Pulsara Blog

By utilizing a free funding resource, healthcare and public safety organizations can more quickly and easily meet their recovery and preparation goals.

On May 26th, NAEMT hosted a webinar roundtable discussion featuring three distinguished medical directors to discuss how their organizations have been handling triage and transportation decisions during COVID-19, what processes they’ve put in place, and how they hope to continue these practices in the future. Watch the full webinar below, or continue reading for our top seven highlights.

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 Outdated technology cannot keep up with the variety of new challenges.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.

Privacy, Safety, and How Telehealth Technology Could Be the Answer

COVID-19 causes tension between pandemic mitigation measures and patient privacy

One of the most pressing questions to come out of the COVID-19 pandemic is the issue of patient privacy. The latest of many questions about patient privacy involves who has the right to know who has the virus, and when—specifically, EMS and first responders.

A few weeks ago, NPR reported on what’s becoming a national debate: whether or not first responders should be told when a call that is not about a potential case of COVID-19 occurs in a home that has one.

Since COVID-19 began spreading in the United States in March, emergency departments have seen a sharp decrease in the number of STEMI and stroke patients coming through their doors. For almost two months, polls and anecdotal evidence have suggested that this is happening all over the country, as well as in countries like Spain, the UK, and China. The Journal of the American College of Cardiology decided to conduct a formal study of nine major hospitals across the U.S. On April 7th, they released the results, confirming with statistical evidence what doctors have been experiencing: on average, the nine hospitals saw a 38% reduction in cath lab activations for STEMI patients.

Recently, the Journal of Emergency Medical Services interviewed Pulsara's Chief Marketing Officer Kris Kaull for his thoughts on the future of EMS and the need for improved communication in healthcare. Read the full article here. 

On April 28th, JEMS Webcasts hosted an enriching webinar featuring a distinguished panel of EMS leaders discussing how their organizations are using mobile technology to manage the COVID-19 pandemic, and how they plan to use those same technologies in the future.

On Tuesday, April 28th at 10:00 PT / 11:00 MT / 12:00 CT, JEMS Webcasts will host a webinar on how EMS leaders are using mobile technology to manage the COVID-19 crisis. 

Why double down on a broken system that hasn’t worked for disasters, active shooter incidents, or large-scale events? In the largest pandemic of our lifetime, learn how clinical leaders in both Texas and Colorado are using mobile technology to not only manage the COVID-19 crisis, but also lay the foundation for the new reality of EMS, including Mobile Integrated Healthcare, Community Paramedicine, and Telehealth.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Special thanks to Kris Kaull, B.S., NRP, CCEMT-P, FP-C for writing today's blog post. You can connect with him on LinkedIn.

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Why has the healthcare system resisted telemedicine as a solution for so long? 

Telemedicine offers a world of opportunity for innovation and improvement in healthcare communication. Clinicians can use it to assess patients remotely, advise medical care without having to be on-site, and consult with one another to bring patients the highest possible quality in medical care. We rely so heavily on technology in every other area of life, it seems counterintuitive that old, outdated technology dominates the industry where saving time can save lives. 

Up until now, that potential has mostly gone untapped. Why?

Most healthcare systems have telehealth capabilities for scheduled patients, but often struggle with telehealth solutions for unscheduled and acute care. Pulsara PATIENT provides a HIPAA-compliant solution for provider-to-patient or provider-to-provider live video calls, so your facility can convert unscheduled audio calls into billable telemedicine calls.

On April 14th, MissionCritical Communications featured the Montgomery County Hospital District’s partnership with Pulsara in an article about public safety apps that are helping frontline workers respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Montgomery County Hospital District (MCHD) is located just north of Houston and covers 1,100 square miles. MCHD is using Pulsara to remotely assess COVID-19 patients and avoid unnecessary exposure, both for physicians and for patients. Using the Pulsara app, MCHD first responders are able to assess the patient’s situation and transmit their information to the hospital, allowing physicians to view electrocardiograms (EKGs), pulse/oxygen readings, and other relevant data. Physicians based at the hospital can then advise EMS on the best way to move forward. 

