Patient monitoring has come a long way, and companies supplying that medical technology are continuing their work to ensure that the level of patient care doesn't depend solely on the attention given to alarms, the clinician who happens to be in the department at the time of need or the ability of staff to correctly enter what feels like an endless stream of data into an electronic medical record system (EMR). Here are a few examples of how companies are creating new technology and integrating existing technology to improve enterprise wireless monitoring.

On any given day, a car accident victim will suffer a C-spine injury. A morbidly obese individual with a history of COPD may complain of chest pain, or an inner-city youth will come face to face with the wrong end of a handgun.
While seemingly unrelated, all three patients will arrive at their local ED and pose a distinct medical challenge that is independent of their particular injuries: a difficult airway.

It may sound like a good thing, but most people know that when an item claims to be “one size fits all,” it usually means “one size fits all… kind of.” Apparently, as in the clothing industry, this is equally true in the world of enterprise PACS.
“You can’t make everybody happy,” said Tim Masters, PACS manager for Continental Division HCA of Denver.
Four years ago, Masters was in charge of implementing GE’s Centricity PACS at Sky Ridge Medical Center, a then brand-new 136-bed hospital on the outskirts of Denver in Lone Tree, CO.