Sponsored by Philips
By Tim Nowak for EMS1 BrandFocus
What do iPhone, Netflix, and Amazon all have in common?
They changed their respective industries by doing things differently – disrupting the status quo.
Well, Philips is back into the cardiac monitor and defibrillator market, and they’re doing just that – disrupting the status quo. Their new Tempus line of cardiac monitor and defibrillator options represents time in the present and future tense, not the past.
A case-in-time, now
Your major trauma patient needs rapid transport to a level 4 center. You gain IV access and follow your permissive hypotension protocols for fluid administration. After your manual blood pressure reading, you secure your automatic blood pressure cuff, connect your cardiac monitoring electrodes and begin tracking your data. Next comes an E-FAST ultrasound exam of your patient’s heart, lungs and abdominal area before you consider tranexamic acid (TXA) or whole blood administration. After EtCO2 rises and breathing rates decrease, your video laryngoscope is utilized to facilitate endotracheal intubation, while your defibrillator pads are being applied as a precautionary measure.
All of this sounds exciting, right?
Now, think about all of the data connections and devices being utilized. Your monitor/defibrillator counts as one, add-in ultrasound, plus your video laryngoscope makes three devices. You probably also have an ePCR tablet on-hand to document care and medications. That’s a lot of data to collate and batteries to charge. All the while, you’re thinking about a sleeker option that combines many of these features into a more multi-functional, modular approach, like the Philips Tempus ALS Monitor/Defibrillator. In this case, four platforms becomes one, but it’s not just the number of devices that decreases, it’s the overall size (footprint) and complexity of managing them even when compared to just your traditional monitor/defibrillator, alone.
Tempus: next generation, now
Modular, lightweight, multi-functional and tech-savvy options surround the Tempus Pro and Tempus ALS models. Basic life support (BLS) ambulance crews can operate with advanced and expanded vital sign and diagnostic monitoring options using the Tempus Pro, while advanced life support (ALS) crews can add-on the ALS option for manual defibrillation, cardioversion and pacing capabilities as allowed by their expanded scope of practice. Incorporating this modular approach allows for agency and crew customization based upon their scope, while still maintaining consistent equipment and data workflows across provider levels. Other monitor/defibrillators and equipment on the market offset capabilities with increased complexity, while the Tempus solution offers a simple, unifying patient-care platform.
This means that across teams and devices, care and data can be centralized in the same place. With Tempus as hub, a record of care can be automatically uploaded to for real-time viewing in the IntelliSpace Corsium portal and routed to your ePCR. Add more event data, more easily with Tempus Pro’s customizable touch screen and combine it complete vitals data and images, all with minimal post-event processing. So for the first time, the different tools and connections you need can be found in the same place.
Looking at its enhancements, the new Tempus ALS model allows you to transfer data between your device and ePCR system via highly secure, cloud-based technology, display and record your video laryngoscopy (and ultrasound) imagery right on the monitor screen and even take pictures with the on-board camera for automatic upload into the patient’s record (and not your crews’ smartphone!).
Versatility in both function and display options
Both the Tempus Pro and Tempus ALS modules are built with EMS in mind. Touch-screen functions allow for better device customization and lightweight construction allows for less physical stress as you carry the equipment that you need, not just the equipment that you have.
This versatility is ideal for flight crews in cramped airframe space, high-volume ground ambulance crews that have a mix of BLS and ALS calls, rural and low-volume EMT crews that want to offer advanced monitoring (without having to make a full upgrade to an ALS-capable device) while transmitting live vitals via secured platforms, and your skilled ALS crews who can utilize Tempus’ multiple displays to better manage a team-based care approach.
It’s all about multi- and appropriate function, not just traditional options. This reflects the changing trends of the EMS/prehospital care industry, both in the future and now.
We often say that “time equals muscle.” In this case, “time” equals Tempus.
Visit Philips to learn more about their line of prehospital monitor/defibrillators.
Read next: A Swiss Army knife on wheels: The benefits of modularity in EMS
