Integration Provides Multiple Benefits at Sun City

For the nation’s top health care centers, the common denominator is the continual challenge to enhance quality, while meeting increased demand for services. Sun City Cardiac Center in Arizona is no exception. Faced with this daunting goal, the Center realized multiple benefits for patients, staff and the hospital by upgrading to a fully integrated cardiac catheterization lab. The decision to go digital Located in the northwest suburbs of Phoenix, Sun City Cardiac Center is managed and privately owned by MedCath and a group of cardiologists and is associated with adjacent Boswell Memorial Hospital. The freestanding operation opened in 1984, and the Center’s staff has continually expanded in response to the burgeoning patient population from the growing Valley of the Sun. Today, Sun City Cardiac Center encompasses three state-of-the-art labs and 20 physicians who perform a full range of diagnostic and interventional procedures numbering nearly 3,500 annually - 1,500 of those interventional. For the past four years, our hospital, Boswell Memorial Hospital, has been named one of the Solucient 100 Top Cardiovascular Hospitals in the United States. With the Center’s large patient base and high quality standards, by early 2003 the fact that the team was working with an antiquated cardiac imaging archival system was quite apparent. The staff recognized the myriad of advantages of an integrated physiomonitoring and image archival system. With an integrated digital archival system, physicians sit at a dual-screen review station and draw all of the data and information that they need from a single source. The entire patient record from patient demographics, hemodynamic data and angiographic images to the specific equipment used during the procedure is digitally recorded and easily available. Once Sun City Cardiac Center decided to enhance its workflow with a digital imaging archival system, the next hurdle was to select a vendor that could meet the organization’s need for a streamlined integration process. The Center had previously enjoyed a successful working relationship with Witt Biomedical’s Calysto for Cardiology Series IV Physiomonitoring and Infor-mation System, and after considering several other vendors, the team ultimately selected Witt’s Calysto for Cardiology Image IV solution. Physician Comments The benefits of Witt’s archival system have been numerous, says Sun City Cardiac Center Medical Director William V. Gaul, MD, FACC, FSCAI. For starters, we can access all the information from one file. Plus, the image resolution is outstanding, and the jukebox storage makes it easy to retrieve patient records. Also, we can immediately display the images to the patient and family on a bedside monitor. According to Dr. Gaul, his cardiology colleagues agree with his assessment. Dr. Gaul points out that the busy physicians don’t have time to learn new, complicated software. The physicians, along with staff members at all levels, learned to master the new system quickly. From the IT perspective, he also notes that Witt’s open architecture is simply a matter of pushing a couple of buttons. Cost and Workflow The integrated system produced an immediate savings for Sun City Cardiac Center because it required one less set of monitors for the facility. Other cost benefits have been directly linked to time savings. For instance, film retrieval customarily took a minimum of 10 minutes and sometimes required hours or even weeks, if the film was requested from another physician. Conversely, with Witt’s Calysto for Cardiology system, today a study’s retrieval is easily accessible. The ability to do side-by-side comparisons of previous and current studies is another valued asset for the busy cardiologists. Moreover, elimination of extra sets of film for consulting physicians has produced cost savings, as well as space savings. Dr. Gaul has observed another workflow change, explaining, My colleagues and I are much more willing to dictate immediately after each procedure. The integrated system has fostered a more collaborative environment. For the first time, the Center’s physicians are now routinely sharing case information with colleagues equally pressed for time. Nursing and Tech Perspective According to Sun City Cardiac Center’s Mike Gallovich, RT, nurses and radiologic technologists have also benefited from the new integrated system. Everything is now right at our fingertips. We no longer have to jot down notes or switch between computers, he says. Sun City Cardiac Center Nurse Colleen Ness, RN, has noticed that the system offers the flexibility to provide more attention to the patient. At the Center, the cath lab control areas are located within the actual procedure room just a few steps away from the physician and in plain view of the procedure. This unique arrangement enhances staff efficiency and makes it easier to anticipate and react to changes in patient status and deliver better care during procedures. I prefer to be near my patients, explains Ness. After all, I’m their advocate and feel responsible for their care. Many patients are comforted when they can visibly see me in the room. Everything is pre-programmed so I can focus on my patient. Plus, the log reveals every detail of the procedure. Documentation is detailed and complete. Valerie Meier can be contacted at Valerie.Meier@medcath.com

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