Health care providers in New Orleans are using a Web site that coordinates communications between emergency departments so patients can receive the fastest, most effective treatment, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports.
The Web site, called EMSystem, shows which beds each hospital has open in their medical-surgical, intensive care and psychiatric departments, and it uses color codes to display the average ambulance uploading time at each of the facilities. EMSystem also includes a section for hospitals to comment on availability changes that would not be revealed from the general bed census, the Times-Picayune reports.
The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals joined the site, which has been in use since October 2006, to help communication during a hurricane, flu outbreak or other public health crisis. The Web site also can help state officials determine which hospitals in other parts of the state can receive patients from New Orleans and its suburbs if a public health crisis overwhelms the city's hospitals.
EMSystem is available to all hospitals in Louisiana, although only New Orleans hospitals use it on a daily basis. "The hospitals do not all have a comfort level about sharing this kind of information because it may give another facility a competitive edge, and that needs to be addressed," Dr. Jimmy Guidry, the state health officer, said.
Other Louisiana ED physicians said the technology has drawbacks that hinder the ability for patients to connect with facilities that provide the most prompt care, the Times-Picayune reports.
Dr. Joseph Guarisco, chair of emergency medicine at Ochsner Medical Center, said automatic updates for each patient discharge and admittance to a hospital would make the Web site more effective. Currently, each hospital staff member has to log in to the Web site and change the bed status, which occurs every two to four hours, according to the Times-Picayune.
Cynthia Matherne, a regional coordinator with the Metropolitan Hospital Council, said the Web site also needs a general survey of how many patients are in the lobby, so that patients can be diverted to less crowded hospitals, the Times-Picayune reports.
Louisiana also bought 800-megahertz radios to improve communication after Hurricane Katrina (Moran, New Orleans Times-Picayune, 1/23).