Patients in Connecticut hospitals, in 2012, caught infections during treatments at rates that were significantly higher than the national average in several key areas, according to the Centers for Disease Control. But, St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford, is teaming up with a West Hartford company to ensure their patients good health.
It looks like an office printer, but the Ready Dock, as it’s called, bathes mobile devices, which are stored in its drawers, in germicidal light for 60 seconds to sanitize them. The effectiveness was validated at Yale’s microbiology lab through the inoculation of various devices.
“With like tons of colonies, processed them and checked again and had excellent efficacy results,” said David Engelhardt, President of Ready Dock.
The Ready Dock supports two different work flows. One is shared devices, like tablets hospitals give to patients to complete survey or watch videos about their specific healthcare. Of course, personal and hospital cell phones are the other devices charged and sanitized in 60 seconds.
Next Tuesday, April 1, St. Francis rolls out a new electronic medical records system and the Ready Dock technology will go a long way in helping them carry it out successfully.
The Ready Dock has been getting a test drive at St. Francis since December. The hospital even brings some of its devices to company headquarters for further testing
“We ran it through several cycles to make sure there was no degradation in performance of the devices,” said Linda Shanley, a hospital vice president and Chief Information Officer.
The Ready Dock has been in development since 2009 and St. Francis may soon be purchasing several dozen, so that each of its nursing stations is equipped.