Paging System Research Articles

Stroke Code From EMS to Thrombectomy: An Interdisciplinary In Situ Simulation for Prompt Management of Acute Ischemic Stroke.

IntroductionTreatment of acute ischemic stroke is challenging because it requires prompt management, interdisciplinary collaboration, and adherence to specific guidelines. This resource addresses these challenges by providing in situ simulated practice with stroke codes by practicing clinicians at unannounced times.MethodsAn emergency department team was presented with a 55-year-old simulated patient with speech difficulty and right-sided weakness. The team had to assess her efficiently and appropriately, including activating the stroke team via the hospital paging system. The stroke team responded to collaboratively coordinate evaluation, obtain appropriate imaging, administer thrombolytic therapy, and recognize the need for thrombectomy. Learners moved through the actual steps in the real clinical environment, using real hospital equipment. Upon simulation completion, debriefing was utilized to review the case and team performance. Latent safety threats were recorded, if present. Participants completed an evaluation to gauge the simulation's effectiveness.ResultsSix simulations involving 40 total participants were conducted and debriefed across New York City Health + Hospitals. One hundred percent of teams correctly identified the presenting condition and assessed eligibility for thrombolytic and endovascular therapy. Evaluations indicated that 100% of learners found the simulation to be an effective clinical, teamwork, and communication teaching tool. Debriefing captured several latent safety threats, which were rectified by collaboration with hospital leadership.DiscussionImpromptu, in situ simulation helps develop interdisciplinary teamwork and clinical knowledge and is useful for reviewing crucial times and processes required for best-practice patient care. It is particularly useful when timely management is essential, as with acute ischemic stroke.

Do social adaptations increase earthquake resilience?

Grandparents in earthquake-prone Chile teach children to identify load-bearing walls, and the Philippines has developed an internationally respected disaster management system. Do such low-cost, social adaptations increase community resilience to earthquakes, or are poorer countries forever doomed to large death tolls in small earthquakes? We attempt to answer this question by quantifying the vulnerability of exposed populations to a set of earthquakes recorded in the USGS PAGER system. We first remove the effect of strong shaking by statistically modelling published mortality, shaking intensity and population exposure data; unexplained variance from this purely physical model is dominated by, and its systematics therefore illuminate, the contribution of socio-economic factors to increasing earthquake mortality. We find that this variance partitions countries in terms of basic socio-economic measures and allows the definition of an Earthquake Vulnerability Index, which identifies both anomalously resilient and anomalously vulnerable countries. Unsurprisingly, wealthy countries perform well, while in general poor countries are more vulnerable. However some low-GDP countries rival even the richest in their ability to resist shaking, suggesting that social and political will can increase resilience. Until expensive engineering solutions become more universally available, the objective targeting of resources at relatively low-cost interventions might help reverse the trend of increasing mortality in earthquakes.

'Aorta code' implementation and preliminary results of a multidisciplinary protocol for patients with acute aortic syndrome

Abstract Background Expediting life-saving care for patients with acute aortic syndrome (AAS) through multi-disciplinary code protocols is a potential method to improve outcomes. Other code protocols for cardiovascular emergencies, such as ST-elevation myocardial infarction and stroke have shown excellent results. Aim To examine the implementation and preliminary results of a code protocol “Aorta Code” for patients with AAS in a healthcare framework of a 4-hospital network in our city by reviewing the number of patients detected, patient's transference time, aortic surgery and patient's outcome during a trial period of 10 months (April 2019-January 2020). A comparison with a previous 2-year period with standard of care management of AAS was performed. Methods “Aorta Code” uses a specific diagnostic algorithm to improve detection of patients with AAS at the emergency room, facilitates their quick transfer to the referral hospital by activating a paging system, and places acute cardiovascular care unit, operating room and surgeons specialized in aortic pathology on standby. Results Compared to a previous 2-year period (2017–2018) (group I), the current implementation of “Aorta Code” in a period of 10 months (group II) in our 4-hospital network involving the healthcare of 1.100000 inhabitants resulted in the detection of more patients with AAS (group-I: n=18 patients (0.8 patients/month), group-II: n=19 patients (1.9 patients/month); p=0.013). AAS detection in secondary hospitals importantly increased (33.3% vs 63.8%, p=0.07). The “Aorta Code” achieved a significant decrease in patient's transference time to referral hospital (group-I: median 259 min (IQR 150–1911), group-II: median 129 min (IQR 95.5–167.25); p=0.035). There was a marked reduction in the number of surgeons involved in the “Aorta Code” (group-I= 7 cardiac, 6 vascular, group-II= 2 cardiac, 2 vascular). Thirty-day mortality was lower in group-II in the whole AAS cohort (group-I= 22.2%, group-II= 12.5%; p=0.660) and in type A AAS (28.6% vs 18.2%, p=0.661). Misdiagnosis rate (false-calls): 11 patients (7 of them with non-acute aortic disease). Conclusion “Aorta Code” facilitates detecting patients with AAS at the emergency room, speeds them to the referral hospital center, allows patients to be treated by surgeons specialized in aortic surgery and improves patient's outcome. Further prospective studies examining the utility of “Aorta Code” are warranted. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: None

