Community support brings new Telemetry Cardiac monitors to NGH
(SIMCOE) – Patients of all ages needing heart monitoring at Norfolk General Hospital (NGH) now have access to new, advanced telemetry cardiac monitors. This major upgrade, worth nearly half a million dollars, was completed in June thanks to successful fundraising by the Norfolk General Hospital Foundation.
The upgrade includes 11 new cardiac monitors for the Emergency Department and better wireless capabilities with Philips X3 portable patient monitors. These portable monitors help move patients to the ICU and Diagnostic Imaging without losing important patient information.
Telemetry cardiac monitors, a key part of this upgrade, are portable devices that keep track of a patient’s heart rate, breathing rate, and oxygen levels all the time. They automatically send this important information to a central monitor so our doctors and nurses can quickly check it.
As part of this major upgrade, the hospital’s central stations have been updated with new Philips technology. This makes it easier to monitor patients across different departments like the ED, ICU, 3E, 3B, and Recovery. Also, the software on existing bedside monitors and wireless telemetry monitors has been improved to work smoothly with the new equipment. This lets medical staff do 12-lead diagnostic ECGs right from the bedside monitors, making the diagnostic process faster and easier.
Adam Isaacs, NGH’s Director of the Emergency Department and ICU, said that the new monitors help medical staff work more efficiently, monitor patient status better, and securely share patients’ vital information across all departments.
NGH Foundation CEO Emma Rogers stressed the urgency for new heart monitors as soon as the need was identified. The main reason for this upgrade was to replace the 20-year-old bedside monitors in the Emergency Department.
“When our donors can see their contributions making a difference, everyone wins. That is what we call ‘gifts that keep giving’ – grateful patients and generous community members trusting us to use their funds where it matters most,” Rogers said. Nearly $420,000 came directly from donor contributions to the Hospital Foundation.
This upgrade supports our goal of eventually downloading patient data directly to a new Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system once it is in place. With our Philips monitoring system fully set up, clinical staff can access a patient’s vital data no matter where they are in the hospital.
The NGH Foundation believes that the best medicine is local. To learn more about the NGH Foundation’s future projects and upgrades, please visit www.ngh.on.ca.