Give us a Call! 855-429-7633
      Associate Links
Hays Medical Center
  • Home
  • Services
  • Providers
  • Careers
  • About Us
  • Patients & Visitors
  • News
  • Home
  • Services
  • Providers
  • Careers
  • About Us
  • Patients & Visitors
  • News

Blog

Hays Medical Center > HaysMed News > Hospitals use new app to direct urgent care

Hospitals use new app to direct urgent care

By Gayla Wichman - In HaysMed News - March 16, 2018

By Kaley Conner
Hays Daily News
March 14, 2018

New technology has been introduced in at least two northwest Kansas hospitals to help ensure patients receive the highest standard of care when their lives might be in danger.

A new app called Redivus Health was launched at Hays Medical Center in February, and Sheridan County Hospital has been using it since last spring. The app — uploaded on cellphones or tablets — is designed to walk medical staff through step-by-step best practices when patients code blue or are experiencing heart attack, stroke or sepsis.

The technology has been found to help reduce staff stress levels and increase the speed of urgent care delivery, said Brian Pfannenstiel, director of critical care at HaysMed.

“Working the floor 10 years as a nurse, one of the things is you know your code blue situation, for example, is something that’s low volume but high risk,” Pfannenstiel said. “In other words, it doesn’t happen all the time — thank goodness, because it’s a patient that’s on the brink of death. But when it does happen, you want to do everything perfectly and have the best outcome.”

The University of Kansas Health System in December partnered with the Redivus Health application team, particularly to expand use in rural hospitals that participate in a statewide heart and stroke collaborative.

The Redivus app is programmed with current best treatment practices for the three diagnoses, all of which are linked to high mortality rates. At HaysMed, each “crash cart” — used in code blue situations or severe patient distress — is equipped with an iPad loaded with the new app. A designated staff member in the rapid response team immediately will activate the app, input the patient’s diagnosis and vital information, then be guided through a detailed treatment process.

In heart attack cases, for example, the app will direct staff to begin chest compressions, then count down two minutes for switching providers so no one becomes fatigued. It also directs medical staff when to use electric shock and follows national treatment standards for what medications to administer and when.

“So it not only tells you the medication to give, but it also tells you the dosage is 300 mg,” Pfannenstiel said. “So you don’t have to recall that in a stressful, tense moment when your patient you’ve cared for for the last 12 hours and bonded with is not doing well.

“It’s different when it’s that patient you’ve been caring for for 12 hours. You bond with them. They talked about their grandkids with you. You’ve become emotionally attached, and suddenly they’re not doing well, and you kind of have that emotional bond. And then you’re trying to think of everything to do.”

Physicians, however, have the ability to override the app’s instructions if they feel it is necessary based on the individual situation.

A few staff members from HaysMed participated in simulation labs in Kansas City to help Redivus developers create and modify the technology for effective use in rural hospitals.

“What we found was it reduces stress levels in the room during the code. It also gave you the confidence,” Pfannenstiel said. “Especially if you had a physician that would order something inappropriately. And you would have the confidence to speak up and say, ‘Hey, that’s no longer recommended.’ ”

The app also documents every treatment provided in real time, cutting back on the staff time previously required to update electronic medical records.

At Sheridan County Hospital, the app has proven particularly effective in screening patients for sepsis, said Chief Nursing Officer Hannah Schoendaler. Health care providers have been using the app for both inpatient and clinic settings to help alert doctors if patients are showing symptoms.

“Last year, in 2017, we had a total of three (confirmed) sepsis cases, I believe,” Schoendaler said. “And just a couple weeks ago, we had three cases in a week. So the main thing we noticed is nationwide we probably aren’t screening patients appropriately.”

Rather than checking for sepsis only in the emergency room, physicians have been screening many patients, whether they are staying in the hospital or visiting a clinic. That has helped physicians catch the illness in its earlier stages, which significantly reduces the chance a patient could experience septic shock or die from the infection.

“We have a provider who runs it on her patients in her clinic. She’s our No. 1 user, and in doing that, we just get treatment going a lot quicker which naturally takes the anxiety out of it,” she said. “Because you don’t have to sit here and watch a patient get sicker and sicker and sicker. You just treat them right away.”

The app’s screening tool helps medical staff identify how severe the bacterial infection might be, then walks them through recommended treatments, such as immediate access to fluids and IV antibiotics. It also saves time by calculating how much to give based on the patient’s weight.

“Those are minutes that are crucial that you can’t ever get back,” Schoendaler said. “We actually spend more time at the bedside because we’re spending less time talking back and forth and trying to decipher how we’re going to treat a patient.”

The Redivus app was developed by Dr. Jeff Dunn, a physician who saw a need for a tool to help reduce staff stress levels in extremely high-pressure situations when there are many treatment steps to remember.

“The best way I can describe this is when I was a clinician practicing these really high mortality scenarios, physicians and other providers like nurses and EMS paramedics a lot of times would get adrenaline brain, where you freeze up and can’t make a decision with focus,” said Dunn, founder and CEO of Redivus Health. “What we started to think about is the same concept when you go from a paper map to a navigational map. Why wouldn’t that be able to work for these really high-intensity scenarios like cardiac arrest, sepsis and stroke?”

Tags: hays,  hays ks,  hays medical center,  hays medical center foundation,  haysmed
← HaysMed Joins Network to Improve Supply Chain Efficiencies and Reduce Costs
HaysMed Offers Dry Needling for Pain Management →
Related Posts

Upcoming Events

  1. Diabetes Solutions Class – March 2, 2021

    March 2 @ 8:45 am - 2:30 pm
  2. Community Blood Screening March 6, 2021

    March 6 @ 6:30 am - 10:00 am
  3. Diabetes Solutions Class – March 9, 2021

    March 9 @ 8:45 am - 2:30 pm
  4. Community Blood Screening April 10, 2021

    April 10 @ 6:30 am - 10:00 am
  5. Community Blood Screening May 1, 2021

    May 1 @ 6:30 am - 10:00 am

View All Events

Recent Posts

  • HaysMed Foundation Online Auction This Week
    February 24, 2021
  • HaysMed Practice Transition Program Receives National Accreditation and Recognition
    February 19, 2021
  • Computer Assisted Navigation for Direct Anterior Hip Replacement
    February 16, 2021
  • HaysMed Nurse Recognized with Daisy Award
    February 11, 2021
  • HaysMed Orthopedic Surgeon Recognized for Literary Contributions
    February 2, 2021
  • Ellis County Vaccination Information: Vaccinations for Phase 2 will start Tuesday, January 26
    January 22, 2021
  • HaysMed Recognized for Energy Reduction Efforts
    January 22, 2021
  • HaysMed Launches 2021 Community Health Needs Assessment
    January 21, 2021
  • HaysMed Clarifies COVID-19 Vaccine Information
    January 13, 2021
  • HaysMed Honors Nurses Completing the RN Residency Program
    January 12, 2021

Contact HaysMed

Send us an Email

Hays Medical Center
855-429-7633
2220 Canterbury Dr
Hays, KS 67601

Keep in Touch!

    

Search

Archives

  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • July 2013
  • March 2013
© Hays Medical Center
Nondiscrimination Statement | Patients Rights & Responsibilities | Notice of Privacy Practices