Airway emergency management in a pediatric hospital before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

ObjectiveChildren's hospitals frequently care for infants with various life-threatening airway anomalies. Management of these infants can be challenging given unique airway anatomy and potential malformations. Airway emergency management must be immediate and precise, often demanding specialized equipment and/or expertise. We developed a Neonatal-Infant Emergency Airway Program to improve medical responses, communication, equipment usage and outcomes for all infants requiring emergent airway interventions in our neonatal and infant intensive care unit (NICU). Patients and methodsAll patients admitted to our quaternary NICU from 2008 to 2019 were included in this study. Our program consisted of a multidisciplinary airway response team, pager system, and emergency equipment cart. Respiratory therapists present at each emergency event recorded specialist response times, equipment utilization, and outcomes. A multidisciplinary oversite committee reviewed each incident. ResultsSince 2008, there were 159 airway emergency events in our NICU (~12 per year). Mean specialist response times decreased from 5.9 ± 4.9 min (2008–2012, mean ± SD) to 4.3 ± 2.2 min (2016–2019, p = 0.12), and the number of incidents with response times >5 min decreased from 28.8 ± 17.8% (2008–2012) to 9.3 ± 11.4% (2016–2019, p = 0.04 by linear regression). As our program became more standardized, we noted better equipment availability and subspecialist communication. Few emergency situations (n = 9, 6%) required operating room management. There were 3 patient deaths (2%). ConclusionsOur airway safety program, including readily available specialists and equipment, facilitated effective resolution of airway emergencies in our NICU and multidisciplinary involvement enabled rapid and effective changes in response to COVID-19 regulations. A similar program could be implemented in other centers.

Patterns of behaviour in nursing staff actioning the afferent limb of the rapid response system (RRS): A focused ethnography.

To improve understanding of afferent limb behaviour in acute hospital ward settings, to define and specify who needs to do what differently and to report what afferent limb behaviours should be targeted in a subsequent multi-phase, theory-based, intervention development process. Focused ethnography was used including direct observation of nursing staff enacting afferent limb behaviours and review of vital signs charts. An observation guide focused observation on "key moments" of the afferent limb. Descriptions of observations from between 7 January 2019-18 December 2019 were recorded in a field journal alongside reflexive notes. Vital signs and early warning scores from charts were reviewed and recorded. Field notes were analysed using structured content analysis. Observed behaviour was compared with expected (policy-specified) behaviour. Observation was conducted for 300hr. Four hundred and ninety-nine items of data (e.g., an episode of observation or a set of vital signs) were collected. Two hundred and eighty-nine (58%) items of data were associated with expected (i.e. policy-specified) afferent limb behaviour; 210 (42%) items of data were associated with unexpected afferent limb behaviour (i.e. alternative behaviour or no behaviour). Ten specific behaviours were identified where the behaviour observed deviated (negatively) from policy or where no action was taken when it should have been. One further behaviour was seen to expedite the assessment of a deteriorating patient by an appropriate responder and was therefore considered a positive deviance. Afferent limb failure has been described as a problem of inconsistent staff behaviour. Eleven potential target behaviours for change are reported and specified using a published framework. Clear specification of target behaviour will allow further enquiry into the determinants of these behaviours and the development of a theory-based intervention that is more likely to result in behaviour change and can be tested empirically in future research.

