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Medical technology manufacturer Dräger leads the way with ground-breaking tech innovations in patient care Atlan from Dräger is the first interoperable anaesthesia device, heralding a new era of service-oriented device connectivity medical care solutions
German medical technology manufacturer Dräger has launched a number of connected medical device solutions based on the latest industry standard Service-oriented device connectivity (SDC). These solutions are positioned in the global healthcare industry, which are positioned to transform the landscape of patient care around the world. The company’s technologies based on SDC principles enable bi-directional communication between multiple medical devices, automating the transfer of medical data along each point of patient treatment.
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With SDC data at your fingertips from different sources, this improves safety, clinical outcome, and the possibility to drive up therapy to better levels. Among Dräger’s recent IT solutions are the Clinical Assistance Package, Data Analytics and Mobile Patient Watch, and most notably, the first SDC compatible anaesthesia device, Atlan. All of these applications were designed to increase the efficiency of sharing patient data, and are prompting the wider healthcare sector to consider the potential for a future of connected technology in medicine. Dräger IT based medical care solutions are at the centre of reducing the probability of human error in patient care processes, and revolutionising the quality and safety of patient care. Dräger’s SDC solutions can help healthcare facilities incorporate more streamlined, safer, and comprehensive treatment in their delivery of patient care, explains Jens Altmann, Head of Business Unit IT and Systems. Considering the amount of fractional information required to make correct instant care decisions, Altmann
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highlights how “Pulling data from different sources needs to be compiled in a short amount of time in order to be responsive to medical emergencies.” Instead, he explains, “With SDC data at your fingertips from different sources, this improves safety, clinical outcome, and the possibility to drive up therapy to better levels.”
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Different data leverages better patient decisions, which in turn also positively impact workflow and the cost of managing care.
Studies have shown that caregivers need to be relieved of tiring routine tasks and that their skills are better applied for improved therapy decisions. Combined data retrieved through SDC devices leads to more meaningful and useful medical information for treatment. “Different data leverages better patient decisions, which in turn also positively impact workflow and the cost of managing care,” Altmann asserts. Emphasising the need for more relevant alarm management, Altmann says, “Today all systems are meant to alarm when certain settings are activated, but their incorrect operation creates alarm fatigue among caregivers, caused by constant noise levels – and they may not attend to real alarms for life-threatening scenarios.” With SDC, it is possible to route and manage alarms differently, streamlining healthcare providers’ workflows and processes, which in turn optimises patient care and safety. In a healthcare facility the reality is that there are devices and machinery from a variety of different manufacturers. “Basic demographic patient information is then manually inputted and transferred from device to device – a process which is
prone to human error and can result in incorrect decisions, sometimes dire,” says Altmann. SDC alternatively provides a standardised way to collect and share data across a variety of medical equipment. Dräger’s connectivity solutions, then, are at the centre of fostering and nurturing care-focused medical facilities. Dräger’s additional new interoperability options based on SDC recently introduced to the market are changing the future of healthcare in foundational ways. Altmann describes promising examples of connected devices for lung recruitment manoeuvres that eliminate the use of multiple screens so specialists can focus their attention on performing medical procedures.
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Connected technology is significantly different to what we’ve previously experienced in healthcare, opening a new era in medical technology. Beginning with selected hospitals in 2019 across Europe, Altmann explains, “Connected technology is significantly different to what we’ve previously experienced in healthcare, opening a new era in medical technology. The Atlan anaesthesia device can “talk to” patient monitors (and vice versa), and is fully integrated and time-synchronised, transmitting and receiving patient data simultaneously and securely, enabling the reduction of errors in medical care.
2020 | PUBLICATION
