LA PALMA : Hospital Using New Diagnostic System

La Palma Intercommunity Hospital recently became the first hospital in the county to use a new sophisticated monitoring system that allows medical staff to diagnose critically ill patients faster and more accurately.

Installed in late September, the $300,000 system, called Merlin, provides immediate computer readouts on heart rate, arterial pressure and other vital signs for as many as eight patients in the facility’s critical-care unit.

The system also stores the data, enabling a physician to mark exactly when and where a complication occurred.

“Without this system, retrieval of vital data (for patient care) is much, much harder,” said H. Mark Fatemi, medical director of the critical-care unit. “It will help us increase the survival rate.”

Merlin’s color-coded alarm messages and highlighting abilities are especially beneficial for patient evaluations, hospital officials said. A central monitor records unusual patient data in red, allowing staff to identify problems more quickly.

The new system also helps medical staff calibrate more precise dosages of medications for critically ill patients, hospital officials said.

John S. Norris, nurse manager of the critical-care unit, worked with hospital administrators for about a year to bring the new system to La Palma.

“We didn’t know the second-to-second effects of what we were doing,” Norris said. “But this allows us to do that. It’s a very nice tool.”