by Dan White – LifeBot® Slate allows for the live transmission of patient physiological vital signs and trended video, voice, and data..

One thing that many of the new medical products hitting the market nowadays have in common is that they are often electronic. However, it can be the case that they lack compatibility and the functionality to talk to your destination facility.

There have only been a few and limited technology tests of pre-hospital telemedicine projects. Proprietary algorithms and hardware limitations have thus far prevented it. But this month, we can take a sneak peek at a potentially groundbreaking solution to this problem, the LifeBot® Slate.

The new LifeBot Slate is a Hewlett-Packard-based Windows Tablet PC, powered by the DREAMS telemedicine software. DREAMS (Disaster Relief and Emergency Medical Services) telemedicine software was developed with trauma surgeon, James ‘Red’ Duke, and the U.S. Military.

This system allows for the live transmission of patient physiological vital signs and trended video, voice, and data. Everything is recorded and selectively stored in an on-board SQL database server. This data may then be forwarded or ported to an EHR (Electronic Health Record) system.

LifeBot functions as a seamless integrator for all your digital data into a hand-held device, and then feeds it onward. You can hook up your ECG to it, hook up your vital signs monitor and pulse oximeter, even hook up your electronic stethoscope.

You can also stream video of all this data, your picture, and video of the patient — all at the same time. For the first time, all these machines can “talk” to the ER, and we can stop “talking through” all of this basic data ourselves.

LifeBot has the potential to redistribute hundreds if not thousands of man-hours. Instead of taking two minutes to talk through a patient report, which is typically incomplete, you could see everything almost instantly. On patients with less than critical injuries, this feature will save a lot of wasted time.

The LifeBot® physical package is surprising ergonomic, and somehow intuitive. It feels natural, like grabbing the steering wheel of a car. LifeBot® only weighs 1.5 pounds, and it is a little smaller form factor than an Apple I-Pad.

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Lateral thinking is solving problems through an indirect and creative approach, using reasoning that is not immediately obvious and involving ideas that may not be obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic. . Lateral thinking is concerned with the movement of ideas.

A person would use lateral thinking when they want to move from one known idea to creating new ideas. Edward de Bono defines four types of thinking tools:

• Idea generating tools that are designed to break current thinking patterns—routine patterns, the status quo
• Focus tools that are designed to broaden where to search for new ideas
• Harvest tools that are designed to ensure more value is received from idea generating output
• Treatment tools that are designed to consider real-world constraints, resources, and support.

A person would use lateral thinking when they want to move from one known idea to creating new ideas. Dr. Richard Reese

November 6, 2011 – When I received the following email from Roger Heath, a biomedical engineer who is CEO of www. emstelematics.com, I thought immediately of the concept of “lateral thinking,” arriving at innovation through direct and creative thinking.

Edward de Bono, MD, founder of a thinking institute in Malta, says the medical system is comprised of a horizontal landscape full of vertical holes with a specialists at the bottom of each hole. The problem is the vertical holes do not always intersect. The Internet, social media, and IT Techologies are in the process of connecting the holes. This is especially true in business-friendly environments, where entreprenuers and venture capitalists actively talk to each other.

The medical system is comprised of a horizontal landscape full of vertical holes with a specialists at the bottom of each hole. Edward de Bono, MD

The E-Mail:

We are focused on the ‘front door’ of the hospital, the Emergency Department, where roughly 80% of admissions occur. This is also where most medical record systems are initialized. We are working with Chief Dennis Murphy of the International Association of Fire Chiefs in this area. This is the “eye of the storm” of our projects, you might find this perspective fascinating because this may save cities tens of millions right away, even during healthcare reforms.

Simply put, this involves the prioritizing calls as emergent or non-emergent. Then non-emergency calls (30-60% at the 911 level) may be responded to with a lower cost Mobile Primary Care Unit (MPCU) that can elevate care, lower risks, and save substantial monies. To do this, one needs Decision Support Software (DSS) and mobile telemedicine. In the middle of healthcare reforms, major cities can respond by significantly lowering costs while providing higher levels of care at the same time. It’s a win-win situation, for both providers and patients.

I saw you reporting on Skype being used to qualify ED visits. I view this as potentially very risky, when done without Decision Support Software, like our Odyssey systems. Nurse teletriage was started in major U.S. city some years ago and resulted in a patient lawsuit that was successful and resulted in the complete over-haul of the fire department administration. This set back this concept for some years. Many are experimenting in this area without a great deal of understanding of the inherent risks. I did a post on our site that addresses this issue about using video conferencing only. See: Video Tele-Conferencing is NOT Telemedicine!

I brought the Odyssey DSS software from the UK because I could not find this in the US. It has done over 20 million assessments without a lawsuit. It has been developed over 15 years now. East Midlands Ambulance service has already been saving $11 million annually using the software for some years. I recently was at the Cleveland Clinic reviewing all of this at a very special meeting there regarding call center management. Triage and qualifying patients needs is becoming a central focus. See: DSS Tele-Triage

Prioritizing and coordinating care is the name of the game. It involves very carefully, and safely, matching patient needs to exactly the level of care required.

Reposted from Dr. Richard Reese’ “Medinnovation Blog” view full article

LifeBot has just been advised that R. Lee Heath will have his 33rd patent issue from the U.S. Patent Office. The new patent integrates crucial call management, Personal Emergency Response Systems (PERS) and resuscitation technologies that will only be available from LifeBot.

According to CEO, Roger Heath, “This new patent has major ramifications when applied to managing emergencies during telemedicine home remote monitoring. The majority of these patients are chronic and they are going to have an emergency arise. The patented system does away with the old mantra, “Hang up and dial 911.” because the last thing patients wish to do is disconnect a doctor or nurse during an emergency. There is no reason to hang-up on high-level life-saving medical expertise in the midst of an emergency. This could cost human lives.”

“Most very large telemedicine firms have been investing billions in home remote monitoring and this undoubtedly will reduce healthcare costs. But, they seem to have “skipped over” or completely forgotten that most of these patients are going to have an emergency. This is inevitable.”, states Heath, “So emergency management is critical to saving more lives and LifeBot® holds the exclusive patented technologies to make this possible.”

When this patent is combined with Heath’s patented resuscitation technologies, this forms the basis for the most advanced home remote monitoring systems with emergency management “built-in” says, Heath.

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