Recommendations and Alerting for Delirium Alleviation in Real-Time (RADAR): Protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial.

Background: Delirium is a common and serious complication of major surgery for older adults. Postoperative social and behavioral support (e.g., early mobilization, mealtime assistance) may reduce the incidence and impact of delirium, and these efforts are possible with proactive patient-care programs. This pilot trial tests the hypothesis that a multicomponent decision support system, which sends automated alerts and recommendations to patient-care programs and family members for high-risk patients, will improve the postoperative environment for neurocognitive and clinical recovery. Methods: This will be a randomized, controlled, factorial pilot trial at a large academic medical center. High-risk, non-cardiac surgery patients (≥70 years old) will be recruited. Patients will be allocated to a usual care group (n=15), Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP)-based paging system (n=15), family-based paging system (n=15), or combined HELP- and family-based system (n=15). The primary outcome will be the presence of delirium, defined by positive long-form Confusion Assessment Method screening. Secondary outcomes will include additional HELP- and family-based performance metrics along with various neurocognitive and clinical recovery measures. Exploratory outcomes include the incidence of positive family-based delirium assessments post-discharge, 36-item Short Form Survey, PROMIS Cognitive Function Abilities Subset 4a, and 30-day readmission rates. Ethics and dissemination: This trial has received approval by the University of Michigan Medical Institutional Review Board (IRBMED). Dissemination plans include presentation at scientific conferences, publication in medical journals, and distribution via educational and news media. Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT04007523, registered on 7/3/2019.

Recommendations and Alerting for Delirium Alleviation in Real-Time (RADAR): Protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial

Background: Delirium is a common and serious complication of major surgery for older adults. Postoperative social and behavioral support (e.g., early mobilization, mealtime assistance) may reduce the incidence and impact of delirium, and these efforts are possible with proactive patient-care programs. This pilot trial tests the hypothesis that a multicomponent decision support system, which sends automated alerts and recommendations to patient-care programs and family members for high-risk patients, will improve the postoperative environment for neurocognitive and clinical recovery. Methods: This will be a randomized, controlled, factorial pilot trial at a large academic medical center. High-risk, non-cardiac surgery patients (≥70 years old) will be recruited. Patients will be allocated to a usual care group (n=15), Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP)-based paging system (n=15), family-based paging system (n=15), or combined HELP- and family-based system (n=15). The primary outcome will be the presence of delirium, defined by positive long-form Confusion Assessment Method screening. Secondary outcomes will include additional HELP- and family-based performance metrics along with various neurocognitive and clinical recovery measures. Exploratory outcomes include the incidence of positive family-based delirium assessments post-discharge, 36-item Short Form Survey, PROMIS Cognitive Function Abilities Subset 4a, and 30-day readmission rates. Ethics and dissemination: This trial has received approval by the University of Michigan Medical Institutional Review Board (IRBMED). Dissemination plans include presentation at scientific conferences, publication in medical journals, and distribution via educational and news media. Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT04007523, registered on 7/3/2019.

Distractions During Patient Handoff: The Application-Based Messaging Volume on General Surgery Interns

Mobile phone-based paging systems have become increasingly common for communication within hospitals. Surgical interns receive the most pages, and our aim is to objectively quantify and evaluate this burden to allow for targeted improvement. We performed a retrospective review of our institutions mobile phone-based paging system data (Halo Health, Cincinnati, OH) from July 2019 to September 2019. Carolinas Medical Center, Charlotte, NC, USA. Seven general surgery postgraduate year (PGY) 1 residents. Forty-five thousand eight hundred and one messages met inclusion criteria, with 27,397 messages received and 18,404 sent. PGY 1 residents each received an average of 48 ± 41 messages per shift, with 8 ± 17 messages per day while off-duty. Night shifts averaged more messages than day shifts (80 ± 39 vs 38 ± 32, p < 0.0001), and had more shifts with high message volume (30% vs 11%, p = 0.0005). Evaluating the total number of messages received per minute of the day, the largest number of high-volume message intervals (21) occurred during patient handoff (1700-1900 hours). Most messages were sent by nursing staff (55.8%), followed by medical providers (38.2%). PGY 1 residents receive a large number of pages using a messaging application, with many occurring at critical times. Residents received a higher volume of pages on night shifts, during patient handoff, and while off-duty. Since most pages are from nursing staff, targeted education and preventative actions may help decrease the volume of pages during these critical times.

