When Alaska Regional Hospital is approved to use a novel medical device, neurosurgeon Dr. Lucy He facilitates her device trainings using Avail Medsystems. This means that Alaska Regional is able to get approval for using new medical devices as soon as they become available – a big win for this remote facility in Anchorage.
“In larger markets like Seattle or Denver, logistical solutions for proctoring have more options,” shares Dr. He. “But for Alaska in particular, this can become quite complicated.”
In the past, the team would often stack together two to four cases at once in order to maximize efficiency. While the proctors have no hands-on role with the case, their expertise for device sizing, the location of device placement, and other technical nuances are incredibly important for each case.
“For every proctored case, we have to ensure that the patient, cath lab, and all these additional people are able to be coordinated to come together for a single case,” shares Dr. He. Avail enables every expert to join the procedure room without having to travel to Anchorage.
As for emergent cases, nearly all of Alaska Regional’s MedTech reps are located outside of Alaska. In the past, Dr. He’s team had to work with what they had. “We utilized suboptimal things like sending HIPAA-compliant pictures and videos, or having someone on the phone – definitely not the same as what the Avail platform brings in terms of visualization and annotation.”
Now that Dr. He’s team has Avail, coordinating procedures is more efficient in every sense of the word. “With Avail, the proctor and technical expert do not have to physically be present,” shares Dr. He. “The time saved from not having to travel, miss work, and even (reducing) jet fuel and carbon footprint are immense, let alone the increased flexibility we have to reschedule cases if needed.”
Avail enables Alaska Regional Hospital to stay up-to-date on new devices as soon as they become available, while allowing MedTech reps to join both proctored and emergent cases from wherever they are. This means better outcomes for every team member and every patient.