Pulsara is a communication platform that connects teams. 

Pulsara is committed to helping your community in these difficult times. Instead of viewing the COVID-19 pandemic as a business opportunity, we are here to serve. Our Purpose is to improve the lives of patients and caregivers through innovative communication. Therefore, in these times of need, we are offering our communication platform to help communities effectively manage COVID-19 at no charge. We are keeping our COVID-19 page up to date, so you can use it as a resource to understand the different scenarios we support.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve seen health systems adopt mobile communication solutions faster than ever before. But your teams shouldn’t implement just any solution that will only work for what you need right now. 

What about after the pandemic when HIPAA regulations are tightened again? Will your solution not only allow you to connect your internal hospital teams, but also with teams from other organizations on one secure channel? Does your CC&C solution or your telehealth solution allow you to communicate throughout the ENTIRE patient event? Or does it send a blast alert and then leave your teams to their own devices (literally), communicating once again with pagers, faxes, and audio-only phone calls? 

Pulsara works for ANY patient event, and connects your entire care team, INCLUDING those outside your own facility, on a secure platform for a single source of truth. And, Pulsara will continue to serve your critical care needs long after COVID-19 goes away.

We learn more about COVID-19 as well as our Systems of Care every ... single ... day.

Many are trying to patch together quick solutions and are grateful for the relaxation of HIPAA and other telemedicine regulations, but what is your Post-COVID (round 1) plan? 

Pulsara's COVID-19 package is 100% free and is flexible enough to accommodate any facility type, resources available, and specific COVID-19 management goals. This flexibility is what makes Pulsara so powerful, but sometimes we need to start by solving one problem at a time. 

On Tuesday, March 24th at 9:00 PT/10:00 MT/12:00 ET, All Things FirstNet will be hosting a webinar focused on using mobile-first technology to manage the COVID-19 patient surge. 

Leveraging the power of smart devices, First Responders, Emergency Managers, County Health, and Hospital Systems (both urban and rural) are tackling the unknown. In this webinar, we will discuss opportunities for 1) Mitigating patient surge, 2) Limiting transfers of a patient to those that absolutely need it, 3) Protecting frontline clinicians from unnecessary exposure, 4) Preserving PPE (Gloves/Masks/etc.), and 5) providing secure outpatient isolation communication.

As COVID-19 continues to spread, hospital resources are becoming more scarce. Limiting patient transfers between facilities can help ease strain on resources as well as reduce clinician and community exposure to the virus. 

But sometimes, patient transfers are clinically necessary. In those cases, time and efficiency of communications are key as hospitals strive to keep up with increasing patient volume and clinical demand. Instead of making multiple audio-only phone calls to complete a transfer, with Pulsara, facilities can communicate via live video calls, photos, messaging, and more. 

As our communities work to flatten the curve, our public safety and healthcare system must work to mitigate the surge of patients who are infected, or who think they might be infected, to our hospitals to preserve resources and contain the spread of COVID-19. 

Using Pulsara's flexible and free COVID-19 package, clinicians can teletriage patients to the most appropriate location, or ideally, stop the case without transporting: 

Pulsara’s COVID-19 package enables networked communication (including HIPAA-compliant live video and messaging) across organizations at no charge.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 15, 2020

Bozeman, Mont — Pulsara announced today that they have released a COVID-19 management package available to all EMS and healthcare organizations in the United States for free.

“With confirmed Coronavirus Disease 2019 cases on the rise in the U.S., we know that many EMS and healthcare organizations are rapidly preparing for the management of this crisis within their communities,” said Pulsara Founder and CEO, Dr. James Woodson. “Inter-organization communication has never been more important than it is right now. In this time of need, we are fortunate to be able to serve.”