Smartphone Technology: Impact on Interprofessional Working Relations between Doctors and Nurses.

For decades, the main communication technology in hospitals has been the paging system. In the era of digital communication, smartphones have been adopted by hospitals seeking to modernize processes and offer real-time, two-way communication to increase efficiency. The aim of this study was to explore physicians' and nurses' perceptions of the impact of smartphones on communication and efficiency. Mann-Whitney U-tests were used to compare differences in item scores between physicians and nurses on 17 questionnaire items relating to smartphone impact on interpersonal relationships and communication, efficiency and reliability. An open-ended question was used to elicit additional feedback. In total, 43 nurses and 27 physicians participated in the study. Nurses' ratings were significantly higher than physicians' on a number of questionnaire items, including the following: smartphones have a positive impact on efficiency (Mdn = 4.0 vs. 3.0, U = 321.0, p = 0.027, r = .33), smartphones increase my accessibility to physicians (Mdn = 5.0 vs. 3.0, U = 277.0, p = 0.009, r = 0.42) and smartphones reduce interruptions versus pagers (Mdn = 4.0 vs. 2.0, U = 224.0, p > 0.0001, r = 0.47). The findings suggest that smartphone technology may reduce the locus of control for physicians, potentially limiting their ability to prioritize patients' needs and manage workflow efficiently.

Abstract 257: Cutting Down the Lag- an Assessment of the Delay in the House Staff’s Evaluation of an Admission

Background: At this institution, a delay occurs between the time the emergency department admits a patient and the admitting service’s evaluation of the patient. Since the emergency department is run on paper charting, the current system, at night, involves the emergency department writing a name and a diagnosis in the emergency department’s admission book. The night residents’ job is to admit teaching patients to the teaching service. The current system requires the night resident to physically go to the emergency department and look in the admissions book to find out about a new admission. This lack of communication can cause a great delay in evaluation of a new admission, which can be problematic. The catalyst for this study was an adverse event where a stroke was missed in the emergency department and the patient was not evaluated by the admitting service for 15 hours falling well outside the tPA window. Decreasing the delay in thorough evaluation is crucial in proper treatment of many cardiovascular conditions, which are time sensitive and can potentially prevent a catastrophic outcome. Intervention: Residents on the admitting service will be first asked to document their evaluation time without intervention, which will be documented with the emergency department admission time to establish a baseline. In addition to the current system of manually checking the admissions book in the emergency department, the ward clerk will page the night staff when new admissions are written in the book. Residents on the admitting service will then document their evaluation time with this new intervention, along with the emergency department admission time. The goal of this new system is to decrease the time the patient is waiting to be evaluated by the admitting service. Results: The mean lag time pre-intervention (N=20) was 73 minutes with a range of 0-279 minutes. Post-intervention (N=25) the mean lag time was 82 minutes with a range of 5- 337 minutes. The P-value of this study was 0.707. Residents on the admitting service were very compliant with documenting their evaluation times. Admitting residents did note the pages were inconsistent and were often missed. The rate of pages successfully sent out was not documented. Conclusion: The lag time before and after intervention was not found to be statistically significant. Pages were inconsistently sent out but did not impact the internal validity of the study. Since the study tested if paging the on-call residents improved the delay in evaluation, the ability to reliably send the page is as important as the response time. The paging system in this study was used as an augmentation to the current system out of some trepidation that pages could be missed and thus negatively impacting the response time. Due to the statistically insignificant data, it can be concluded that the paging system made no impact on the response time patients were seen by the admitting residents.

