Spotlight: Dialysis Center of Lincoln Inc.

Connecting Clinics

In dialysis, it’s essential for a nephrologist to be able to meet with a patient on a regular basis to ensure that treatment is going as planned. And if it isn’t, the doctor can do something about it. But many city folk take the relative ease of this interaction for granted as dialysis clinics in highly populated areas are, generally, easily accessible.

A renal professional uses the Flo workstation in a dialysis unit.

But what about in rural areas? Fifty million Americans live in rural areas, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which represents only 17 percent of the United States’ total population. But that small population covers nearly 80 percent of the world’s third-largest nation. In regards to dialysis, that means patients live farther from dialysis centers and nephrolgists need to drive greater distances to reach them.

Faced with this issue, the Dialysis Center of Lincoln Inc. (DCL), which has four clinics in Nebraska as well as services in all Lincoln-area hospitals, contacted Flo Healthcare to develop a solution that could make the work process more efficient. Flo Healthcare develops carts for bedside charting in the healthcare industry, and this was the company’s first foray into dialysis.

“In the heart of the country, you have some rural areas where there is quite a distance between clinics,” said Fouad Abu-Akel, who has been with Flo for 12 years developing the bedside charting cart. “It’s really hard on the physicians to schedule to go from one clinic to another.”

Flo Healthcare already offered a mobile cart that included a work surface, a tilting monitor, a mouse, a keyboard, and a computer under the work surface. But DCL was looking to install a video conferencing system on the cart so nephrolgists could interact with patients from a distance. “We took the challenge on,” said Abu- Akel, who is an electrical engineer with an expertise in wireless systems. “The good thing about DCL is that they were willing to be a test site, so to speak. They wanted to make this successful.”

Flo Healthcare decided to configure a video system and high-quality audio with its Flo 3000 system. Abu-Akel said the doctor can pan, tilt and zoom on the patient during the meeting. He added that, while it isn’t a diagnostic tool, the video quality is sharp enough for doctors to be able to observe the patient. For instance, they can look at a patient’s access point on his or her arm.

“The nice thing about the system is it is totally mobile,” Abu-Akel added. “You are unplugged, so your power and your network are mobile. This is not what you call a portable solution. A portable solution is where you have a computer on a mobile cart, but in order to use it, you have to be near an A/C outlet to plug it in.”

The Flo system, according to Abu-Akel, is selfcontained in that it includes its own power source, which is a built-in battery and charger. Therefore, nurses and doctors can wheel the system around the clinic without having to worry about tripping over cords. They only have to remember to plug the system in an outlet to charge the battery when the cart isn’t being used. Abel-Akel said the system can get up to six hours of use when it is fully charged. But if the battery is running low while the system is in use, the monitor will notify the user with a visual that displays the status of the battery.

In addition to the video conferencing capability, renal professionals in the clinic can also use it to access and store data at the bedside. Abu-Akel said no data is stored on the onboard computer system itself, which helps it stay compliant with federal privacy laws. The data is stored in warehouses with one or two back-ups.

“The system is also delivered to the clinic ready to go,” Abu-Akel said. “All the clinic has to do is install the software, join the network and they are ready to go. Within an hour or so of receiving the system, the clinic could be deploying the device—almost like plug n’ play.” RBT

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