By Drew Johnson, EMS1 Editor
Many small, and especially rural, EMS systems typically don’t have access to 12-lead devices.
When these crews — most of which are BLS — get called for cardiac patients they, often have to take them to a nearby hospital to get a 12-lead. That takes time that many cardiac patients don’t have to spare.
With its new ReadyLink 12-lead device, Physio-Control aims to change that.
The ReadyLink is a portable 12-lead built specifically for rural and volunteer BLS systems that traditionally don’t keep 12-lead devices in their ambulances.
The ReadyLink, which runs on the LIFENET system, allows BLS crews to capture a 12-lead and transmit it wirelessly to the nearest hospital while still in the field.
Cees Verkerk, the ReadyLink product manager at Physio-Control, says the device was designed to work as simply as possible, without medics having to do interpretation in the field.
“It’s a 1, 2, 3 operation: You place the electrodes, acquire the 12-lead, and transmit via LIFENET,” Verkerk said. “It’s a way to put 12-leads in the hands of BLS providers and start the clock much earlier.”
The small device (about the size of a hardback book) has a screen that displays the lead, which crews can use to interpret the 12-lead in the field. To send the 12-lead to a nearby hospital, the user just presses a button to capture the 12-lead and another to transmit.
Verkerk said the ReadyLink was designed to be as simple as possible. “The thing we’re always keeping in our thoughts is, when medics are dealing with chest pain patients, they’re probably some of the sickest patients they’re going to encounter. Because of that we wanted to remove any complicated steps,” he said.
Each ReadyLink is programmable so that ambulance crews have a list of nearby hospitals to choose from when sending the 12-lead, but just pressing ‘transmit’ will send it to the default hospital.
Every system’s data flow is different — some may have a cardiologist interpreting the 12-lead, others may have a cath lab — but once the expert has received and interpreted the data, they can then instruct the BLS crew on where to take the patient.
“It lets BLS systems quickly identify cardiac patients and refer them to a local hospital or PCI center,” Verkerk said.
Each ReadyLink comes with a built-in modem that runs on the AT&T wireless network, though the devices can roam to other networks if necessary. The device, which Physio-Control plans to introduce mid-August, will cost between $7,000 and $8,000.
Physio-Control, Inc., maker of the LIFEPAK defibrillators, has been developing medical technologies and devices for first response professionals, clinical care providers and citizens for more than 50 years.