But it’s also the name of the company that has been selected by UC Irvine Medical Center to connect all devices throughout the campus with its solutions for integrating medical devices and delivering patient data continuously – not in dribs and drabs – so its researchers can analyze it to predict better outcomes.

UC Irvine will use iSirona’s solution to connect medical devices to its Allscripts electronic medical records system (EMR) and export data from those records to its research database.

Allscripts EMR is what the university hospital uses for its EMR system, e-prescribing and care management. EMRs have revolutionized medicine to allow caregivers to have real-time access to patient data on their smartphones, tablets and computers, wherever they are, whenever they need it.

“We needed an enterprise-wide solution for connecting our biomed devices – one that would enable our patient records to be current and up-to-the-minute,” said clinical informatics manager David Keymel, RN. “iSirona’s software solution is a perfect fit for us as a medical academic center. We’ll be able to use the more timely, accurate device data that iSirona provides to best treat our patients.”

EMRs currently grab monitoring data at certain time increments. Yet for research purposes, UC Irvine needs that data in minute or sub-minute intervals, according to the press release. “iSirona can deliver data on a continuous basis,” added informatics solution architect Charles Boicey, MS, RN-BC, PMP, CPHIMS. “Now, we’ll have the capability to provide clinicians with what they want in the EMR – accurate, timely patient data – and we’ll gain data for research.”

UC Irvine plans to use the data for predictive analytics that can help anticipate and possibly prevent negative outcomes. “Being able to bring in and store vast amounts of data in real time holds promise for things like the early detection of sepsis – something we may be able to identify earlier in a monitored environment,” Boicey explained.  

Sepsis is a toxic reaction to an infection – sadly, all too common in hospitals, today – that kills almost 300,000 people every year. About 13 percent of patients develop healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs) every year and costs can range as $21,000 per patient. 

HAIs are among the top five leading causes of death in the United States, striking 4.5 of every 100 patients admitted to the hospital, according to the U.S. Health and Human Services’ Agency for Health Quality and Research.