In the medical sector, information technology has advanced to drive a positive change concerning how doctors and nurses take care of their patients.

Thanks to Brainboxes Ethernet to Serial Devices, medical professionals no longer have to manually enter data from medical equipment onto paper-based flip charts to monitor patient data. A serial data connection enables patient data to be updated quickly and accurately.

Kinetic Decision Solutions is a software company founded by nephrologists to meet the demands of the medical sector. Phil Ames, software developer and owner of Kinetic Decision Solutions was eager to find a more efficient solution for monitoring kidney dialysis equipment. The Brainboxes team supplied Phil with the solution required to improve efficiency to benefit medical consultants; helping him meet a deadline set by his end customer, American Renal. Phil, assisted by Brainboxes development team, wrote a program in C# that can extract vital information for the monitoring of kidney dialysis equipment.

“We needed complete integration and rapid flexible deployment; we got it with Brainboxes”

Phil Ames, Kinetic Decision Solutions

By using Brainboxes ES range, nurses no longer had to manually enter data from each kidney dialysis machine and input it onto the hospital iPads. Using the 8 Port RS232 Ethernet to Serial Adapter (ES-279), the team was able to convert data received from multiple RS232 ports into TCP/IP data making it accessible from anywhere on the network. The ES-279 contains 8 serial ports and the clinic benefited from using three devices for collecting serial data from twenty-four kidney dialysis machines. This was beneficial for showing the results of every dialysis machine in use. In a scenario with fewer dialysis machines, using a PoE to serial adapter ES-457 is more beneficial because it uses power over ethernet, further reducing the required cabling.

“The Brainboxes [Ethernet to Serial devices] provided state-of-the-art software solutions at no cost. This enabled us to have direct device driver interface and complete communication control with the serial devices.”

Phil Ames, Kinetic Decision Solutions

In this case, the Brainboxes ES-279 solved the problem of manually entering data from the kidney dialysis machine to the iPad. Instead, the patient data is automatically collected, sent to a central office in Washington DC and consultants can review the live progress of dialysis patients.

Using serial data connection minimises recording errors, allowing hospital staff to spend more time with their patients and less time collecting data. The results from the kidney dialysis equipment are transmitted securely over the internet with minimal fuss. Brainboxes serial devices with local control enable consultants to monitor data remotely and detect patterns over time. Data can also be shared with other medical professionals who can review the information and offer their medical advice.

Kinetic Decision Solutions have supplied the solution for monitoring kidney dialysis equipment to a total of 14 clinics and the machine interface is currently available in the Hephzibah clinic. In the case of Hephzibah, the PC processing takes less than a second, with the transmission to the KDS-EMR and the iPads taking 2-5 seconds.

Brainboxes Ethernet to Serial devices ensure that accurate data readings can be taken from anywhere on the network. A web interface allows secure configuration and control of the serial ports over a local network of the internet using any browser. By minimising manual data entry, hospital staff have more free time to improve patient care.

“Doctors requirements are for complete integration, rapid flexible deployment, the desire to have clinic management at a glance (CMAG) are no 3rd party software cost, we chose the programmable Brainboxes”

Phil Ames, Kinetic Decision Solutions

For secure data with a user-friendly interface!