For both permanent and temporary field healthcare treatment centers battling infectious diseases such as what we experienced with COVID-19, health facilities management has never been more critical for protecting patients and healthcare workers. EHS (Environment, Health, and Safety) managers are charged with managing indoor air quality including air pressure, temperature and humidity. Leveraging data to track performance and compliance is essential to managing outbreaks and infectious diseases. But doing so accurately and efficiently can often feel like an impossible task.
With the right monitoring systems in place, hospitals can manage and oversee all aspects of their environment when required to prevent the spread of infection throughout the facility. Using technology to communicate the status of systems and document medical events and medication delivery can be a game-changer. Monitoring systems help hospitals to become both proactive and prepared in protecting patients and staff.
Over the years, Primex's OneVue platform has emerged as the gold standard in modern healthcare data management. Facilities that have weathered epidemics such as COVID-19, SARS-CoV (commonly known as SARS), Ebola, H5N1 ("bird flu") and H1N1 ("swine flu") understand the value of this technology suite.
The OneVue platform can be leveraged as a preventative measure to minimize risk during an infection outbreak. The components of the platform — the Sense Environmental Monitoring, Notify InfoBoards, and Sync timekeeping solutions— can be used to ensure the hospital's environment remains in compliance; can effectively communicate with staff, visitors, and patients; and can accurately document medical events and medication delivery. Linking all the systems, the Monitor software becomes the single source of healthcare facility data, allowing users to access from any web browser to review proactive alerts, reports and documentation.
Here’s how Primex OneVue works to keep your facility both proactive and prepared in the case of an emergency.
Protect Your Patients, Staff and Environment
OneVue Sense provides a comprehensive environmental technology suite to monitor and manage the environment. It's a powerful solution for monitoring pharmaceutical storage temperatures and managing environmental conditions such as differential air pressure for a surgical suite or an airborne infection isolation room. OneVue Sense’s healthcare data solutions provide everyday environmental management solutions for monitoring temperature, humidity, air pressure, water leaks and contact closure to keep facilities running safely and to support compliance monitoring and performance review.
The suite offers the following:
- Differential Pressure Sensors that monitor air pressure to minimize the spread of airborne contaminants.
- Temperature and humidity sensors that ensure the comfort and safety for patients and staff.
- Temperature sensors with probes that prevent loss and damage to valuable assets such as pharmaceuticals and vaccines if temperature levels are not in compliance.
- Water leak sensors that can alert staff to leaks or failures in critical refrigeration, cooling or other units that can cause thousands of dollars of damage if undetected.
- Contact closure sensors that ensure all medication, samples and critical assets remain safe and secure.
OneVue sense ensures adherence to the accreditation requirements of the CDC, FDA, TJC and HCAHPS as well as guidelines from the World Health Organization. Hospitals that don't monitor and manage the environment could experience an increased rate in the spread of an infectious diseases to staff and patients due to temperature and humidty fluctuations. Vaccines and temperature-critical pharmaceuticals could be damaged if the storage environment does not follow the manufacturer's specifications, resulting in a loss of medication that could be critical to the treatment of patients and valuable hospital resources. In addition to greatly impacting staff bandwidth and the bottom line, the institution's accreditations could be in jeopardy if guidelines for environmental management are not met.
Communication, Coordination and Documentation
Message protocols, procedural changes and logistics can be incorporated into OneVue Notify, a critical alert, general messaging, and time sync solution. Users can customize public messaging throughout the day as well as issue immediate notifications in response to events such as a weather emergency or a fire. Secure cloud-based control ensures consistent, coordinated messaging across the entire facility. System-issued communications can include:
- Infection control and hygiene reminders
- Identification of isolation and quarantine areas
- Informing patients and staff of designated "quiet" areas of hospitals
- Logistics management: wayfinding functions and entry protocols
OneVue Sync connects sites within buildings as well as entire healthcare campuses with unified timekeeping to foster efficiency and ensure promptness with wired and wireless solutions. The technology improves the accuracy of documenting:
- Coded events
- Medication and treatment delivery
- Staff schedules
Bringing It All Together
Tie all of the OneVue solutions together with OneVue Monitor, which facilitates administration, alerts and reporting. The system provides comprehensive reporting and monitoring data, delivering one single source of information when it comes to healthcare data and simplifying compliance with electronic record keeping regulations.
OneVue Monitor is hosted in a secure cloud so users can access data from any web browser. That also means there's no need for an on-site server, which minimizes the IT resource time.
The lessons learned from infectious disease outbreaks and pandemics help healthcare professionals prepare for any potential threats, whether it's global or local. An integrated system of monitoring and communications will help healthcare facilities prepare for the reality of the rapid spread of infectious disease.
For additional information about how you can implement Primex OneVue solutions, please contact us today!
References:
https://www.cdc.gov/infectioncontrol/guidelines/environmental/index.html