Reliance jio: An Indian Telecom Diaspora

The telecom sector has redefined the world boundaries. In India, the journey of the telecom sector from Telstra, MTNL, BSNL, Airtel, Vodafone and Idea to Jio has amazing transition points. Jio's entry in the telecom market brought disruption amongst other players operating in the market and as a result, in the year 2020 Jio has become the market leader in the telecom service provider category. The telecom sector has transformed from the pager system to cellular systems. The change from 1G to 4G has changed the life of many people in the world. This revolution in India was brought by Reliance Jio wherein they upgraded Indian the market from 3G services to 4G services. They have a great plan to move to 5G in the near future. The company that now has the maximum share in the telecom sector of 32.04% entered the market by providing free internet and calling services. The main idea of the company was to expand itself in each part of the company. The target audience for the company was the young generation with maximum usage of mobile services with highly price elastic demand. To widen the market by catering to the low-income group of consumers with a higher level of utility they launched Jio Smart Phone with the brand name of LYF. This phone had almost all the features of an expensive smartphone but the price of these phones was kept low to attract target customers. Initially, Jio services were offered for free and in a later stage, the company charged nominal prices for the services. Later in November 2019, the company increased the prices for its services and now it has plans to expand into DTH services, Financial Instruments, Jio Phones, etc. The authors have made an attempt to dwell deeper into Jio's strategic approach to disrupt the telecom industry and to compel the competitors and the telecom regulatory body (TRAI) to set new rules of the game.

Monitoring of High- and Intermediate-Risk Surgical Patients.

Monitoring of High- and Intermediate-Risk Surgical Patients.

Recommendations and Alerting for Delirium Alleviation in Real-Time (RADAR): Protocol for a pilot randomized controlled trial

Background: Delirium is a common and serious complication of major surgery for older adults. Postoperative social and behavioral support (e.g., early mobilization, mealtime assistance) may reduce the incidence and impact of delirium, and these efforts are possible with proactive patient-care programs. This pilot trial tests the hypothesis that a multicomponent decision support system, which sends automated alerts and recommendations to patient-care programs and family members for high-risk patients, will improve the postoperative environment for neurocognitive and clinical recovery. Methods: This will be a randomized, controlled, factorial pilot trial at a large academic medical center. High-risk, non-cardiac surgery patients (≥70 years old) will be recruited. Patients will be allocated to a usual care group (n=15), Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP)-based paging system (n=15), family-based paging system (n=15), or combined HELP- and family-based system (n=15). The primary outcome will be the presence of delirium, defined by positive long-form Confusion Assessment Method screening. Secondary outcomes will include additional HELP- and family-based performance metrics along with various neurocognitive and clinical recovery measures. Exploratory outcomes include the incidence of positive family-based delirium assessments post-discharge, 36-item Short Form Survey, PROMIS Cognitive Function Abilities Subset 4a, and 30-day readmission rates. Ethics and dissemination: This trial has received approval by the University of Michigan Medical Institutional Review Board (IRBMED). Dissemination plans include presentation at scientific conferences, publication in medical journals, and distribution via educational and news media. Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT04007523, registered on 7/3/2019.

App and web-based clinical communication solution and pager replacement.

Oxford University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (OUHFT) is a large tertiary care NHS trust in the UK. It has an ageing pager system which has been in use for over 40 years. Currently, medical staff increasingly use unofficial encrypted messaging platforms not meeting the information governance requirements for effective pager, landline-free communication. As medicine advances, health needs change and society develops, the NHS has to continually move forward so that in 10 years’ time we have a service fit for the future. Virtually every aspect of modern life has been, and will …

A State of Biopreparedness

Introduction:Westmead Hospital (WMH) recognized gaps in its preparedness to respond to the Ebola 2014 outbreak in West Africa. A fragmented system was identified. A ‘State of Bio-preparedness’ project team convened to discuss all healthcare services in the planning, training, and implementation of a biopreparedness response.Methods:A survey targeting the staff’s competence and confidence in biologically hazardous infection management was conducted. Semi-structured interviews explored staff members’ experiences and perspectives of biopreparedness response. The collaborative team called “State of Biopreparedness” (SOB) was assembled and a clinical practice improvement project was undertaken. To assess readiness, nine simulated Viral Haemorrhagic Fever (VHF) exercises involving staff and consumers were conducted. These exercises were debriefed by the multidisciplinary committee and themes and issues were identified. These nine simulation drills then assessed readiness and evaluated performance.Results:A number of consistent issues continue to emerge including: 1.A standard communication pathway for notification was needed - use of the incident paging system (111 pages) to notify the hospital’s incident management team.2.A consistent and coordinated approach to the training and maintenance of standardized and high-level Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) protocols for frontline clinical and clinical staff was required.3.Clear delineation of roles and responsibilities and supporting these roles by translating the VHF Control Guideline and policy into task cards and checklists.4.Strengthening intra- and interdepartmental staff collaboration and communication.5.Infection control measures to be taken by staff after identifying a patient with possible VHF to reduce the risk of transmission of disease to staff, other patients, and visitors.Discussion:Integrating disaster management processes with clinical protocols had a positive impact on the hospital’s biopreparedness response. Simulation exercises were a vital and practical way for staff to feel confident and competent to perform their roles.

