A pioneer in its field, Perkins Healthcare Technologies provides solutions focused on improving integration, workflow efficiency and extending the useful life of existing capital equipment. True system neutrality and backward/forward compatibility are key elements of the company’s approach. As a result more and more hospitals are turning to Perkins.
Based near Dallas, Texas, Perkins has been synonymous with innovation for almost 100 years and continues to deliver unique, industry-focus concepts and solutions.
“Today, we continue to specialize exclusively in the design, development and distribution of clinical integration and workflow solutions for procedure suites and their related departments,” says Steve Plaugher, Manager/COO, Perkins Healthcare Technologies.
“We offer a diverse, innovative and exciting array of products that represent the next generation of integration, control and workflow improvement tools,” Plaugher says. “These include: OR VisionTM and IPS VisionTM that bring together control of all technology and integrate seamlessly into our Customer’s ORs and Interventional Procedure Suites; and RoomVisionTM that allows for the observation of room status for improved workflow and scheduling of multiple rooms in real time.”
These offerings illustrate Perkins’ ability to remain on the cutting edge.
“Each Perkins solution offers common advantages that make its selection clear and implementation easy for each hospital,” Plaugher says.
He points out that the many solutions offered by Perkins Healthcare Technologies provide:
• Improved Workflow – Our solutions deliver new workflow efficiencies that often reduce costs and improve safety.
• Perkins’ Systems Neutral Approach – This means our solutions work with all equipment regardless of manufacturer or age allowing hospital staff to make best-of-breed buying decisions without being locked into a single vendor.
• Forward and Backward Compatibility – This allows hospitals to more economically upgrade rooms and get an improved ROI by extending the life of existing capital equipment.
When upgrading a room, Perkins can transform the room without a fork lift upgrade – all at a fraction of the cost of a new room. When the hospital does buy new imaging or surgical equipment, Perkins integration solution can be repurposed with the modern equipment. In addition, Perkins continues to integrate older equipment such as a legacy ultrasound unit – saving the hospital the cost of buying new equipment. By reducing the overall cost of upgrading a room, this forward and backward compatibility streamlines the process and preserves capital asset budgets without sacrificing patient care.
• Seamless Integration – Perkins integration and control solutions work seamlessly with new or existing imaging, surgical, or hybrid procedure suite equipment. Their solutions complement the Customer’s existing capital equipment providing improved workflow and delivering critical patient information to the various stakeholders where and when they need it.
• Comprehensive Connectivity – Perkins’ solutions allow hospitals to connect and share real-time information improving efficiency and documentation control. That connectivity extends to the ability to observe and communicate among multiple rooms for clinical collaboration as well as improved scheduling, enterprise-wide. Collaboration can also be extended beyond the hospital to remote resources, regardless of location, providing increased communications and education.
• Customized Solutions – Perkins looks at each hospital’s integration needs and objectives as unique. The company customizes its solutions to meet those needs.
Plaugher says he is excited about the future, especially after the launch of game-changing new products like RoomVision.
“Providing automated situational awareness of each procedure suite status allows staff to adjust schedules proactively in real-time resulting in improved efficiencies” Plaugher says about RoomVision. “One example: room cleaning can be alerted as closing begins so room turnover times can be improved. This can result in an additional procedure per room, per day. The revenue potential of this is significant. Another advantage is alerting all parties to scheduling adjustments, especially delays, and allowing them to react accordingly. This is a significant advantage for staff and patients.”
Looking at both a given day and data over a wider period, department managers and senior management can also move to balance room usage. This “smoothing” of room usage and making sure certain rooms aren’t underutilized means efficiency, improved patient and staff experiences and potential increases in revenue – again by increasing the number of procedures handled facility-wide, per day.
Plaugher also said he is excited about Perkins’ 8MP collaged displays.
“These large HD displays, up to 60 inches, allow information to be organized and displayed in an efficient, user-selectable way on a single monitor,” Plaugher says about the 8MP collaged displays. “The reduced number of screens needed and the way information is shared has significant advantages in Interventional Procedure and Hybrid Suites as well as Control Rooms.”
Meeting the needs of customers, sometimes before the customers even know what their true needs are, is nothing new for Perkins. It is a part of the company’s mission to provide exceptional products and outstanding service. These traits are among the reasons Plaugher and the rest of the team at Perkins are excited about the future.
“As we work with our client-hospitals on customizing solutions that improve workflow efficiency, reduce costs and improve safety we consistently increase our knowledge and experience base. This allows us to deliver continuously evolving – continuously improving – solutions to each hospital,” Plaugher says. “If we were just providing off-the-shelf or cookie-cutter solutions this level of evolution and improvement would not be possible.”
This razor-sharp focus and company-wide dedication does not go unnoticed. Customers are quick to praise Perkins’ products and customer service.
“By partnering with Perkins, we have been able to consistently improve our workflow with the ease of use of their unique integration system and our surgeons rave about the image quality on the high-definition monitors,” says Blu Baillio, RN, Director of Perioperative Services, Memorial Hermann Southeast, in Houston, Texas. “From their state-of-the-art integration to their helpful, knowledgeable, friendly staff, our experiences with Perkins confirms that we have partnered with true leaders in the world of medical technology.”
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