When it comes to matters of the heart, time is valuable. The ability to recognize and diagnose problems quickly is safer for patients and their heart. "Time is muscle. Earlier detection of a heart attack saves more muscles of the heart which means less damage and risk for complications," said Eric Smith, RN, Acute Care and Emergency Department coordinator.

In mid November, Rockcastle Regional started using the Fukuda Denshi cardiac telemetry monitor, an instrument that remotely records a patient's heart activity to a monitoring system that's available to the physician and accessible real-time 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The new cardiac telemetry monitor and central monitoring system at Rockcastle Regional is state of the art and very advanced for a rural hospital.

"The $300,000 equipment is one of the most advanced on the market," said Smith. "Its usefulness has already paid for itself." According to materials from the company, since Fukuda Denshi first connected electrocardiogram or ECG (a diagnostic tool that measures and records the electrical activity of the heart) technology to patient care, their instrument has set standards in ECGs. "So far, we've had excellent feedback from the doctors both locally and consulting," said Smith.

The Fukuda provides real-time cardiac monitoring on patients anywhere inside the hospital and connects that data to physicians anywhere. The machine continuously views the heart and monitors changes, which is extremely important with high risk patients. "The data used to determine the severity or non-existence of a heart event must be collected quickly," said Smith. "That data can show whether the heart is functioning normally or abnormally, to allow response or intervention."

The monitor also becomes extremely valuable when a patient must be transported. There is a web portal option that makes the results available to doctors at the University of Kentucky or wherever the patient is being transported. "That option should be set up in February," said Smith. This system allows for patient monitoring remotely.

Previous equipment provided one view of the heart electronically, while the Fukuda provides six views. This helps identify at-risk patients for a heart attack more easily. "The different views that the Fukuda provide are continuous," said Smith. "And the continuous monitoring picks up subtle changes."

A monitor beside the patient's bed is connected to a central monitoring system in the Emergency Department and Special Care Unit of the hospital. Because of the multiple locations of the new monitoring system, nurses or physicians can recognize signs or problems more quickly.