ANDOVER, Mass., Oct. 28, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hôpital Européen, Marseille, France was facing what has become a common problem in European hospitals as it opened a new 15-bed intensive care unit (ICU). There are severe regulations that protect patients from nosocomial infections in ICUs, making patient monitoring a difficult task. Because these patients are more vulnerable to infections due to their weakened condition and the fact that they've spent extended periods of time in high-acuity care, hospitals must take extra precautions to limit these risks by keeping these rooms depressurized. This means that the doors must be closed at all times. However, the shuttering of rooms has created a safety dilemma for caregivers: safety alarms from biomedical devices can no longer be heard.
One-of-a-Kind Collaboration Delivers Results
Capsule Tech, the global leader in medical device connectivity, working with Hôpital Européen care teams, and in partnership with Dräger and Connexall solved the problem by developing and implementing an alarm system that improves the capture and transmission of biomedical device alarms. This unique collaboration deploys, for the first time in Europe, an intelligent alarm management system adapted to the care challenges encountered in ICUs.
Dräger, a leading international provider of biomedical devices such as anesthesia workstations, medical ventilators, patient monitoring and neonatal care, transmits alarm signals from its devices to Connexall. Connexall software enables transmission of alarms to caregivers by various communication support modes. At issue was how to manage the diverse nature of all the other biomedical devices and transmit their alarms to the alarm management system. Capsule applied its expertise through its DataCaptor? medical device connectivity software, which collects, filters and then transmits alarms coming from the various medical devices (hemofiltration apparatus, syringe pumps and ventilators) to the Connexall information system. Connexall then forwards alarms to care personnel.
"High-acuity care areas face many hospital hygiene restrictions that require the utmost vigilance. Moreover, the noise generated by the care personnel and the alarms are a tremendous nuisance to patients during their stay in the intensive care unit," observed Dr. Signouret, a physician in the ICU. "In order to respond to these various restrictions, we had to put in place a system to externalize the alarms. The alarms are no longer directed, very loudly, to just one location; they are now transmitted directly to the nurse responsible for the patient. This was made possible through to the collaboration with Dräger, Connexall and Capsule."
"The new Hôpital Européen, which was created by combining two health facilities, is a modern, performing and optimized institution," said Richard de Troyer, CIO of the Hôpital Européen. "With the help of Capsule, we have been able to realize the connection and transmission to Connexall of the alarms issued by all of the biomedical devices. We have thus been able to support the technology selections favored by Dr. Signouret."
Capsule's device integration solutions enable connectivity between virtually any medical device and virtually any EMR system allowing hospitals to choose their type and scope of project. Capsule's patented DataCaptor™ connectivity software manages the communication between medical devices and their destination clinical information system(s). Deployed through software on a PC, terminal server, and/or bedside hardware such as the Capsule Neuron?, patient data can be collected continuously in acute-care settings, or periodically in lower acuity, multi-patient environments. Implementations range from one department to multi-facilities, and in some cases, even system-wide deployment at hundreds of hospitals in a single network.
About Hôpital Européen
Hôpital European is a new hospital in Marseille, France that was opened on August 19, 2013. Its mission is to provide comprehensive, high quality care. This mission is supported by the hospital's 1,000 employees and 300 private practitioners. The hospital was born from the merger of two former health facilities: Ambroise Paré and Paul Desbief. Operational since 1846 and 1914, respectively, these two hospitals shared the same values and offered complementary skills and services. Therefore, the merger was natural and both organizations worked together to create a modern hospital with an array of health services and sophisticated technology. Built in the 3rd district of Marseille, the hospital is in the new Euro-Mediterranean area where there is the need for such a facility and there exists the transportation infrastructure to support it.
About Capsule
Capsule is the leading global provider of medical device connectivity solutions for hospitals and healthcare organizations. Capsule enables hospitals using electronic medical records and other information systems to reduce costs, increase efficiency and improve patient care through the direct capture and delivery of patient vitals at the point-of-care. Capsule's solutions are flexible and scalable, offering a variety of deployment options to meet the needs of any healthcare delivery organization. Founded in 1997, the Company has established strong partnerships with leading medical device manufacturers and installed enterprise-wide solutions in over 1,300 hospitals in 37 countries. For more information, visit www.capsuletech.com or call +1 978-482-2337 (US), or +33 1 84 17 12 00 (France).