Healthcareultrasound

ADVENTIST HEALTH WHITE MEMORIALCASE STUDY: ULTRASOUND

THE CHALLENGE: Treating the Biggest Scares in the Littlest Patients

When a baby is born premature, everyone is under a great deal of stress—the new parents, the clinical team, and of course, the tiny being fighting for its life. This scenario is a familiar one at Adventist Health White Memorial (AHWM), a 353-bed not-for-profit, teaching hospital that provides a full range of inpatient, outpatient, emergency and diagnostic services to communities in and near downtown Los Angeles.

The hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is a Level 3 NICU—the highest level—meaning the clinical team has the capability of providing medical care to even the smallest of babies. However, treating tiny patients is a huge responsibility that comes with a whole host of challenges. One of the biggest challenges relates to quickly establishing IV access in preemies— whose veins and vessels are minuscule—and in many cases, every second counts. This is why the AHWM team looks to its technology partners to provide them with the right tools to help them do their jobs more efficiently, to produce better patient outcomes.

THE SOLUTION: Precision in the NICU and Beyond

FUJIFILM SonoSite Inc., (SonoSite) creates point-of-care ultrasound solutions that help combat the challenges of visualizing the smallest veins and vessels. “Oftentimes when you are dealing with sepsis or a very bad infection, time is of the essence and you need to get antibiotics in a child within the first thirty minutes or an hour,” says Anthony Moretti, M.D., chairman of pediatrics, Adventist Health White Memorial. “SonoSite X-Porte allows us to place a central line in as quickly as possible to deliver life-saving medicines and decrease mortality.”

Dr. Moretti credits SonoSite X-Porte as “a game changer” in the rapid delivery of care for preemies, babies and children at AHWM. The point-of-care technology is seamless, user-friendly and provides minimal interruption. In fact, SonoSite X-Porte can be up and running at the bedside in as little as twenty-five seconds. “It’s as simple as wheeling the machine over, getting some gel on the transducer, sticking it on the patient and finding the right access you need to go,” says Dr. Moretti.

SonoSite X-Porte delivers the kind of superior image quality that allows the AHWM team to get the job done. Designed with proprietary beam-forming Extreme Definition Imaging (XDI™) technology, X-Porte delivers signifi-cantly enhanced image quality. Advanced signal analysis algorithms shape ultrasound beams to precision. This dramatically reduces artifact clutter while enhancing contrast resolution.

“We’re treating the smallest patients—babies, infants and children. It’s challenging to get the IV’s in to their veins and arteries which are very, very small—centimeters to millimeters,” says Dr. Moretti. “So the image quality is of the utmost importance.”

According to Dr. Moretti, while the image quality has always been good, in the last few years it has “improved by leaps and bounds.” That, he says, allows the NICU team “to really fine tune exactly where we are going” when placing lines in the tiniest veins.

In addition to the NICU, ultrasound is used throughout AHWM’s pediatric floors and in the emergency department (ED), too. The hospital’s ED receives pediatric patients from all over Los Angeles County in the 911 systems—and those kids need speedy medical attention.

Thankfully, the team’s ultrasound system is portable. “Rapid mobility is key to getting imaging to the patient as fast as we can,” says Dr. Moretti. “The cart is easily manipulated and moved around. So we can move it from one place to the next—and from one patient to the next—with minimal effort.”

RESULTS & NEXT STEPS: Safety and Comfort, Mobility and Ef�ciency

Keeping little ones healthy, safe and comfortable is a top priority at AHWM, a priority that is made possible with quality, reliable technology. Because of Fujifilm SonoSite’s X-Porte system, AHWM is able to minimize discomfort, reduce or eliminate the need for radiation, and increase productivity.

“Safety is our number one priority. By using ultrasound for putting in large and small IV’s we decrease the number of attempts which, in turn, decreases the number of times we need to stick little babies and children with needles,” says Dr. Moretti. “So safety is a big priority but so is comfort—making kids feel secure—and getting the procedure done as quickly as possible.”

According to Dr. Moretti, Fujifilm SonoSite’s ultrasound solutions offer multiple benefits for pediatric diagnosis and treatment.

What’s more, in the two years he has been at the helm of pediatrics at AHWM, Dr. Moretti says he has not needed a single repair on the SonoSite X-Porte system. “It’s been infallible in its reliability and capability.”

Because ultrasound allows for more rapid procedures, it also can improve workflow and efficiency—allowing AHWM clinicians to focus their time on next steps in the treatment plan as well as new patients. “SonoSite X-Porte opens a door for going to the next task and seeing another patient and another patient,” says Dr. Moretti. “It’s a downstream effect where we can treat more, faster, safer and better.”

Fujifilm helps AHWM provide faster, safer and better healthcare across multiple areas throughout the facility. Because of its history of creating quality, life-saving technology, AHWM has also chosen Fujifilm as its partner for imaging solutions in women’s health, healthcare IT and endoscopy.

Adventist Health White Memorial: Ultrasound

For more information please visit www.sonosite.com or www.fujifilmhealthcare.com. ©2018 FUJIFILM SonoSite, Inc. All Rights Reserved.