An I Phone for Every Pot?

The MidWeek Scramble…

An I Phone for Every Pot?

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Cooking With Technology ?

That is an interesting question reflective of the famous campaign promise of  “ A Chicken in Every Pot ”  made by  Herbert Hoover in 1928.

It sounded good- but could it deliver?

Of course the point to made here is the emergence of substantial new instant communication technologies and how it interfaces with perfusion as an applied science (the pump-run) and with Perfusion (as a global community).  Obviously in terms of an applied science, perfusion encompasses far more than a pump-run,  but you get the point…

So now that we have all this cool stuff- what are we going to do with it- and why do it to begin with?

The answer to the  second part to that question is easy- because it’s there?  Not…

• If it means you know what’s up for dinner tonight when you come home- the answer is no.
• The reason to employ new technology is simple, if it improves patient outcomes and patient management- the answer is Yes.
• If it improves how the science of perfusion progresses- the answer is Yes.
• If it improves our ability to communicate with current issues and events impacting us-the answer is Yes.

Some Personal Observations:

It’s proved to be an excellent tool for updating via text (for me- as our STS coordinator), I get updated status reports from our NP regarding patient date of discharge, discharge meds, and discharge instructions- as well as daily operating schedule updates.  Equally so- a medical library at you finger tips is tremendously useful in today’s chaos.

Pt Updates & O.R. Changes ...

Playing Chess, or having a bunch of personal conversations while on pump- or even if in a standby mode for off-pump procedures,  is questionable at best.

Uncontrollable urges to salivate whenever the primal tug  to conversate (misspelling) on that little gem of technology resting in your palm, should be tempered in my personal opinion because it inevitably leads to lack of respect and esteem from the rest of the team.

Perception is 90% of everything, and if a surgeon is in the middle of a touch-and-go off pump procedure, where he is worried about the rising ST’s and maybe crashing on bypass, seeing you constantly on the phone is not an overwhelming confidence builder.

However if you have a patient on the table that presents with Cold Agglutinins and it is an unusual situation for the team or institution- well it may come in handy to search your IPhone and come up with something like this …

Click to Enlarge

Or this …

Click to get Search Results

So basically this one aspect of new technology can help us become better.

There are CVS risk stratification apps online published by STS that are based on the same model as the adult STS v.2.63 that many of us are using now.  So if you need some reaffirmation of how sick your patient is- well then that’s a good choice for you.  There are some great perfusion apps as well.

If nothing else- the calculator function will help you with your height & weight conversions, BSA, BMI, and Dilutional Hematacrtits.

Thanks for dropping by.

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Frank