Drs. Purcell, Save() & Zimt qinard Certified Family Medicine Specialists HnLTH & FITNESS h 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... • • • • Annual Physicals School/Sports Physicals Gynecologic Care Sick Visits *Same Day Appointments Available * ll MaPie Rd. dA r 14 Mile Rd. BEAUMONT MEDICAL STAFF MEMBERS 30630 14 llile ltd. in Newberry Square (Miler's Sh ►i► ing Center) 13 Mile Rd. (248) 960-3727 12 Mile Rd. or------ 6‘ I *F ► n. v011r and weekend h ► iirs are available COM, Look to the future. / Get tested for Gaucher Disease today. Fivtivse. Bride • • E.a.fy kulargr.i l' ■ •• :ill,: 1,1 e '•.-: : gerWre Fir‘ l irti mntc. B2 e.111 Cten'.7vrlit December 27 • 2007 1111. 0rittAi :Oil Al 1 4 4 7 . 61.st ion or 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.