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9 min read

10 Things EMS Providers Need to Know About Telehealth

By Team Pulsara on Dec 29, 2020

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

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Telehealth applications can help expand the reach of out-of-hospital care to save more lives


In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare and EMS providers have found themselves relying on technology more than ever before.

Topics: EMS Telemedicine Technology Innovation 10 Things You Need To Know COVID-19 Telehealth
2 min read

The 3G Network Is Shutting Down: Here's a Better Way to Transmit ECGs

By Kinsie Clarkson on Dec 14, 2020

Are you ready for the 3G network shutdown? 

By the end of 2020 (yes, that’s in just a few WEEKS!), Verizon is shutting down their 3G network—with other providers following suit in the near future. This means that any 3G modem you use for ECG transmission will need to be upgraded. 

But wait — why pay to upgrade hardware that will soon be obsolete again anyway? Why pay to transmit the ECG at all? 

Topics: Technology Mobile Pulsara ONE
6 min read

How Video Streaming Benefits Everyone Involved in an EMS Call

By Team Pulsara on Dec 11, 2020

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

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Telehealth applications can help expand the reach of out-of-hospital care to help EMS and hospital providers deliver better patient care, faster


With today’s advanced technology, anyone can use their smartphone, tablet, or computer to connect via real-time video to talk with anyone around the world.

Yet, in the healthcare system, video streaming has remained static, convoluted, and complicated.

Topics: EMS Telemedicine Technology Connected Teams Community Paramedicine Inter-Organization Communication Telehealth
7 min read

Grit and Gratitude: A Happy Thanksgiving from Pulsara

By Team Pulsara on Nov 25, 2020

2020 has been a challenging year for everyone. As we reflect on the year, a lot has changed, and there have been many hurdles to overcome. Through it all, though, there are many silver linings that we here at Team Pulsara are grateful for.

Topics: Communication Technology Wellness
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
15 min read

Large Scale Disaster Prevention & Mitigation: Top 6 Takeaways (Webinar)

By Kinsie Clarkson on Nov 11, 2020

It's been a big year for large-scale emergencies. Hurricanes, floods, wildfires, a pandemic — and responding to all these disaster scenarios involves a great deal of preparation, practice, and planning. 

Recently, a panel of industry leaders and experts in EMS and emergency preparedness (including Pulsara's own CMO, Kris Kaull) got together for an exclusive fireside chat-symposium, hosted by HERE Technologies. The group talked about overcoming the obstacles of disaster preparedness and mitigation and how to build a culture of preparedness and cross-agency collaboration. As they discussed disaster mitigation for large scale public safety scenarios, they also touched on some of the latest technology that's helping to improve scenario planning. 

Read on for the top 6 takeaways, or watch the full webinar below.

Topics: EMS Technology COVID-19 Preparedness Emergency Management
4 min read

Here's What You Need to Know About the 21st Century Cures Act

By Kinsie Clarkson on Oct 05, 2020

Imagine: you need to see your doctor's notes from your last appointment, so you put in a request to view your clinical notes. Shortly afterward, all the information you need shows up in an app on your smartphone.

Wouldn't it be nice to have such easy access to your electronic health records? 

Topics: Technology Interoperability Systems of Care Electronic Health Records
9 min read

Q&A: How Can EMS Agencies Leverage Technology for Growth & Evolution?

By Team Pulsara on Sep 21, 2020

EDITOR'S NOTE: Last month, 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 Author: Rachel Zoch is a branded content project lead for Lexipol, where she has written about public safety products and issues important to police, fire, EMS and corrections since 2015. 

In this Q&A, EMS1 talks with Pulsara’s Kris Kaull about the importance of communication, how to improve it with the right technology, and how the role of EMS in the overall healthcare landscape is changing.

Topics: EMS Technology Innovation Trend Report Interoperability Community Paramedicine
3 min read

Are Pagers Exposing Protected Health Information?

By Kinsie Clarkson on Aug 26, 2020

Canadian Privacy Researcher Discovers Pagers Broadcasting Sensitive Patient Information on Unencrypted Channels


Healthcare has long relied on pagers as the most secure, reliable way to communicate between clinicians. But new evidence suggests that this time-tested communication method may actually be causing HIPAA violations for unwitting hospitals.