The Neurosurgical Registrar – are we still as busy as we were? A Quality Improvement Study

Introduction: Bleeps represent an important element of the on-call neurosurgical registrar’s workday. They provide instant contact between healthcare staff, while allowing doctors to perform tasks across the hospital. However the paging system causes interruptions and can interfere with patient care. We aim to develop and implement strategies to improve paging patterns and ultimately reduce unnecessary calls. Material and Methods: we conducted a retrospective analysis of electronic hospital bleep records over a 7-months period (March-September-2015) in which bleep logs were retrieved from the hospital paging system at University Hospital of Wales. The first cycle was followed by a set of interventions followed by a second data-collection cycle 12 months later.Results: The first cycle showed that on average the neurosurgical registrar received 57 bleeps per 24hrs. Almost a third of on-call bleeps were new referrals received from the local accident & emergency department or from other district hospitals. Other calls were received from our own hospital’s wards and Intensive Therapeutic Unit (10%), the paediatric ward (5%), neurosurgical theatres (5%) and emergency theatre (5%). The second cycle showed a 23% drop in the total number of bleeps compared to first cycle. The difference in bleep numbers was evident during the day shift, and no difference was noted during the night shift. No difference in the number of new referrals was noted. Conclusion: This project has shown that a simple change can result in a significant improvement. It also confirmed the value of team work and communication in improving quality of care.

Push Notifications Reduce Emergency Department Response Times to Prehospital ST-segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction.

IntroductionPrehospital acquisition of electrocardiograms (ECG) has been consistently associated with reduced door-to-balloon times in the treatment of ST-segment myocardial infarction (STEMI). There is little evidence establishing best hospital practices once the ECG has been received by the emergency department (ED). This study evaluates the use of a push notification system to reduce delays in cardiac catheterization lab (CCL) activation for prehospital STEMI.MethodsIn this prospective before-and-after study, we collected prehospital ECGs with computer interpretation of STEMI from May 2012 to October 2013. Push notifications were implemented June 1, 2013. During the study period, we collected timestamps of when the prehospital ECG was received (email timestamp of receiving account), CCL team activation (timestamp in paging system), and patient arrival (timestamp in ED tracking board). When prehospital ECGs were received in the ED, an audible alert was played via the Vocera WiFi communication system, notifying nursing staff that an ECG was available for physician interpretation. We compared the time from receiving the ECG to activation of the CCL before and after the audible notification was implemented.ResultsOf the 56 cases received, we included 45 in our analysis (20 cases with pre-arrival CCL activation and 25 with post-arrival activation). For the pre-arrival group, the interval from ECG received to CCL activation prior to implementation was 9.1 minutes with a standard deviation (SD) of 5.7 minutes. After implementation, the interval was reduced to 3.33 minutes with a SD of 1.63 minutes. Delay was decreased by 5.8 minutes (p < 0.01). Post-implementation activation times were more consistent, demonstrated by a decrease in SD from 5.75 to 1.63 min (p < 0.01). For patients with CCL activation after arrival, there was no significant change in mean delay after implementation.ConclusionIn this small, single-center observational study, we demonstrated that the use of push notifications to ED staff alerting that a prehospital STEMI ECG was received correlated with a small reduction in, and increased consistency of, ED CCL activation.

