ANMC hospital expands inpatient telemetry monitoring services
February 11, 2016Categories: Alaska Native Medical Center, Health Technology Services
Heart disease is among the leading causes of death for Alaska Native and American Indian people. With so many of our people affected by heart disease, it is essential to have timely access to cardiology and telemetry monitoring services. At the ANMC hospital, we recently expanded our telemetry services to span the entire fifth floor. Up until the expansion, we only had the capability to serve 12 patients who required cardiac monitoring at one time. These services were previously provided exclusively on the 5 East Unit. ANMC now has the capacity to provide telemetry monitoring services for 36 patients simultaneously. Along with our ability to monitor an additional 24 patients at any given time, we have increased the capabilities of the 5 West clinical unit to include telemetry monitoring. Staff on this unit are now trained to provide this service to our people, and we have installed new equipment and software for our nurses to monitor cardiac patients via a central monitor. “Access to appropriate cardiac services is crucial for our patient population,” said Dr. Matt Schnellbaecher, ANMC Cardiology Medical Director. “This increased capacity will help provide timely access to lifesaving care for our patients.” Now, the entire fifth floor is fully equipped to assess patient telemetry status. Our nursing staff received cardiac rhythm training classes to educate them on how to read cardiac rhythms and interpret signs and symptoms of cardiac disease.