DALLAS, TX — A Baylor graduate and Texas A&M University Health Sciences associate professor has released a medical app that helps fight against COVID-19.
Dallas software company PageMD released a free medical app to aid doctors and nurses combat the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
Consulting physician and clinical associate professor of surgery at Texas A&M University Health Sciences, Dr. Brady Anderson, says PageMD was expected to release this summer but with the outbreak of COVID-19, "felt it was important to release PageMD early to provide help for infected patients as well as care providers during and after this pandemic."
Dr. Anderson, a trauma surgeon, notes PageMD technology was developed to help doctors and nurses communicate quickly and efficiently.
The PageMD app may also decrease coronavirus exposure to health care providers by limiting their overall amount of communication device use.
"As the number of patients infected with the coronavirus increases, there is great concern for the safety of our health care workers – the front line defense against this devastating disease," says Anderson.
The limited availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) in some areas only escalates the risk of transmission for these heroes.
The PageMD app enables nurses to communicate with physicians instantly, allowing for conservation of PPE and preventing delay in care for the critically ill.
Communication will be a key part of surge planning for hospitals looking to reallocate staff and physicians to maximize the ability to save patient lives.
For more in-depth information about how the PageMD app can help fight against COVID-19, visit the YouTube video.
Most hospitals currently rely on a paging system via second party answering services or by posting a daily list of "doctors on call" around the emergency room department for nurses and staff to reference.
While this practice has been reliable it is far from efficient or flexible. In this system nurse "A" must call the answering service "B," who then calls the physician "C," who then calls back to nurse "A."
PageMD would eliminate middleman "B" and directly connect the nurses to physicians on call to streamline communication and allow them to react instantaneously.
The number of COVID-19 patients has yet to reach its peak and currently hospitals are developing protocols for surge planning.
There will be coordinated redeployment of physicians to unfamiliar areas of the hospitals to accommodate the strain of our country's health care resources as hospital beds quickly reach capacity.
During this period of incredible demand on our health care workers, communication will be critical to the survival of every patient suffering from this tragic disease.
PageMD is available for both iPhone and Android users.
For more information visit www.pagemdnow.com.
