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Prospect Question: Can My Hospital Use Pulsara Without EMS?

Picture of Shane Elmore, RN Shane Elmore, RN : Oct 28, 2019

Communication Connected Teams

Prospect Question: Can My Hospital Use Pulsara Without EMS?

Have you ever been in a relationship where you were ready to take things to the next level, but your partner wasn't? If it weren't for awkward moments like this, Jerry Springer wouldn't have a TV show. When it comes to relationships, things are often more complicated than you might think they should be. This is true of personal relationships, and it is just as true with business relationships. For example, what do you do when you, as a hospital, are ready to commit to Pulsara, but your EMS partners aren't?

It's true that many patients arrive to our hospitals via EMS, so it makes sense that you might be nervous to adopt a platform like Pulsara without EMS's buy in. But while including EMS from the onset is the best possible scenario, it's certainly not the only one. Here are three reasons your facility should proceed without EMS if they're unable or unwilling to use Pulsara at this time.

1. Many of your patients arrive at the hospital by means other than EMS.

The exact number will vary based on many factors, but as many as 60% of your patients could be ED walk-ins. Why wouldn't you move forward with a tool that is going to improve the speed and quality of care for a majority of your patients?
Consider your transfer process. You can use Pulsara to get consults from other clinicians at other facilities, initiate and track a transfer, and reduce the time it takes to complete that transfer.
Pulsara can be used for your inpatients. Statistically, the worst treatment times in the country result from inpatients who develop another condition beyond what they were initially admitted for. It seems that sometimes the patient would be treated faster if they crawled out of bed and called 911 from the parking lot of the hospital. But with Pulsara, you can activate your dynamic care team and mobilize the right resources instantly -- regardless of your patient's condition.

2. It's a great opportunity to start small.
I've seen hospitals get wrapped around the axel trying to lead change for too many EMS organizations at once. Change management for your own hospital alone is enough of a challenge (but we can help!) Instead, starting without EMS means you get to lead the change and establish best practices first. Then, when EMS is ready to join you on the platform, you'll have your own processes dialed in and clear guidelines set to make it easier for them to get started.

3. Good scientific tests change only one variable at a time.
Ask any research scientist and they'll tell you that to truly understand the effect of an intervention, you must study it in isolation. So those hospitals who choose to implement Pulsara without EMS will have the opportunity to first compare their treatment times before and after using Pulsara, and THEN watch what happens when they also change the way they communicate with EMS on the platform.

Pulsara connects teams across organizations, but also within your own organization. If EMS isn't ready to implement yet, don't let that stop you from reducing your current care times and improving communication within your hospital. Once EMS sees the impact your streamlined communications have had on patient care, they'll be on board in no time.