Brazilian hospital launches project for monitoring ICU beds
The worldwide growing demand for intensive care at hospitals and health facilities is one of the more visible aspects from the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), a biohazard event that has affected all continents in the past weeks. There has never been a period in recent history where hospital administration excellence was as crucial as it is now. These professionals’ main goal is to optimize service and increase safety when treating patients who require Intensive Care Units (ICUs) and infirmaries at University of São Paulo Faculty of Medicine Clinics Hospital (USPFMCH).
“We are now on the test period for this platform, which will be able to control the hospital environment remotely,” says Marco Bego, executive director of the Radiology Institute (InRad) and director of InovaHC, São Paulo Clinics Hospital’s Technological Innovation Center.
Developed by research teams at GAESI/USP, based on Elipse Software’s Elipse E3 platform, and supported by IoT specialists at SPI Integração de Sistemas, the InovaHC pilot project takes place at USPFMCH, the largest hospital complex in Brazil. Drug infusion pumps, ventilators, and multi-parameter monitors, essential for ICU beds, are the first pieces of equipment to be monitored remotely. The devices are now operated via software screens in nearby rooms, and not necessarily where the medication is being prepared.
“Our goal is to lower COVID-19 contamination risks in the healthcare staff, so that patients in critical conditions can receive high-quality treatment more safely and with great agility. Several procedures that were previously conducted in person, such as dosing the drugs that are applied with infusion pumps, can now be executed remotely. Additionally, when professionals are called less often to patients’ bedside, you can also reduce the costs with personal protective equipment (PPEs), such as disposable aprons, gloves, shoe covers, and masks,” says Fabio Correa, USPFMCH’s Engineering Director and project leader.
To provide communication between the software and the monitored devices, the technology companies involved in the project have developed I/O drivers for the equipment in hospital beds, with proprietary protocols (B.Braun, Philips Respironics, and HL7). With these drivers, the Elipse E3 platform is able to interact with and connect to infusion pumps, ventilators, and respirators to monitor the patient’s data, to issue alarms, and even to edit parameters remotely. These solutions can be adapted for use with devices from several vendors, so that the application can be expanded for automation with different healthcare systems.
For further information, call (11) 3061-2828 or e-mail elipse@elipse.com.br.
