Surgery teams benefit from reliable, synchronized time. American Time.

Overview

Susan B. Allen Memorial Hospital is a not-for-profit, general acute-care medical facility licensed for 74 beds that serves El Dorado, Kansas and surrounding communities. It is an accredited Chest Pain Center, and its more than 400 staff members provide around-the-clock emergency medicine and physician coverage. Medical staff specialties include family practice, internal medicine, cardiology, general surgery, orthopedic surgery, emergency medicine and others.

Challenge

The analog master clock system that served the surgery suite was old and not working reliably. In addition, the hospital sought to replace the unsynchronized, battery-powered clocks in its surgery suite with ones that could synchronize to a master clock and to the hospital computers. In surgery, precise and synchronized time is critical for allowing medical staff to track how long a patient has been under anesthesia or in surgery, and the hospital’s maintenance staff was frequently adjusting the clocks to ensure that the time was correct and synchronized.

Solution

Susan B. Allen Memorial Hospital chose American Time Power over Ethernet (PoE) analog clocks for the surgery suite, as well as a digital clock for the admissions area. The PoE clocks draw both power and time updates from the hospital’s Ethernet connection. They are energy efficient and do not require a master clock or serial connection. The clocks also update automatically for daylight saving time twice each year.

“American Time provided great customer service and I appreciated the fact that their products are made in the U.S.,” said Jeremiah Harvey, master electrician, Susan B. Allen Memorial Hospital. “It was a pleasure to work with them.”

Results

The American Time PoE clocks were installed in the surgery rooms and the digital clock in the admissions area, covering approximately 4,000 square feet.

“The beauty of the PoE clocks is that we could select which server we wanted to use for our time signal,” said Harvey. “We chose our own server so that the clocks would be in sync with our computers. And, if needed, we can always select alternative servers at a later date.”

The hospital had been considering scaling back the number of its synchronized clocks because of the frequent need to maintain and adjust the old system. But with American Time’s solutions, the hospital has an easy to use, hands-off network. Maintenance staff can use the software to review the data and ensure that everything is working correctly.

“With American Time’s PoE clocks and all of their other products, we can feel confident about adding more synchronized clocks to our facility, rather than removing them as we had planned,” said Harvey. “American Time has good products, excellent support and a long track record. Those are the main components you need in a reliable partner.”