Philips innovation in advanced health technology is delivering next generation Minicare point-of-care-in-vitro diagnostics systems to help support improved clinical decision-making that will ultimately benefit physicians, patients and hospital systems.

 

Such devices can help deal with the biggest issue that emergency departments face on a dailybasis — overcrowding. In emergency settings, accurate blood test results are required as fast as possible in order to determine the best intervention when the patient needs it the most.

 

These days, waiting for such test results can take up to an hour or even longer, delaying patient diagnosis and treatment initiation. This, in turn, inevitably leads to the overcrowding issue within emergency departments all over the world, and essentially affects operational efficiency.

 

The addition of Minicare I-20 point of care testing helps quicker on-the-spot decision-making and, as a result, faster initiation of appropriate intervention/treatment. It also has the potential to integrate the blood test-generated data into hospital and lab information systems.

 

Minicare I-20 enables blood testing using just a single droplet of blood. The simplification of analysis procedures without affecting the accuracy of results has been a key factor in the development of this device. Lab-comparable results are available at the patient’s bedside within 10 minutes. Minicare I-20 works with Magnotech technology (magnetic nano particle technology), a Philips proprietary technology incorporating over 100 patents. The incorporated smart Magnotech technology enables rapid, reliable clinical decision-making at the point of care.

 

When time is critical, near-patient testing can support better patient management and improve the patient’s experience. Naturally, it also helps medical specialists make accurate decisions on the spot. Minicare I-20 overall opens up opportunities for optimising clinical workflow, enhancing patient experience and improving cost control.

 

How efficiency can be improved

Healthcare without the development of empowering technologies would be unimaginable these days, since it no doubt plays a huge role in how experts make clinical decisions as well as its importance in providing near-patient testing. Efficiency is also key in solving the overcrowding issue in EMDs.

 

“Ready when you are” is Philips’ motto in in-vitro diagnostics point-of-care testing. This way, we can allow on-the-spot decision making, which in case of suspected critical heart disease, involves a physical examination, a lab test and its results accessible to the doctors, as well as the performance of an ECG on-the-spot so that in 15 minutes, a decision can be made: is this a critically ill patient that we need to treat, or is this a non-critically ill patient?

 

The other big improvement will be when lab managers, cardiologists and physicians get much closer to the situation so that they can understand their ultimate needs. By working together, these medical experts can minimise the overcrowding issue as well as ensure that doctors have quick access to test results and can respond accordingly.

 

There needs to be a whole range of diagnostics point-of-care tests to support the doctor in making a critical decision in 15 minutes. This ties in with the launch of the Philips Minicare H-300 (a novel point-of-care hemostasis system to aid in the diagnosis and monitoring of coagulation abnormalities) and the Philips Minicare C-300 (delivering lab comparable results for an extensive range of chemistry parameters), and our key focus is to highlight this part of the portfolio.

 

With regard to the Minicare H-300, in critical care settings, such as heavy bleeding, trauma or major surgery, it can be crucial for the physician to know the accurate coagulation status of a patient. The test can deliver real-time insights in the whole blood hemostasis status of a patient, which can support and enhance the clinical decision making of physicians.

 

Overall, the expansion of the Philips portfolio opens up opportunities for optimising clinical workflow, enhancing the patient experience and improving cost control. When these types of products are developed, it can help save lives. The portfolio is a motivation in itself for the whole team to continue to develop innovative, advanced products. This also increases patient satisfaction since nurses can run these tests thus saving time. This is a testament to Philips’vision of improving people’s lives with meaningful innovations and bringing in-vitro point-of-care testing close to the patient. And this is one of the many reasons why Philips can act fast, and engage in the aim of “touching 3 billion lives a year by 2025”.


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