Agfa HealthCare has successfully implemented both its XERO Technology Viewer and IMPAX HeartStation ECG (Electronic Electro-Cardiograms) management system at Birmingham Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Birmingham Children's Hospital, currently celebrating its 150th birthday, treats around 240,000 sick children each year from across the UK. As well as providing general and emergency healthcare services, the hospital has over 50 specialities, including trauma, liver transplants, and cardiac, neonatal and epilepsy surgery, and is currently ranked in the top six centers in the world for small bowel transplants (one of only two centers in the UK). Birmingham Children's Hospital also hosts the West Midlands Regional Center for Cleft Lip and Palate, providing a multi-disciplinary service for cleft patients.
An Agfa HealthCare customer since 2003, Birmingham Children's Hospital upgraded its existing Agfa HealthCare PACS and computed radiography (CR) solutions in 2011, also adding Agfa HealthCare's RIS and cardiology systems.
Secure access to images and reports across the hospital and beyond
Agfa HealthCare's fully integrated XERO Technology Viewer provides secure access to images and reports across the hospital's enterprise and beyond via web-enabled devices using standard browsers without any additional software downloaded. XERO Technology Viewer is one of the many services of ICIS (Imaging Clinical Information System), Agfa HealthCare's clinical IT platform that provides a patient-centric enterprise imaging management and access.
Implementing the XERO Technology Viewer is another example of the hospital's strategy of making 'all image data immediately available to all users'. Recently Birmingham Children's Hospital was selected as an EHI Awards 2012 finalist for its use and integration of Agfa HealthCare's PACS/RIS in the Laparoscopic Theatre. The integration allows endoscopy digital video taken in theatre to be available in the central imaging solution. This ensures that all image data is available within surgery right at the point of care and endoscopy data is transferred and stored within the secure network. With XERO, the endoscopy data can now be viewed securely via any web-enabled device across the hospital's enterprise.
In the future, Birmingham Children's Hospital also plans to integrate ophthalmology, retinology and neurosurgery and to provide further ultrasound functionality - images taken by clinicians outside radiology and cardiology departments e.g. emergency department or in the pediatric intensive care unit. In addition there will be further integration across other departments for improved documenting, providing healthcare professionals with access to all the necessary multimedia information via the XERO Technology Viewer.
Mr Girish Jawaheer, Pediatric Surgeon, Birmingham Children's Hospital, comments: "Having every type of multimedia patient imaging information available on devices throughout the hospital means that we have access to all the information when we need it, right at the point of care, which is a huge benefit."
Kate Parkes, Radiology Clinical System Manager adds: "Freeing up data from our information silos provides real benefits to the hospital. From a clinician's perspective there is a single point of access, across a range of web-enabled devices, facilitating better communication and discussion across multidisciplinary teams. The patient and family are more informed about their condition through discussion with their clinician, as there is access to the all information in the clinic or on the ward. There is more efficient use of our clinicians' time as all the information is available when it is needed, wherever it is needed, also meaning there is a reduction in the duplication of tasks. Finally there is no additional software required as it uses standard browser technology. Our clinicians are finding the ability to securely view XERO on iPads a very exciting and popular development."
Increased patient security in a paperless ECG environment
In addition, the hospital has also successfully implemented Agfa HealthCare's IMPAX HeartStation, a vendor neutral ECG management system. Electronic Electro-Cardiograms and other non-invasive reports can now be viewed in full at any time and in any location across the hospital using either HeartStation as a standalone, or fully integrated with Agfa HealthCare's IMPAX PACS and RIS solutions. Not only are there significant efficiency gains from being able to access ECGs electronically but there are increased patient security benefits with a paperless ECG environment.
Creating a true longitudinal patient-imaging record
Noel Oldroyd, Sales Manager, Agfa HealthCare UK, comments: "Birmingham Children's Hospital and Agfa HealthCare have a shared vision of using technology and solutions to manage all image and multimedia data around the hospital, wherever and whatever it may be. We continue to work in partnership delivering against this vision, with the successful implementation of XERO Technology Viewer and IMPAX HeartStation. I am also pleased to report that other Trusts are also looking to do the same as they identify the benefits of unified patient information across regions, facilities and departments, creating a true longitudinal patient-imaging record."
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About Agfa
The Agfa-Gevaert Group is one of the world's leading companies in imaging and information technology. Agfa develops manufactures and markets analogue and digital systems for the printing industry (Agfa Graphics), for the healthcare sector (Agfa HealthCare), and for specific industrial applications (Agfa Materials). Agfa is headquartered in Mortsel, Belgium. The company is present in 40 countries and has agents in another 100 countries around the globe. The Agfa-Gevaert Group achieved a turnover of 2,948 million euro in 2010.
About Agfa HealthCare
Agfa HealthCare, a member of the Agfa-Gevaert Group, is a leading global provider of diagnostic imaging and healthcare IT solutions. The company has nearly a century of healthcare experience and has been a pioneer on the healthcare IT market since the early 1990's. Today Agfa HealthCare designs, develops and delivers state-of-the-art systems for capturing, managing and processing diagnostic images and clinical/administrative information for hospitals and healthcare facilities, as well as contrast media solutions to enable effective medical imaging results. The company has sales offices and agents in over 100 markets worldwide. Sales for Agfa HealthCare in 2010 were 1,180 million euro.