Emergency department sepsis huddles: Achieving excellence for sepsis benchmarks in New York State

The sepsis order set at our institution was created with the intent to facilitate the prompt initiation of appropriate sepsis care. Once clinical features meeting criteria for systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) are identified and an infectious source is considered, a “sepsis huddle” is concomitantly initiated. The sepsis huddle was implemented in March of 2016 in order to increase compliance with the sepsis bundles. The sepsis huddle is called via overhead paging system in the emergency department (ED) to notify all staff that there is a patient present who meets SIRS criteria with concern for sepsis requiring immediate attention. The sepsis order set is utilized for these patients and includes laboratory testing, treatment, and monitoring items to meet sepsis “bundle” compliance. In addition, it suggests antibiotic options to be administered based on the presumed source of infection. Each team member responding to a sepsis huddle has a pre-established role outlined to facilitate timely treatment. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, (CMS), is part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). CMS sepsis guidelines call for periodic patient reassessment, including repeat vital signs, pertinent physical examination findings, and timed lactic acid measurement to determine a patient's response to resuscitation efforts. Our established order set has automated some of these reassessment features to facilitate compliance. Sepsis huddle initiation also triggers a department staff member to track the timing and completion of serial blood draws. Utilizing and adhering to the guidelines of this methodology in the management of these patients has enabled our hospital to improve benchmarking compliance from previously underperforming at the 31st and 49th percentiles in 2015, prior to initiation of the huddle, to a peak compliance at the 81st and 91st percentiles in 2016 and 65th and 83rd percentiles in 2017 for the 3-hour and 6-hour bundles respectively.

Abstract WP289: Implementation of Secure Messaging System Reduces Response to Page Time in Telestroke Network

Introduction: Timeliness of a response to page by telestroke physicians is an important component in a telestroke network. Accrediting organizations such as the Joint Commission require telemedicine to be available within 20 minutes of the request. We implemented a secure messaging system to improve physician communication. We hypothesized that implementation of a secure messaging system would improve communication, reduce telestroke physician response to page and reduce door-to-needle (DTN) times compared to the previous pager-based system. Methods: We reviewed data collected as part of our telestroke quality program. We compared response to page times for one year before and after initiation of the secure messaging system. Additionally, we compared DTN times during the same epochs. Results: Seven hundred and sixty-five telestroke consults were completed in the year prior to implementation of the secure messaging system and 941 telestroke consults were completed in the year following implementation. Telestroke response to page time decreased significantly between pre ( mean rank 1005; median 4 min) and post ( mean rank 731 ; median 2 min) implementation of the secure messaging system ( U = 244,240 , p &lt; .001, r = .28). A significantly greater percentage of telestroke neurologist response times occurred within 20 minutes when using secure messaging 936/941 (99.5%) compared to pagers, 751/765 (98.2%), χ 2 (1, N = 1706) = 6.46, p = .01, φ = .06. DTN was lower when using secure messaging (64 min) compared to the prior paging system (66 min), but this difference was not statistically significant ( p = .74). Conclusions: In conclusion, implementation of a secure messaging system improved communication in our telestroke network and reduced telestroke response to page compared to our prior paging system. Implementation of the secure messaging system did not significantly reduce DTN times.

ActivePointers

Modern discrete GPUs have been the processors of choice for accelerating compute-intensive applications, but using them in largescale data processing is extremely challenging. Unfortunately, they do not provide important I/O abstractions long established in the CPU context, such as memory mapped files, which shield programmers from the complexity of buffer and I/O device management. However, implementing these abstractions on GPUs poses a problem: the limited GPU virtual memory system provides no address space management and page fault handling mechanisms to GPU developers, and does not allow modifications to memory mappings for running GPU programs. We implement ActivePointers, a software address translation layer and paging system that introduces native support for page faults and virtual address space management to GPU programs, and enables the implementation of fully functional memory mapped files on commodity GPUs. Files mapped into GPU memory are accessed using active pointers, which behave like regular pointers but access the GPU page cache under the hood, and trigger page faults which are handled on the GPU. We design and evaluate a number of novel mechanisms, including a translation cache in hardware registers and translation aggregation for deadlock-free page fault handling of threads in a single warp. We extensively evaluate ActivePointers on commodity NVIDIA GPUs using microbenchmarks, and also implement a complex image processing application that constructs a photo collage from a subset of 10 million images stored in a 40GB file. The GPU implementation maps the entire file into GPU memory and accesses it via active pointers. The use of active pointers adds only up to 1% to the application's runtime, while enabling speedups of up to 3.9x over a combined CPU+GPU implementation and 2.6x over a 12-core CPU-only implementation which uses AVX vector instructions.