swyMed Goes the Distance for Mobile Stroke Units

We’ve all heard that “Time is Money,” but what about “Time is Brain”? When it comes to treating strokes, we already know that every minute really can make a difference in recovery. In this high-pressure environment, the health care industry eagerly embraces any proven innovation that can save crucial seconds in delivering treatment.

That’s where mobile stroke units come in. Recently named as the leader among the Top 10 Medical Innovations for 2015 by the Cleveland Clinic, mobile stroke ambulances are equipped with telemedicine units so stroke treatment can begin en route to the hospital.

Sounds great, but what’s the catch? Mobile stroke care only works if the technology works.

This is where many telemedicine video providers drop the ball—and where swyMed picks it up. Every time. Because swyMed excels in mobility—the ability to travel while retaining reliability, functionality, and usefulness. In other words, swyMed works in conditions that can cause other applications to falter.

For instance, when you’re moving around town or around rural areas, cell phone signals are often spotty. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a great data connection—until you drive out of range, that is.

Imagine that a stroke victim is being transported in your ambulance. At the hospital, the physician is using telemedicine to analyze the situation and direct you (in the ambulance) as you administer treatment, saving valuable time for your patient. Everything is going great—until the ambulance enters a tunnel. Predictably, the cellular signal drops, and so does the telemedicine call.

At this point, your next action will depend on your telemedicine video platform. If you’re using swyMed, you know that as soon as you regain a signal, the software will automatically reconnect your call. No searching through your contacts list, no waiting, no worrying.

If you’re not using swyMed, then you’re probably feeling more flustered as you desperately try to find the doctor’s listing, initiate a connection, wait for him or her to answer, and wait for the connection to stabilize—losing precious minutes in the process.

Now imagine this: If YOU were the stroke victim, which scenario would you prefer?

OK, that was a rhetorical question. The real question is, “How come swyMed works when others can’t?”

The answer is mobility. Thanks to its adaptive technology, swyMed can detect the quality of the data connection and automatically adjust the bandwidths and other parameters of a call as needed. This maintains a high-quality video and audio data stream over connections as slow as 256 Kbps. For reference, according to CNET.com, 4G LTE rates can vary from roughly 14 Mbps (upload) to 40 Mbps (download)—fast enough for you to browse the web on your smartphone, play games over the Internet, or bid on that eBay item before someone else does. That’s well over 50 times as fast as 256 Kbps!

With such a low minimum, swyMed can support a high-quality telemedicine call while you’re driving through areas with a low-quality data connection. And if the tunnel is too long, that won’t stop swyMed from automatically reconnecting you as soon as it detects the barest hint of a signal—even before you’re out of the tunnel. Very few telemedicine providers can keep up with us.

So in an industry as time-sensitive as stroke care or emergency care, it just makes sense to use swyMed. It’s dependable, it’s flexible, and it’s secure. It’s mobile, and it’s smart. Best of all, it works when you need it most.

To see how swyMed integrates into ambulance, EMS, and emergency room workflows, take a look at our case study on swyMed.com today!

References:

Cleveland Clinic unveils top 10 medical innovations for 2015. (2014, October 29). Cleveland Clinic Newsroom. Retrieved from http://my.clevelandclinic.org/about-cleveland-clinic/newsroom/releases-videos-newsletters/cleveland-clinic-unveils-top-10-medical-innovations-for-2015

La, Lynn. (2014, August 5). 4G LTE showdown: How fast is your carrier? Retrieved from http://www.cnet.com/news/4g-lte-showdown-how-fast-is-your-carrier/