by
Olga Deshchenko, DOTmed News Reporter | July 25, 2011
From the July 2011 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Philips Healthcare, which markets the HeartStart line of defibrillators, also equips its devices with CPR coaching to assist with the rescue.
Emphasis on connectivity
Another trend in the defibrillator industry is a focus on improved connectivity and access to data. Zoll’s Hamilton says customers enjoy the span of communications allotted to them by smartphones and products such as iPads. Now, they look for the same abilities in defibrillator products, wanting “better, quicker and easier access” to the event information, he says.
Hospital users looking for connectivity can choose a Zoll defibrillator from the company’s R Series line. “It has communications capabilities, in particular Wi-Fi, so [the unit] can talk to a Wi-Fi network at a hospital and send data to that network in case of an event,” says Hamilton.
Zoll has also recently added Wi-Fi capability to its E Series products for emergency medical service professionals.
Physio-Control’s Pollock backs up this trend. He says customers are increasingly looking for ways to get information about patients sooner, embed it into patients’ electronic health records and deliver the data to hospital staff ahead of the patient’s arrival.
The company offers a subscription-based Web data network called Lifenet. The service started off as a transmission system for 12-lead ECG data and can now be used to track defibrillator features such as battery and pads status.
A customer using Lifenet can connect an EMS system to a hospital and move data directly from the field to a cath lab or an ER department, thus reducing the door-to-balloon time, says Pollock.
Physio-Control has more than 11,000 of its Lifepak defibrillators on the network and about 1,100 hospitals signed up so far. “The goal is to have every device on it,” Pollock says.
AED upkeep
In its 2010 guidelines, AHA also emphasized the need for quality improvement initiatives. But a well managed SCA event can only be successful if the AED is ready to deliver a shock at the right moment.
To ensure the devices are always on standby in working condition, several companies offer a variety of AED maintenance programs.
Philips has an AED data management program called Smart Track, a Web-based system that monitors expiration dates, responder training records and other AED details, says Jamie Froman, global director of marketing, HeartStart AEDs, Philips Healthcare.
“It’s a whole system program management software that helps support the AED program administrator at a school, a health club or another institution,” says Froman. “It helps assure their overall program’s readiness for use.”
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July 26, 2011 03:43
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