Skip to contents
In This Issue:
BWH is home to one of the world’s largest telemetry and monitoring installations in the world now that the Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center is connected to the rest of the main campus. Thanks to Biomedical Engineering, data is shared among all telemetry and hard wire monitors in patient rooms in the Tower and Shapiro, making it easier on care providers to view data for several patients at once.
“A nurse or physician can see the overview of the whole floor or all the patients they are caring for,” said Michael Fraai, director of Biomedical Engineering. “You can actually see any patient from Shapiro or the Tower via one monitor in any patient’s room.”
Previously, data wasn’t shared between the two types of devices, and rooms in the Tower could only be on a telemetry or a hardwire monitor, not both. Patient rooms in Shapiro are equipped for both, which makes it easier if a patient needs to switch from telemetry to hardwire or vice versa. This improvement is coming soon to the Tower.
“As we complete renovations in the Tower, we will have both telemetry and a hardwire monitor in each patient room,” said Fraai. “Both the Tower and the Shapiro Center will have the same biomedical equipment.”
The department already has been working to improve the infrastructure of the Tower. “Each patient monitor has been replaced or upgraded to be compatible with monitors in the Shapiro Center,” Fraai said.
The 36 technicians, engineers and administrative staff within Biomedical Engineering have worked since February to install more than 25,000 new devices in Shapiro, but their work really began when the building was still in the planning phase.
Biomedical Engineering worked hand in hand with Nursing and Real Estate & Facilities to determine the layout of the patient rooms for patient care equipment, including monitors, anesthesia machines, surgical equipment and IV pumps. Then, a smaller team worked out acquisition of the equipment, securing the best agreement possible for the hospital.
“We worked very closely with Nursing on selecting technology to ensure it fits the clinical care model for the hospital and is safe for patients,” said Fraai. “Patient monitors were our biggest purchase.”
The magnitude of the Shapiro Center project was not only significant for BWH, but also for the Biomedical Engineering industry. “It’s not often that we, as biomedical engineers, are so connected to a project from start to finish as we were with this building,” Fraai said. “We installed everything ourselves; we know more about our equipment than the vendors who made it.”