The Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin (CHW) operates the largest and most comprehensive pediatric neurosciences program in the state and ranks among the nation’s best. It provides outstanding care in the treatment of childhood epilepsy and other neurodegenerative diseases.

The Challenge

A new inpatient facility was proposed at the hospital to include 22 patient rooms equipped with high-definition video cameras, together with stateof-the-art neuromonitoring capabilities. The plans included the latest high definition video technology and patient monitoring systems that would be accessible from a central Epilepsy Monitoring Control Room and operated in a simple manner that doctors and nurses would immediately feel comfortable with; requiring the minimum of training and achieving the greatest benefit.

The Solution

Based on an 80-port Draco tera compact KVM matrix switch, a system was designed by CHW in conjunction with BlackRock Neuromed, a specialist manufacturer of EEG and LTM equipment, that would allow 24/7 monitoring of patient rooms from the control room and nurse stations on the wards. In addition to the room-based equipment, the system supports several portable monitoring trolleys that can be quickly set up wherever needed and controlled remotely.

The matrix switch, computers and support equipment were installed in a main server room to maximize reliability and security. In the Epilepsy Monitoring Control Room observers use personal workstations (keyboard, mouse, two monitors) and wall-mounted screens that provide latency-free access to all central computers and monitoring cameras throughout the hospital.

The Benefit

The new KVM system allows clinical staff to control cameras remotely and access all patient monitoring equipment throughout the day and night to ensure the safety and continuous care of epilepsy patients.

“The IHSE system installed by Blackrock Neuromed solved our system requirements perfectly” said Dan Collins, Clinical Engineer for CHW. “Our staff is able to view and control our monitoring system and cameras remotely. There are numerous options to control network load and display images on the many displays that we have in the control room.”