Traditionally when a patient experiences chest pain, a caregiver has to find and move an ECG machine from a different location to the patient's bedside. It's a practice that can cost caregivers and patients valuable time. And with electronic records coming to the forefront in many hospitals, a new need for hospitals is emerging, one that would call for devices to be made to link hospital networks, information systems and other types of digital information.
GE Healthcare (Waukesha, Wisconsin) is taking this need head on with the launch of its Carescape Monitor B850. The monitor was given FDA approval recently and provides caregivers with integration between patient monitoring data and hospital information systems.
The company touts that unlike traditional patient monitors, Carescape Monitor B850 directly links hospital networks, electronic medical records (EMRs), diagnostic images, lab results and third-party devices with real-time patient monitoring data, to support efficient clinical decision-making. This enables Carescape Monitor B850 to integrate its continuous clinical measurements with other elements of the patient record, delivering it at the point of care.
"The development of Carescape has a lot to do with what our customers are telling us, and that is that hospitals are becoming ICUs. Patients are becoming sicker and sicker," Dan Winger, Global Products Manager for GE Healthcare told Medical Device Daily. "The amount of info that needs to be in a clinicians hands at any given time is much greater than it's ever been before."
The Carescape manager brings together elements from Datex-Ohmeda and Marquette Electronics, two companies that GE Healthcare purchased.
"We basically acquired these two great companies, which had a few product lines in (development) and developed Carescape," Winger said.
The device takes elements of Datex-Ohmeda's expertise in anesthesia and Marquette Electronic's cardiac expertise.
The Carescape Monitor B850 enables bedside viewing of hospital EMRs, as well as x-rays, labs and other diagnostic reports, including the associated diagnoses from the hospital's experts. This quick, comprehensive view of the patient's records encourages confidence as clinicians make critical decisions at the point of care.
"The Carescape Monitor B850 reflects GE's commitment to a new approach to patient monitoring one that transforms streams of once uncoordinated patient data into meaningful, easily accessible clinical intelligence," said David Ataide, VP and general manager of Monitoring Solutions and Diagnostic Cardiology, GE Healthcare. "Empowering doctors and nurses with quality patient information supports fast, easy clinical decision-making, which may lead to improved patient outcomes, the foundation of GE's Clinical Information Logistics vision. Because each hospital care area treats a unique group of patients with distinct clinical needs, the Carescape Monitor B850 now enables standardization on a single monitoring platform that can be customized to meet specific care area demands."
The device has actually already been installed in hospitals in Europe and Asia and has received CE mark approval.
The product will be tailored to the specific needs of various hospitals departments, such as the operating room and ICU, according to the company. Pricing depends on the different needs of each hospital. It will be compatible with existing GE products.
"We realize that our customers are faced with budget cuts so we wanted to present technology that's already compatible with technology they already have," Winger told MDD. "We realize that some customers might not be able to start from scratch and purchase a totally new system."
The Carescape Monitor B850 works with third-party patient monitoring devices and EMR software packages, in addition to GE's own medical monitoring gear and its Centricity EMR applications.
In other Ge Healthcare news, the company made waves this week when it reported that it would integrate all its India business within WiPro GE Healthcare, a joint venture created by both companies nearly 20 years ago.
As part of the consolidation, around 1,200 GE employees from its three healthcare businesses – GE Healthcare Life Sciences (Piscataway, New Jersey), GE Healthcare Medical Diagnostics and GE Medical Systems India are expected to become a part of the integration measure.
Omar Ford, 404-262-5546;