Not long ago, GCX unveiled a new Patient Engagement Table, a hospital-grade over-bed table with an adjustable arm that places a tablet or other electronic device in easy-to-use positions for hospitalized patients. It was designed to improve the individual patient experience, as well as relieve some of the workload for busy nurses. <\/p>\n
The response to initial use of the Patient Engagement Table has been overwhelmingly positive. But what we didn\u2019t foresee was its dramatic application for patients with spinal cord injuries and others with severely limited mobility issues. <\/p>\n
Think about the challenges such patients face in the hospital setting. They feel \u201clocked in,\u201d forced to accept help for virtually everything a mobile person doesn\u2019t think twice about doing\u2014eating, washing, taking care of bodily functions, etc. Since they\u2019re unable to move, they have no control over their environment. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s not surprising, therefore, that such feelings of helplessness and despair don\u2019t contribute to a favorable recovery. <\/p>\n
Until now.<\/p>\n
Recently, a team at VCU Medical Center in Richmond Va., was inspired by our Patient Engagement Table to create a unique cart for its tetraplegia patients in the intensive care unit. The cart is mobile and specially equipped with a GCX mount that can hold a laptop directly overhead of an immobile patient. Infrared eye-gazing technology is used as a cursor to open web pages, launch apps and stay connected via social media. As a patient gazes either to the right or left, the technology scans their eye movements, enabling them to use a keyboard just as others do with a mouse in hand. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe eye gaze technology was there previously, but until now we lacked the means to deliver it,\u201d notes Jerry A. Langford, the Senior Systems Administrator and OR Information Systems Infrastructure Team Lead for VCU Health\u2019s PeriSurgical Services. \u201cThat\u2019s all changed with the use of GCX\u2019s Patient Engagement System. This has been, by far, the most rewarding job I\u2019ve done at the hospital.\u201d <\/p>\n
Our GCX team, led by Kent Hochgertle, Director of New Business Development, was as moved as the VCU staff, when severe spinal injury patients began to use the new technology. \u201cThis particular project was the most special one I\u2019ve ever worked on,\u201d Hochgertle said. \u201cIt was exciting to see it all come together by taking an old standard \u2013 the over-bed table \u2013 and making it more high tech. Now patients can have an iPad or other technology right where they want it without long arms or cords going across the floor. This reduces clutter and removes trip hazards from caregiver and family member\u2019s walkways while bringing technology right there in front of the patient.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, immobile patients can engage in an array of computer-guided health and leisure activities\u2014everything from researching their medical conditions to streaming videos on Netflix, downloading books from Amazon, making calls on Skype, and more. <\/p>\n
We\u2019re exploring the use of universal design in future iterations of this technology. Someday soon, we hope, tetreplegics can independently switch lights on and off in their hospital room, open and close doors, and turn a thermostat up and down. We\u2019re also exploring how best to adapt the new technology for use by a patient in their home setting.<\/p>\n
It is the enterprising ideas like the one from the team at VCU Medical Center that inspire us to continually create medical-grade solutions to improve the patient experience in healthcare facilities worldwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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