ESCONDIDO
–
Palomar Pomerado Health district employees got a sneak peek yesterday at some of the technology they could be using in a few years.
A semitrailer loaded with a mock patient room and an automated medication-dispensing machine stopped by Palomar Medical Center in Escondido. The truck features some of Cerner Corp.'s latest patient-care equipment and is touring the country.
The products improve patients' access to communications, entertainment and control of their room environment, said Allen Latham, Cerner's director of business development. The dispensing machine is designed to reduce errors. The health district hasn't decided to use Cerner's equipment yet but is considering installing similar technology and equipment at its $774 million hospital under construction in Escondido and at Pomerado Hospital in Poway after it's upgraded and expanded, said Michael Covert, the district's chief executive officer. The hospital is expected to open in 2011 with 300 beds.
“We're marrying technology and communications,” Covert said.
Palomar Pomerado Health uses Cerner as its information technology platform now, Covert said, but isn't ruling out other companies in the future.
An innovation called myStation would allow patients to select their room temperature, order meals and arrange video chats with family members from their hospital beds using remote controls and large LCD monitors. They could also play video games, surf the Internet and watch movies on demand.
“This is great for families when they have patients in the hospital,” said Robert Sharpell, a senior systems analyst who works in the lab department.
Many employees nodded their heads in approval while they toured the display.
Through iAware, doctors and nurses wearing digital badges would see customized patient information displayed on a separate LCD screen when they enter a room. Information could include what medication patients are taking or lab results.
Two hospitals are using myStation and one is using iAware, Latham said, and hospitals being built today are implementing such technology.
In the future, district nurses could be working with the latest automated medication-dispensing machines linked to a computer system.
Gayle Romack, a consultant with Cerner, demonstrated yesterday how it works. Romack pulled up a sample patient's file on a screen and touched it for the three types of medication she needed to administer. She showed observers how only the drawers holding those medications opened, one at a time, while other compartments remain locked.
A nurse can then use a handheld scanner to record that they have given the medication to the patient, and the computer will display that information. The setup ensures that other nurses won't deliver the medication again.
“It closes all those loops that we can make as humans,” Romack said.
Clinical informatics specialists Lisa Slabaugh and Gisele Lalonde said they liked the instant access to real-time information because it improves safety. They are registered nurses who work on technology projects.
Nurses now use an older system that has no instant updates, they said.
Linda Lou: (760) 737-7574; linda.lou@uniontrib.com
