Drs. Purcell, Save() & Zimt
qinard Certified Family Medicine Specialists
HnLTH & FITNESS
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Robots And 'E' riles
Botsford merges new technologies
to improve ER care, treatment time.
Anthony J. Sayegh, D.O.
Family Medicine
Kelly Purcell, D.O.
Family Medicine
Matthew C. Zimny, D.O.
Family Medicine
*Specializing in All Aspects of Pediatric, Adult,
and Geriatric Medicine including...
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School/Sports Physicals
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December 27 • 2007
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4 4 7 . 61.st ion
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W
hen arriving at an emer-
gency center, most patients
do not think about all the
technology that helps their doctors
provide the best treatment possible.
One of the most critical aspects of
care is the relationship between the
emergency room and the hospital's
laboratory.
Lab tests are
key to under-
standing how
the body is
working and
the results help
doctors make
a diagnosis,
manage critical
conditions like
bleeding or heart
Dr. Gil Herman
attacks and track
recovery prog-
ress.
In Botsford
Hospital's
Emergency
Center in
Farmington
Hills, two tech-
nologies work
Dr. Sanford Vieder together to pro-
vide increased
quality of care
while reducing the patient's length of
time in the ER. The first is the fully
automated testing process in the
lab. This system uses electronically
controlled robotic arms, not human
hands, to place bar-coded specimen
tubes on a 45-foot-long conveyor
track.
As the tubes move along the con-
veyor track, other robotic arms remove
them for testing at appropriate sta-
tions, then cap the tubes and place
them in a "stockyard" for storage and
easy retrieval; all according to direc-
tions on the electronically-ordered,
bar-coded label.
"Botsford was the first community
hospital-based lab in the country to
install robotic tracks for both chemis-
try and hematology testing," says Gil
Herman, Ph.D., M.D., Botsford's direc-
tor of laboratory medicine. The system
has streamlined specimen processing,
analysis and reporting results.
Botsford's lab robotics system has
been so successful that Botsford's
equipment and software vendors use
the hospital as a showcase and beta
test site for their products. "We host
visitors from all over the country',' says
Herman. "Many are surprised to find
such as complex and sophisticated lab
in a hospital of Botsford's size'
Patient safety, employee safety and
workload relief were important drivers
in Botsford's decision to invest in an
automation project of this scale.
The other technology that works to
improve patient care in the ER is an
electronic medical records program
called A4 HealthMatics. A4 is a com-
puter program that allows physicians,
nurses and other hospital staff to more
effectively record and track patient
information and improve patient care.
The system allows medical staff to
easily access vital patient information
and eliminates errors that are often
associated with bad handwriting on
paper charts.
Sanford Vieder, D.O., interim chief
medical officer and emergency physi-
cian, says, "With this system, I can
order anything I want through the
click of the mouse. No nurse or sec-
retary is needed. I can either select a
series of orders based on my patient's
symptoms, or I can pick from a menu
of individual tests. The results then
go directly to the lab where the auto-
mated system is put to work."
With these two technologies work-
ing together, Botsford offers increased
quality of care while also reducing
the patient's time in the Emergency
Center. The average length of time for
non-admitted patients is around 120
minutes. Prior to this technology, the
average time was 200 minutes. For
minor injuries or illnesses, Botsford's
Express Care has reduced its average
length of time to less than 60 minutes
from arrival to discharge.
Vieder states, "By taking these
two technologies and linking them
together in a seamless fashion, we can
provide faster care with more accu-
racy. It has changed the way I practice
emergency medicine'
This article was provided by Botsford
Hospital's Community Relations
Department.