Danbury Hospital Improves

 Heart Monitoring Equipment

Patients at Danbury Hospital now have their hearts monitored even better than before with the latest technology that lets nurses and doctors evaluate how a heart is performing. The upgrade is part of the hospital’s capital plan to replace existing technology and equipment over a period of three years.

The planning to upgrade the hospital’s heart monitoring equipment began in late 2003 with the selection of four potential vendors. After site visits to hospital installations in New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, the hospital held a “vendor fair” where cardiology staff members could see and try the equipment and ask questions of the potential vendors. Based on the visits, technical assessments, staff input, and overall cost for the replacement equipment, the hospital selected Draeger-Siemans as the vendor, according to Joe DePetto, service line executive for Medicine and Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

“This upgrade is one more way the hospital is demonstrating its commitment to providing the best possible cardiac care for people in our region,” Mr DePetto explained.

“The replaced heart monitoring system increases the accuracy and speed of our patient evaluations while further reducing the chances for clerical error,” said Pat Perucci, RN, nurse manager of cardiac telemetry, 8th Floor Tower Building. “With the improved documentation, staff can access more comprehensive and longer trended data. It is more complex and requires specialized training, but the staff loves the upgraded system and their improved ability to provide high-quality cardiac care,” Ms Perucci said.

The replacement equipment offers several improvements by having a wireless transmitter connected to several “leads” attached to the patient. A lighter transmitter sends signals to the monitor and its software located at the nurses’ station. (Physicians can access the system and its information remotely using secure passwords.) The information, which appears as a series of lines and waves, is now shown on a larger, flat screen making it easier to read. The equipment enables nurses and doctors to monitor more leads and gather more information. The system is integrated with the hospital’s patient information system making for an easier, more accurate way to document each patient’s basic data, history, and care. It also holds the monitored information three times longer than the previous system, providing staff with more useful data, Mr DePetto said.

The information on the screens — previously interpreted by measuring the waves manually with handheld calipers — is now measured automatically by electronic calipers in the software. The system also performs important trend analyses on the patient’s heart rhythms providing staff with a more clear, color-assisted evaluation.

Additionally, the system incorporates “escort monitors” that accompany patients who may need to travel off the unit for tests or other evaluations. The escort monitors ensure a continual flow of data. Also integrated with the new system are provisions to monitor blood pressure and oxygen in the blood.

With the replacement of the old system, the hospital addressed another issue: While the old transmitting system could have been subject to interference from other uses, the frequencies used by the replacement system will remain protected for medical use only.

Finally, the system prints results on plain paper rather than on the old (familiar) strips that required cutting and pasting, and that fade over time.

This year, the system replacement includes the large units in the Tower building: cardiac telemetry, medicine, surgery, oncology, and ortho/neuro/trauma units. In May of this year, the hospital arranged for 250 staff members to receive advanced training in the new devices while the new equipment was being installed. On June 1, the staff executed the changeover to the new system, running the old system in parallel. The conversion affected 40 patients, took only two hours, and resulted in a smooth implementation.

Similar improvements are planned for all patient care areas throughout the hospital, where systems will be replaced over the next two years.