Dr Dale Yoo
Testimonials
Electrophysiologist, Heart Rhythm Specialist at McKinney, Texas
I don’t think I have to state, or overstate, or even understate why remote support matters. With the Covid world we live in, I thought there would be an end to it but it’s just the new normal, we have been able to continue to do what we do day to day with the safety measures that we needed and the continuity of safety into healthcare; and still being productive and being everything that we want to do with new technologies is an important part of this.
We want to make sure that cases can be done, add-on cases occur, but your favorite mappers, clinicals, reps, they don’t always exist, they can’t be everywhere at the same time. So, it’s been fantastic to be able to utilize some of the support that we get (…) and then of course pulling in something new: that’s the Medinbox component. You can basically do this entire support remotely safely without taking longer. It’s basically the same time you normally do it with the best of the best anywhere in the world potentially supporting you. And I think that’s really great. Also, it enhances the education piece (…).
A lot of the new mappers, and a lot of the new support staff can kind of learn how to do what they need to do back home they can now do this live with us, like they’re part of the case, from where they are in the comfort of their own homes and labs, and I think that’s a really important part of that as well. So, of course we’ve kind of talked about a case support getting input from other sites, other leaders that have been a little bit more advanced in this field. Maybe they have experienced more cases than you and your team. I think that’s very important. We’ve talked about how this is going to really revolutionize our ability to do high-level mapping, high-level technology delivery to all parts of the globe, maybe to Mars if we get some help with Musk and other people! But at the end of the day, we’re able to help every nook and cranny of this planet because there is patients on every nook and cranny of this planet and they all deserve equal care, if you will.
Technical support has always been there, but this really highlights the opportunity to really use that 24/7 support from a team leader, somebody that you may know or somebody that you want to know, and they can help you again remotely. I think in terms of the world we live in; we’ve seen a lot of the movies that have already shown you what you can do but what’s great is, I think, this is the first time we’re actually bringing the future to today. We actually have the technology that allows us to meld all these things as of a couple of days ago, when we did our first live case with every integration as I know it, the first case in the world where we took the best of the best, we were able to do the support with the Medinbox that allowed the mapper, the support staff to actually control items in our lab live from a remote site, with minimal use of bandwidth; which has been a limitation for a lot of different companies and delivery technologies in the past.
"I don’t think I have to state, or overstate, or even understate why remote support matters."
Dr Dale Yoo
Everything is done remotely with the two strains, as you saw there, they have the ability to see all that you can see on here, including anesthesia if you want that as well, that’s another input that we had. And again, up to eight inputs of any kind. And even though we have more and more technology going into this, eight is fairly a lot that encompasses pretty much everything you need and then some. I think we had six going in, but if you wanted something additional, that gives you the extra capacity of that as well. In terms of mapping, there was no delay when I was asking them to rotate the map as my mappers hate and love me, for I love orthogonality; I like to have two separate views. I want them to follow me. I asked them to do it. They did it immediately, just like they’re in the lab. So, except I can’t throw things at them, so, I think they love the experience probably even more! So being there and being able to see it live and for our first case, we initially thought that maybe we’d do a simple Flutter, an Avian RT, let’s just, let’s tread lightly and figure out how we use this. It didn’t turn out that way, the real world doesn’t. This was an Afib ablation. We went in there, we identified, and we did everything like it was in the lab.
I think the bounds are endless and so I’m very proud and very lucky and humbled to be a part of this experience. Hopefully more going forward and hopefully some of you out there will have this opportunity too going forward. (…) I think the utility is huge in developing and emerging markets. Of course, the education pieces need to be there more, but these are the types of technologies that allow us to do that in a safe manner, expand that knowledge to everyone around the world.
Dr Helmut Pürerfellner
Because of the pandemic, contacts have been limited for future doctor’s trainings. In Austria, at the Ordensklinikum Linz Elisabethinen, medical education has been maintained live from the operating rooms.
The first digital transmission system has been permanently installed in Austria, meaning that heart experts from all over the would can now join in on the procedures as if they were physically attending.
Being able to attend an operating procedure is the basement of a solid education and training in the medical field. Procedures that take place at the cardiac catheter laboratory are now available all over the world on a digital platform, allowing experts to watch and work in real time.
"This is the future which we started right now, I think this is the kind of technique which we will need in the next years, not only in times of a pandemic."
In the heart rhythm laboratory are cameras and monitors that can be remotely controlled. All the data gathered can be manipulated individually; and thanks to a control room you can access the information worldwide, simply using the internet.
"There are different scenarios, for example I can be consulting, watching a procedure and giving tips to a foreign colleague, or they can be watching us, seeing how we do a procedure, maybe for the first time, and helping us because they are virtually with us.
There is also a zoom feature that allows to take a closer look, exactly at the right moment with the camera."
With a perfect transmission of every single detail, the Medinbox system gives doctors a real viewing and an insight as if they were standing in the operating room themselves – with a strict compliance of data protection.
"This works in real time, without noticeable latency. It is unbelievable the quality in which it is transmitted! How sharp the signals are which are normally just screens being taped, and this would not look so good. But now we have very clear and sharp images."
The experienced professionals can thus train their younger colleagues, and in this case, in interventional treatment of cardiac arrhythmia, allowing attendees to follow and participate interactively in the procedures. There are also significant advantages for the patients.
"The patients benefit from being in a center where the medical staff is up to date. Because such a system makes our rhythmology center a reference in Austria, to promote and make new developments."
Networking with other centers who possess digital platforms has become a prerequisite and can significantly enrich the exchange of knowledge in the medical field.