Philips unveils innovative Cardiac Workstation to expedite diagnostic cardiology
Royal Philips, a leader in health technology, has launched a new cardiac care platform aimed at transforming diagnostic cardiology in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The Philips Cardiac Workstation utilises sophisticated algorithms to expedite the collection and processing of electrocardiograph (ECG) data, potentially streamlining care and helping to prioritise high-risk patients.
Addressing global cardiac care challenges
Heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death worldwide, according to the World Health Organization’s 2024 report on global health statistics. As the prevalence of cardiac conditions rises, healthcare systems face mounting pressure to efficiently manage an expanding patient population across various care settings. This challenge is further compounded by staff shortages, retention issues, and the need for extensive training.
The Cardiac Workstation has been designed to address these concerns by enhancing workflow, providing clinical decision support, and enabling enterprise interoperability. Stefano Folli, Business Leader of Ambulatory Monitoring & Diagnostics at Philips, emphasised the platform’s potential impact: “It helps streamline workflow using advanced algorithms to access and analyse ECG from anywhere, paving the way to more efficient and effective patient care by enabling clinicians to quickly identify and prioritise the most at-risk patients.”
Key features and benefits
Enhanced workflow
The Cardiac Workstation incorporates gesture-driven interactions familiar to smartphone users, such as zoom, scroll, and swipe functions. This intuitive interface allows care providers to review and interpret ECGs with ease. Additionally, a streamlined three-step workflow aims to minimise data entry errors and expedite the capture, analysis, and export of accurate ECGs.
Clinical decision support
The platform offers clinicians access to comprehensive patient data, including detailed demographic information and in-depth clinical data. Features such as the ability to zoom in on irregular rhythms or scroll through multiple ECGs to identify trends support more informed and timely care decisions. When used in conjunction with Philips IntelliSpace ECG management system, clinicians can perform side-by-side comparisons of current and previous ECGs, further enhancing their ability to identify trends and assess risks.
Enterprise interoperability
Designed as part of a broader ecosystem, the Cardiac Workstation can integrate with multiple enterprise systems beyond IntelliSpace ECG and existing departmental systems. This seamless integration with electronic medical records (EMR) and other system technologies facilitates easy access and sharing of ECG data throughout the healthcare enterprise. The resulting holistic view of patient data enables care delivery in the most cost-effective and clinically appropriate setting, whilst ensuring informed diagnoses and interventions.
Advancing cardiac care standards
Philips’ introduction of the Cardiac Workstation represents a significant step towards establishing a new standard in cardiac care. By leveraging the full potential of Philips’ ECG portfolio, healthcare organisations can strategically manage patient populations through innovative, accessible care models informed by comprehensive healthcare data and actionable insights.
The platform’s ability to streamline workflows and provide advanced clinical decision support addresses the common concerns expressed by care providers and hospital administrators regarding workload management and maintaining high-quality patient care. As Folli noted, “A common theme I hear from care providers and hospital administrators is that they seek ways to alleviate their care teams’ workload without sacrificing the quality of patient care. To achieve that, they need access to the right information at the right time, wherever their point of decision may be.”
Looking ahead
While the Cardiac Workstation is currently available in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, it is not yet accessible in all markets. The platform is pending 510(k) clearance and is not available for sale in the United States at present.
- For more information, visit: Philips.com
