 The Life Net Receiving Station in the Saint Barnabas
Medical Center Emergency Department enables its Mobile
Intensive Care Unit (MICU) paramedics out in the field
to send 12-lead electrocardiograms within 90 seconds. The
improved technology allows Emergency Department physicians
to read a patient's transmitted EKG readout and then direct
the on-site paramedic accordingly, thus saving precious
minutes in the treatment of patients with life-threatening
heart conditions. Shown reading an electrocardiogram in
the Saint Barnabas Emergency Department is John A. Brennan,
M.D., F.A.A.P., F.A.C.E.P., Vice President for Emergency
Services of the Saint Barnabas Health Care System, and
Director of the Pediatric Care Center of Saint Barnabas
Medical Center. |
LIVINGSTON, NJ -- The latest advances in cell phone technology make it possible to improve emergency cardiac care. The Life Net Receiving Station in the Saint Barnabas Medical Center Emergency Department now enables its Mobile Intensive Care Unit (MICU) paramedics out in the field to send 12-lead EKGs (electrocardiograms) within 90 seconds. The improved technology allows Emergency Department physicians to read a patient's transmitted EKG readout and then direct the on-site paramedic accordingly.
"This is fantastic technology," says Mark A. Merlin, D.O., EMT-P, Medical Director of MICU and Cardiac Transport for the Saint Barnabas Health Care System. "These complex EKGs monitor all the walls of the heart to help us determine the exact nature of the problem. And the EKGs are as clear as if they were performed within the Emergency Department."
Although the ability to perform 12-lead EKGs on heart attack victims in the field has been available since the mid-eighties, these EKGs had to be sent by fax, a much slower process. "What is new," says Steven Carey, Director of Saint Barnabas' MICU, "is their transmission to a receiving station using cell technology. Now that cell quality is better and more cell coverage is available, transmission is rapid, less than half the time it takes to send a fax." When a patient's heart is on the line, seconds and minutes can be vital.
The Saint Barnabas Medical Center MICU tested the Life Net Receiving Station equipment for a six-month trial period. The results were so successful that the new equipment was purchased and used in the Emergency Department beginning July 2001.
The clarity of the EKG and the speed of its transmission using cell technology allow Emergency Department physicians to facilitate faster treatment. If an individual is having a heart attack and the Emergency Department physician decides that person requires procedures in the cardiac catheterization lab or thrombolytic (clot-busting) therapy, these preparations can now be made in advance - even before the paramedics actually arrive at the Emergency Department with the patient.
In some cases, if the patient is having a heart attack, the patient is usually transported to the closest hospital, and the patient's private physician is contacted. At Saint Barnabas Medical Center, the Emergency Department computer system can be used to pull up all the information on any patient who has visited the Emergency Room in the past. This is particularly helpful if patients are unconscious or unable to tell the paramedics what medications they are taking. Every visit to the Saint Barnabas Emergency Department for the past 15 years can be pulled up on the screen in about a minute.
The Life Net Receiving Station provides a clarity that was not possible with faxed transmissions from older systems. The equipment also allows re-printing of the EKGs, eliminating inaccuracies that can happen when making copies of a fax. The paramedics in the field get a hard copy as they are sending to the receiving Station, easing communi-cation with the physicians in the Emergency Department.
Saint Barnabas Health Care System has 10 Mobile Intensive Care Units (MICUs) located throughout New Jersey. Of these 10, currently Saint Barnabas Medical Center and Union Hospital are using the Life Net Receiving Station and Community Medical Center in Toms River is awaiting better cell coverage in the Toms River area before incorporating the new technology. All Saint Barnabas Health Care System MICUs are staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by two New Jersey State-Certified MICU Paramedics.
In addition to 12-lead EKGs, MICU paramedics provide services including the insertion of breathing tubes, the administration of over 60 different medications, manual defibrillation, IV therapy and phlebotomy. They may be called to respond simultaneous-ly with the local first aid squad to emergencies such as chest pain, shortness of breath, severe trauma, diabetic emergencies, unconscious patients, drownings/near drownings, and syncope (fainting).
For more information about the Saint Barnabas Medical Center MICU paramedic program, please call (973) 322-5109. For EMS (Emergency Medical Services) continuing education information, please contact (888) 724-6790.
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