate the crisis. Though the pandemic brought unprecedented challenges, Colorado Springs used Pulsara to remedy many of the communication issues created by COVID-19. They were able to provide faster, safer patient care by improving care team communication and collaboration across organizations. This is their story.

Topics: EMS Connected Teams COVID-19 Customer Success
3 min read

PRESS RELEASE: CHRISTUS Good Shepherd Medical Center - Longview Achieves 59% Decrease in Door-to-Needle Time with Innovative Telemedicine Platform, Pulsara

By Team Pulsara on May 27, 2020

By replacing pagers and phone calls with mobile-first technology across the entire patient care team, a hospital achieves better patient outcomes and care team collaboration.

Topics: Stroke Press Connected Teams Customer Success