Topics: Technology Miscommunication Telehealth Canada
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
2 min read

How Telemedicine Can Help in Rural Healthcare

By Wes Wood on Jul 22, 2020

I grew up and lived most of my life in a very rural area. The majority of my EMS and ED nursing experience comes from rural settings, including a few years in a small critical access hospital. I was the only nurse in the 5-bed ER on night shift. We even locked all the doors to the hospital, and if someone presented to the ER for care, they had to ring a doorbell so I could let them in. No really—we did.

My, how times have changed with technology and medical advances. The recent COVID-19 crisis has affected virtually every healthcare professional in some form or fashion, and has potentially changed healthcare forever. Telemedicine has emerged to the forefront as a valuable option for providing care: both acute and chronic, in person, and remote. It’s gone from being a distant future option hidden behind miles of red tape to being one of the hottest topics in healthcare today.

Topics: Communication Telemedicine Technology Telehealth
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
4 min read

Upcoming Webinar: Sharing Information & Data During a Pandemic

By Nathan Williams on Jul 13, 2020

COVID-19 continues to tax finite public safety resources, underscoring the need for efficient and effective information sharing tools. Since it appears as if the pandemic will be challenging us for the foreseeable future, take 60 minutes to explore how four FirstNet-approved apps and services (10-21 Police Phone, Pulsara, Rave PANIC Button, and Allerio) help agencies share critical information and engage with the community during these difficult times. 

When: Thursday, July 16, 2020 | 12:00 pm ET / 10:00 am MT / 11:00 am CT / 9:00 am PT

How: SIGN UP HERE 

Keep reading to learn more!

Topics: Communication Technology Innovation
4 min read

Embracing Rapid Change in Medicine

By Team Pulsara on Jul 10, 2020

It is obvious to those in our industry that healthcare is preparing for a seismic shift in the way we deliver, access, and treat our patients. Unfortunately, it took a global viral emergency for that to happen. 

Periods of great stress can be a catalyst for periods of fantastic innovation. Just like a lump of coal, the tremendous pressure that healthcare has faced during COVID-19 will transform our delivery model into a diamond. Traditional pipeline methods of care delivery, communication, and treatment will undergo rapid changes and iterations of process improvement. With this incoming wave of change, it’s time to let our hair down a bit. I urge all clinicians not to limit yourself on what you think can and cannot be done. 

Topics: Communication Technology Innovation
9 min read

COVID-19 and the Future of Telehealth: A Conversation with Dr. James Woodson

By Kinsie Clarkson on Jul 01, 2020

In late May, Dr. James Woodson, the founder and CEO of Pulsara, sat down with Brian Zimmerman of the Becker’s Healthcare podcast series to discuss how telehealth can improve patient care and protect clinicians during COVID-19 and beyond. During the podcast, Dr. Woodson explains the potential of mobile technology in healthcare communication, how Pulsara streamlines the communication process, and Pulsara's role in the future of telemedicine. Listen to the podcast here, or read the interview below. 

Topics: Telemedicine Technology Innovation Telehealth
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
4 min read

Leveraging Integration to Provide Reliable Telemedicine Even in Areas of Low Connectivity: the Pulsara + Allerio + FirstNet™ Solution

By Team Pulsara on Jun 17, 2020

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

First responders often face barriers when it comes to connectivity and the transfer and sharing of patient data and other relevant information. When they are out in the field responding to a rural 911 call, or treating a patient via telemedicine, the ability to have access to technology that “just works” is paramount. The current use of a hodgepodge of connectivity devices to transmit data and video to the hospital effectively can impede the ability of first responders to efficiently communicate during an emergency, thereby delaying medical interventions, which can result in poor patient outcomes.

Instead of wondering how to effectively transmit critical patient data to the emergency room, EMS personnel must be able to focus on responding to the patient’s needs and vital signs. That’s where Pulsara, a mobile telehealth and communication platform, comes in, simplifying and streamlining the care coordination process with live audio and video calling, secure messaging, image transfer, ECG transfer, and more. 

But what happens when WiFi is unavailable and cellular coverage is spotty? Together with Allerio and FirstNet, first responders have access to the FirstNet dedicated public safety broadband communications platform, allowing paramedics and public safety to refocus their attention on what matters most.

Topics: Technology
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
5 min read

Navigating Healthcare and Emergency Services in COVID-19

By Kinsie Clarkson on May 06, 2020

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. 

Topics: EMS Technology COVID-19