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3 min read

Arkansas’s Ouachita County Medical Center Cuts Door-In, Door-Out Times for STEMI Patients by 50% with Pulsara

By Team Pulsara on Apr 04, 2022

How one Arkansas hospital is using healthcare communication technology to dramatically speed up time-to-treatment for STEMI patients

BOZEMAN, Mont., April 4, 2022Pulsara, the leading mobile telehealth, communication, and logistics platform that unites healthcare teams and technologies across organizations during dynamic events, published new details on Arkansas-based Ouachita County Medical Center’s record improvements in patient care. The Ouachita County Medical Center Case Study reveals the challenges many hospitals face when trying to transfer patients quickly, and the solution they found that enabled faster transfers and streamlined communication across organizations, ensuring secure and efficient patient care.

As a small medical center in rural southern Arkansas, Ouachita County Medical Center (OCMC) faced a lengthy and inefficient process when transferring STEMI patients to percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) facilities that could provide critical care. Jennifer Ray, RN, OCMC’s ER and ICU manager, explained that in 2017, the average door-in, door-out (DIDO) time was 72 minutes for the 19 STEMI patients who came into the OCMC ER—more than double what the American College of Cardiology Foundation and the American Heart Association recommends.

Topics: STEMI Press Customer Success Transfer
3 min read

Arkansas Hospitals Streamline Patient Transfers With Pulsara

By Team Pulsara on Feb 02, 2022

As COVID-19 cases worsened across the state of Arkansas, hospitals struggled to keep up with the need. It became difficult to find bed placement for patients needing to be transferred to other facilities. The State of Arkansas decided to find a way to help hospitals make transferring and accepting patients easier. 

Over the last few weeks, Arkansas hospitals have replaced their former transfer process with a new system. Pulsara is a communication and logistics platform that connects hospitals across the state. The company's Virtual Placement Center shows hospitals when a patient needs a transfer and offers other hospitals the opportunity to initiate a conversation and accept them.

Interviewing a number of clinical leaders across Arkansas, reporter Ashley Godwin with Little Rock's CBS affiliate THV11 covered the story. "It's a virtual waiting room, essentially for patients requiring or requesting transfer throughout the state of Arkansas," said Dr. Rawle Seupaul, Chief Clinical Officer of UAMS.

Topics: Press Customer Success Transfer
2 min read

Ouachita County Medical Center Cuts DIDO for STEMI Patients by 50%

By Kinsie Clarkson on Dec 08, 2021

Ouachita County Medical Center (OCMC) is a not-for-profit hospital with 99 beds, serving residents of the rural community surrounding the city of Camden in southern Arkansas, about 100 miles from Little Rock. As a smaller, non-PCI facility, OCMC often coordinates transfers for their STEMI patients to PCI facilities.

Previously, when a patient arrived in the OCMC emergency room with a STEMI, whether by ambulance or private car, staff would first page a cardiologist at the patient’s preferred receiving facility, then wait for the physician to call back. Only then could they start the process of transferring the patient to a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) facility that could provide critical care. “Then we had to get a bed confirmed, and then we had to wait to get our EMS service to take the patient. And then, usually, most of those patients at that time went to Little Rock, which is about an hour and a half from where we are,” explained Jennifer Ray, RN, OCMC’s ER and ICU manager. “So the timeliness of the patient getting in and out was very, very slow.” How slow? During 2017, the average door-in, door-out (DIDO) time was 72 minutes for the 19 STEMI patients who came into the OCMC ER—more than double the 30 minutes or less recommended by the American College of Cardiology Foundation and the American Heart Association.

Topics: STEMI Press Consult Customer Success Transfer