Mission
Due to a shortage of specialists in the care of Cerebral Vascular Accidents (CVAs) and a minimum transfer time of 45 minutes to the regional referral centre, Neurological Emergencies Network of Franche-Comté (RUN-FC) wanted to implement a telemedicine solution so that specialists at the referral centre could see and talk remotely with patients and ER physicians to establish a diagnosis.
Solution
The company Covalia worked in close collaboration with neurologists to develop Covotem™ video solutions - a high-definition network video solution allowing tele-consultation. It consists of a software platform, an Axis network camera and a high-quality sound system. In the event of a suspected CVA case, the ER physician can contact the neurologist at the referring establishment who connects to the shared system from his workstation to consult the images and establish a diagnosis.
Result
The solution of Covotem™ video solutions has proven very effective in diagnosing cases of CVA. It has permitted an improvement of patient care and better working conditions for the medical teams, thanks to the integration of the technical solution into their daily practice. The solution has also helped establishments to cut back on unnecessary inter-hospital transfers. With more than 4,500 CVAs per year, Franche-Comté is one of the regions with the highest number of cases in Metropolitan France.
CVAs are a diagnostic and therapeutic emergency whose prognosis depends on the speed of administering care to the patient. However, due to a shortage of specialists and a minimum transfer time of 45 minutes to the referral centre, the region wanted to improve its organisation. To guarantee quality of care, the RUN-FC wanted to adopt a telemedicine solution to permit the Jean Mimoz de Besançon University Hospital Centre, a referring and referral hospital for the entire region, to quickly determine the diagnosis and select the appropriate treatment.
To do this, the team wanted to adopt a tool capable of viewing and questioning the patient, discussing with the ER physician and sharing the patient data in real time, including high-definition medical imaging. Covalia worked in close collaboration with neurologists to develop a tele-consultation solution. Since the specialists wanted to be able to view the patients and benefit from an easy-to-use, high-quality system, the company contacted Axis, the leader in network video.
| Covalia equipped the emergency wings of the regional facilities with around ten PTZ network cameras |
"In addition to the good reputation of Axis and its products, we were attracted by the implementation of a technology partnership. This facilitated the work of our team in integrating the cameras into the software we had designed, allowing us to control the cameras remotely via our application," explained Eric Garcia, CEO and founder of Covalia.
The solution of Covotem™ video solutions consists of a software platform, an Axis network camera and a high quality sound system. Covalia thus equipped the emergency wings of the regional facilities with around ten PTZ network cameras such as the AXIS 215 PTZ which is equipped with a 12x optical zoom, the AXIS P5534 PTZ Network Dome Camera which has HDTV resolution and offers very high-quality images in 16:9 format, and the AXIS Q6032-E PTZ Network Dome Camera which is equipped with 35x zoom to cover long distances. This regional-scale project today guarantees rapid, high-quality verbal and visual communications between all the parties involved (ER physicians, neurologists and patients), wherever they may be, so as to make a remote diagnosis and define the appropriate medical treatment.
"Healthcare professionals value these high-performance, easy-to-use cameras. ER physicians and neurologists only need to take a minute to connect with each other and share medical imaging in real-time. This collaborative work allows them to diagnose possible cases of CVA quickly and define the right treatment as soon as possible, while controlling the cameras remotely and viewing the patient in a dynamic and clear way," concluded Eric Garcia.
The RUN-FC today handles an average of 2,000 emergency cases per year, 38% of which turn out to be CVAs. This telemedicine system has also allowed establishments to cut back on unnecessary inter hospital transfers. Encouraged by this success, Covalia plans to equip 5 or 6 additional rooms by the end of 2010.