When Education + Effective Communication = Improved Outcomes

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

In healthcare, there are always victories and losses, but when your hard work, great tools, and perfect timing align to improve treatment outcomes, the victory is much sweeter. 

Cardiac patients in Arkansas have a two thirds higher mortality rate than the rest of the country. What can our profession do to get those numbers down?

In EMS, sometimes paramedics struggle with the recognition of STEMIs and twelve lead interpretations, as well as the process of alerting the inbound hospitals. However, during a pilot study in Arkansas, a paramedic after receiving specific STEMI training was able to recognize a STEMI that without that training would have been missed.

Using Pulsara on his phone, he took a picture of the EKG and sent it to the hospital, which allowed the team there to immediately accept the patient, bypass the ER and go straight to the Cath Lab for a successful stint placement.

Without this instant ECG transmission, the patient outcome could have been drastically different. The success of this process encouraging, but it's important to point out that process is just a part of the formula for success when implementing any new strategy or technology. We believe it's about 5% technology, 10% process, and 85% people.

When your teams receive specialized treatment to fill any knowledge or confidence gaps, and are on the same page with a solid process, modern technology like Pulsara can help them achieve incredible things.