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Local coverage of education issues, health care, and science and technology.

Kansas Health Care Forum Aims To Foster Innovation And Better Practices

A health care innovation forum held on Wednesday in Wichita focused on cultivating better healthcare practices in the region. Many ideas came to life at the forum, including concepts created by local entrepreneurs.

Credit http://gwedc.org/healthcareinnovationforum/
KU Med OBGYN Professor David Grainger

Among the presenters was David Grainger, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the KU School of Medicine’s Wichita campus. Grainger developed a product called an OBoard, an electronic version of the traditional whiteboard at nurses' stations in labor and delivery units at hospitals that keep track of expecting mothers and their conditions.

“The problem with the whiteboard, it’s a static snapshot," Grainger said. "You only see right now what is happening. You don’t see what has happened in the past.”

The OBoard is designed to include more in-depth patient information, as well as improve communication between nurses, doctors and other staff during shift changes.

Credit Courtesy of Wesley Medical Center
An OBoard in use at Wesley Medical Center.

Grainger said the first OBoard was installed at Wesley Medical Center in March.

Other innovations presented at the forum included portable, fast-setting composite splints; disposal patches to detect heart arrhythmias; and dissolvable metal stents for patients with heart disease, all of which were created by people in the Wichita area.

The event was hosted by the Blueprint for Regional Economic Growth, a 10-county initiative to grow the regional economy.

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Follow Abigail Wilson on Twitter @AbigailKMUW

 

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