LRH Implements eER Technology
Lakes Regional Healthcare (LRH) took another step to provide patients with the best care via the newest technology in the healthcare industry. Patients seen in their Emergency Department can now benefit from eER technology that links two-way video equipment in LRH’s Emergency Department to emergency/trauma-trained physicians at a central hub at Avera McKennan in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The technology complements the care provided by the emergency-trained physicians already present in LRH’s Emergency Department, allowing for a second opinion regarding the patient’s status and treatment plan. According to Avera eCARE Services Medical Director Dr. Don Kosiak, “Board-certified emergency medicine physicians take a team approach. It is best when one of us does the critical thinking and one of us is doing, so eER is a play out of this team approach in the rural setting.”
Some of the ways eER supports patient care include:
• Additional physician consultation - In addition to LRH’s emergency physicians within their ER, eER physicians can assess the emergency room patient and provide a second opinion.
• Decreased ER wait times - LRH’s Emergency Department has considerably shorter wait times compared to national averages, and eER may make wait times even less, as the eER physician can serve as a second physician to accommodate increased patient volume within the ER.
• Care close to home - With eER services, patients receive even more specialized support they need, reducing unnecessary transfers and allowing patients to stay in their home community.
• Seamless transfers - In the event a patient must be transferred to a higher level of care, eER provides for a more seamless transfer with improved communications between hospitals.
• Supporting activation of emergency transport teams as early as possible, saving important seconds.
LRH President and CEO Jason Harrington said, “eER gives us the ability to extend and enhance the level of healthcare in our community. It elevates the level of care we offer in our Emergency Department to where we are able to give better care in our community and keep patients here because we have more to add – at our fingertips - to our already great team here standing right beside us at all times.”
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