Dec 27, 2010

Panasonic's Comprehensive Solutions for Entire Hospitals

Panasonic's healthcare business is considered one of the key businesses of the company, targeting to boost sales to 540 billion yen in 2012, the last year of its mid-term management plan, Green Transformation 2012. Panasonic Healthcare Co., Ltd., a subsidiary under Panasonic, has fully shifted its business to centralize around healthcare field since October 1, 2010 when the company name was changed from Panasonic Shikoku Electronics Co.,Ltd and has announced three focused areas: "In-hospital Work Assistance", "Home Healthcare" and "Early Diagnosis Treatment".

To emphasize on these activities, Panasonic exhibited various healthcare systems to improve in-hospital operation efficiency and patient's satisfaction based on the concept of "Comprehensive Solutions for Entire Hospitals" at HOSPEX Japan 2010 (The 35th International Healthcare Engineering Exhibition) held in November in Tokyo. The followings are the highlights of the exhibition:

Panasonic Booth at HOSPEX Japan 2010

Robot Systems to Realize Efficient Operations in a Safe and Accurate Manner

Medication Picking Robot System

One of the functions of a hospital pharmacy is to administrate and dispense drugs for intravenous injections to each patient based on prescriptions provided by doctors. Selecting the right drugs in the exact dosage needed takes time, skill and effort. Strict accuracy is important, since an error during the process could be fatal to the patient. As result, Panasonic has developed a medication picking robot that can efficiently dispense prescribed dosages at 1,000 ampoules per hour with a breakage rate of less than one in 50,000 in extreme accuracy.

HOSPI Display

In-Hospital Delivery Robot (HOSPI) for Reference

Panasonic's HOSPI robot assists nurses and hospital employees by taking over the job to deliver medications in a safe and accurate manner. The multiple sensors inside the robot to navigate the lengthy hallways of a hospital helps HOSPI to avoid bumping into patients and to get on and off elevators.

The recent efforts of Panasonic to improve hospital operation efficiency and quality was recognized for its efforts and was rewarded the Japan Machinery Federation Chairman's Award in the Fourth Robot Awards for both the medication picking robot system and HOSPI, on November 26 in Tokyo.

HOSPI in the Fourth Robot Award on November 26, Copyright Digitized Information, Inc

Solutions for the Reception Desk: In-Hospital Navigation System for Outpatients

Patient Readmission Machine
Handheld Paging Receiver for the Patient

Panasonic's in-hospital navigation system for outpatients delivers the examination room details and time to patients who have visited the hospital more than once, through handheld paging receivers. The system has achieved reduction of the complaints from patients due to long waiting time as well as increases privacy.

As well as the benefits for outpatients, the system will take over the receptionists' paperwork to register for outpatients, tell them the time and location of examination room as well as when to pay for their medical fees. This means hospitals can reduce noise distractions through less verbal announcements as well as adapt a spacious environment by making full use of waiting spaces.

Solutions for Shooting, Viewing and Recording Surgeries

Panasonic LCD monitors for hospital use
ADA (Advanced Disc for Archive Drive and Media)

Panasonic's digital imaging technologies have also contributed to promote accurate and early diagnosis of patients. FULL HD camcorder systems developed by Panasonic allows high definition footages of advanced surgeries to be recorded in exactly the same operative field(1) image as seen by the surgeons. In addition, LCD monitors will display vital information necessary for the surgeon in high quality, such as the detailed high definition seamless footages of the surgery, radiation images and electrocardiogram graphs.

Furthermore, the high definition footages are stored in Panasonic's Advanced Disc for Archive Drive and Media (ADA) inside a cassette-type shell case to assure long-term storage of around 50 years and also prevent scratches, fingerprints and dusts. Thanks to the ID data management system for each media, even the data management requires little effort. In this way, Panasonic's well-rounded solutions covering the shooting, viewing and recording of surgeries will offer operating efficiency in medical field.

Notes: (1) Operative field: Medical term meaning the area used for surgery

Other Highlights at the Booth

Electronic Health Record System and Medical Imaging Record System
Easy-to-Use Toughbook Tablets in medical field

Panasonic Healthcare Co., Ltd. will strive to contribute to healthy and comfortable living around the world in a way that is more closely related to the daily life.