ESCONDIDO: PPH employees, public get peek at future of health care

Visiting semi showcased high-tech equipment to be incorporated into new hospital

By ANDREA MOSS - Staff Writer | Wednesday, July 16, 2008 10:25 PM PDT ∞

ESCONDIDO ---- The future rolled up to Palomar Medical Center Wednesday in the form of an 18-wheeler filled with some of the latest health care technology.

The Cerner and Nurture Smart Semi spent most of the day outside the medical center. Inside, the truck offered hospital employees and the public a sneak peek at high-tech computer systems and equipment that are expected to make medical caregivers' lives easier within the next few years.

Representatives of Cerner Technologies, which specializes in health care technology, also gave demonstrations showing how the equipment can reduce the chances of medical errors and make hospital stays more pleasant for patients and their visitors.

About 160 people had toured the truck by mid-afternoon. Hospital officials estimated that 10 percent of the visitors were community members. The rest, they said, were doctors, nurses and other hospital employees.

The technology they saw demonstrated included:

-- High-resolution, touch-video screens that display patients' vital signs, medications and medical charts. Cerner business development director Allen Latham told visitors the systems enable caregivers and patients to get quick overviews of a patient's condition and a look at X-rays and lab test results, as well as allowing conferences between doctors and consultants.

"Consumers are becoming more and more informed," Latham said, explaining why patients might want access to their own medical records. "And they want to know more and more information."

-- In-room entertainment systems that let patients play computer games, watch television, order movies-on-demand, listen to music and much more. Visitors marveled as Latham showed how patients could pull up personal profiles of their doctors and nurses, order meals, and adjust a room's temperature, lights and window blinds ---- all by clicking a wireless mouse.

The same system also lets patients watch educational health videos, view family photos, and "visit" with family members who can't get to the hospital but have access to Web cameras.

-- An automated medication dispensing system. Gayle Romack, a registered nurse who works for Cerner, said automated locking devices on storage units, hand-held scanners, and bar codes on patient wristbands, hospital employee badges and prescription drugs work together to track the medications a patient is receiving, reducing the risk for potential medication errors.

"I think it's wonderful," critical care nurse Linda Olson said as she toured the semi. "I think that they take a lot of the tasks that we do and they centralize it. ... It makes the nurses' lives a lot easier so they can focus on patient care ---- which is what's important."

Dr. Craig Burrows, a pulmonary critical care physician at Palomar Medical Center and Pomerado Hospital in Poway, said the all-in-one access provided by the audio-visual screens would make it easier for everyone involved in a patient's care.

Dr. Gregory Hirsch, medical director of the hospital's critical care unit, offered similar praise.

"You have all your data right there at your fingertips ---- you don't have to go out and access a lot of things," he said. "And you have the ability to show the family a lot of things."

Palomar Pomerado Health President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Covert said district officials are still deciding exactly which new technology will be used in the new hospital. Feedback from surveys filled out by visitors to the semi will help with that effort, he and district information systems director Steve Tanaka said.

"This is an example and opportunity for physicians, for our staff, for administrators to see how the technology works in a patient room setting," said Tanaka. "So as we get to making choices, we know what works."

Covert said the new technology will also show up in the district's existing hospitals before the new medical center opens.

"This is not one of those things where you pull up with the truck and move all your equipment into the hospital, and you start using everything from Day One," he said. "You want people to be comfortable and familiar enough with these things so they're used to using them on patients."

Contact staff writer Andrea Moss at (760) 739-6654 or amoss@nctimes.com.

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