The University of Kansas Health System is providing physicians with a mobile app to speed up the time it takes to diagnose two deadly conditions.
For patients exhibiting signs of stroke or sepsis, time is critical. However, recognizing those signs can be difficult. Through the grant-funded Kansas Heart and Stroke Collaborative, the University of Kansas Medical Center announced it is pilot-testing an app that incorporates evidence-based protocols at the point of care.
Hospital leaders believe the mobile solution, manufactured by Redivus Health, can support faster decision-making among clinicians, particularly in rural hospitals within the system that see fewer instance of stroke. In some hospitals, mobile stroke units that combine telehealth technology and remote specialists have been used to speed care delivery.
Similarly, with sepsis, early detection of certain warning signs is often the difference between life and death.
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“Accurate diagnosis and compliance with sepsis treatment continues to be a challenge for healthcare providers who may not have access to a consulting specialist,” Steven Q. Simpson, M.D., professor in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at The University of Kansas said in a press release. “At the first sign of infection, we anticipate clinicians will have bedside access to evidence-based protocols with Redivus to aid in diagnosing and caring for sepsis patients.”
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The Innovation Institute, a healthcare technology incubator, is working with clinicians to identify solutions to that can eradicate sepsis, a condition the organization's president and CEO Joe Randolph calls a "global life-threatening medical condition." Recent research shows that sepsis accounts for more 30-day readmissions and is more costly than heart attacks.