by Karen Morgan, Executive Director, SPHF –
A friend of mine mentioned a recent visit to the Science Museum in London. He saw the very first CT Scanner (pictured). It’s amazing to consider how far we’ve come!
The new CT Scanner at the Saanich Peninsula Hospital has been operating for about three months now, and its capacity is still being explored. According to Dr. John Mathieson, Executive Director of Medical Imaging for Island Health: “The new Siemens Force CT scanner is not only meeting, but exceeding, our hopes and expectations. We had hoped to do Cardiac Angiograms, without expensive preparation and nursing care – and that has been a big success. All it takes is a simple oral medication to get even higher quality scans than before. It’s now much less expensive to make this procedure available to a wider range of patients, and we hope it will help us prevent heart attacks.
The imaging is not only showing exquisite detail in the heart, but it is achieving success in a group of patients where imaging failed before. When we have an uncooperative patient, perhaps elderly, confused, agitated and moving during the scan, we normally get poor image quality. But the Force is so fast and accurate the study looks as if they were sitting perfectly still. This is a huge advantage for our sickest patients.”
Back in 2003, the Foundation raised funds for the first networked heart monitoring system in Acute Care. With it, nurses could track the condition of patients from the nursing station, rather than running into the rooms to check. That system finally needed to be replaced. SPH Foundation partnered with the Auxiliary to SPH to purchase a new system, which is being installed this month. The new system will watch for changes and alert nurses if the heart rate goes too high or low or beats irregularly. It can now even monitor the patient while in bed or while walking!
Finally, Emergency doctors and nurses need to train constantly. To assist, SPH has always had mannequins on which to learn and practice. Last year the Foundation learned that these were no longer functional. Enter Mega Code Kelly, the advanced life support mannequin. He (or she – gender can be changed, along with body type and a variety of other features) provides realistic training in advanced lifesaving skills, from airway scenarios to IV therapy. The Clinical Nurse Coordinator for Emergency, Barb Daykin, is very grateful for community support, saying: “We can train staff –new and old – to respond to new situations, making us better prepared to respond in real emergencies.” We’ve posted a video on our website: www.sphf.ca. You need to see what Kelly can do!
