ACTE provides vital support

ACTE in Norway provides vital decision-making support in a clinical environment. ACTE’s knowledge of IT systems in the care sector has a bright future.

Helse Midt-Norge RHF has responsibility for hospitals and specialist medical care in the three Central Norwegian provinces. Protection of life and health is paramount and makes high demands on quality and respect for personal integrity.  

The information forming the basis for instant decisions must be absolutely correct and accessible precisely when and where required in a cluttered environment. The patient records should be updated in real time in the operating theatres. This is carried out securely and effectively in a PC with a keyboard. The technology that makes the work possible is classified as “medical grade”. This signifies that all components are fully washable and can be disinfected with alcohol and that they do not have fans since warm air currents can spread infection. It also makes high demands on technical quality and operational reliability.

ACTE has in-depth knowledge of how modern IT can be adapted and installed in a clinical environment. Knowledge that is based on ergonomics and working environment as well as the ability to see where the technology should be assigned so that people with hectic jobs receive the correct support when making their decisions.  There are not many free spaces to install equipment in the clinical environment. This is especially true in the area close to the patient. ACTE has knowledge of how different components can be combined and how special adaptations should be made. For instance, it is possible to install a particular technology on another piece of equipment that is also on site, if one only knows how it should be done. ACTE’s commitment includes designers and manufacturers of special details in order to link together and install different kinds of medical devices. An example of this is a PC that is installed on an anaesthesia device in order to be accessible close to the patient.

“ACTE is a preferred and reliable partner for solutions with panel PC’s and ergonomics, to our anaesthesia and intensive care departments”, says Paul Gundersen, Head of Operations at HEMIT – Helse Midt-Norge IT.

The background is simple:  ACTE has the ability to see when and where IT equipment must be available, and possesses the knowledge relating to how it can be installed. ACTE has, among other things, contributed to Ementor Norway’s delivery of panel PC’s to a total order value of NOK 18 million. The technology is world class within ”medical grade” and comes primarily from ACTE’s suppliers AAEON and Ergotron.

Exciting future in intensive niche

Helse Midt-Norge is one of four healthcare companies in Norway. It is state-owned and has the task of providing the Norwegian population with access to good quality specialist services within healthcare. HEMIT is the organisation’s regional IT unit which owns and administers the central servers as well as the common software and infrastrucutre within Helse Midt-Norge. The volumes are enormous and the operations are intensive: About 20,000 of Norway’s most demanding  IT users have around the clock access to 600 servers via 12,000 PC’s, seven days a week. In normal cases, 3,500 PC’s are used concurrently in work where speed, precision and operational reliability can represent the difference between life and death.

The trend is moving towards ever smaller units without cables with total mobility. Intel has launched the ”Mobile Clinical Assistant” concept – a handheld PC that makes vital information about the patient available irrespective of the location. The trend is in full progress at the patient records systems suppliers. In the future, the patient records can be presented by the PC reading off the patient’s bracelet . The PC can also be programmed to read off values in another piece of equipment wirelessly and to register medicines through RFID. Care personnel can take pictures and make notes that are immediately available in other parts of the value chain. By connecting people and information together in a new way,  health and medical care can achieve higher quality, security and accessibility for the patient. At the same time, management and efficiency can be improved so that financial goals are also attained.

ACTE supplies a PC to the Nordic market, which is produced by Motion Computing and which is based on Intel's MCA technology.