Hackensack has always had a really stable reputation in the community. We have been a destination for advance cardiac care for a long time… About six years ago, the priority to recruit and establish a structural heart disease innovator took shape, and we started putting the pieces together. We have continued to work on the structure and the ability to be a destination for cardiovascular care—our volume, our clinical trials, and our outcomes show a very steady incline, even in the face of continued competition.”
Hilary Nierenberg, FACHE, Director of Network Operations for Caridovascular Care
Hackensack University Medical Center
A multidisciplinary team approach to SHD cases is critically important. Ms. Nierenberg notes that Hackensack established the Structural and Congenital Heart Center to create a specialty-neutral, patient focused approach that could bring together multiple specialties in a structured way. She states, “We’ve created a center of excellence that is really very encompassing in the way it brings providers together, and the collaboration is incredible.”
One of the keys to growth has been Hackensack’s hybrid ORs, one of which features the Philips Azurion with FlexArm image-guided therapy system. The Azurion FlexArm is a ceiling-mounted system that gives teams the freedom to position staff and equipment to allow optimal patient access—supporting complex cases and new procedures.
Reflecting on the decision to partner with Philips, Ms. Nierenberg observes, “When you have the ability to build new rooms and bring in the best technology, you need to evaluate many options. The selection of Philips was driven by the users, based on the technology that they needed and the quality of the imaging that Philips provided. Having the capabilities of the FlexArm seemed so important—to be able to have flexibility while allowing as many team members in the room as possible.”
In the hybrid OR, the Philips Azurion image-guided therapy system is integrated with the Philips EPIQ cardiovascular ultrasound with 3D transesophageal imaging to provide live fusion imaging guidance for structural heart procedures—while the interventionalis thas complete access to images, patient monitoring and reports at table side. The care team can access a comprehensive patient view that helps improve teamwork and reduce errors.
Beyond the capabilities of the Philips hybrid OR, Ms. Nierenberg notes, “Ongoing support and easy access to the Philips team has been hugely beneficial. We don’t have barriers to access, which is incredibly valuable to the clinical team. It does seem like a partnership.”
She’s currently working with Philips to establish an ongoing training model that can help ensure her team is able to maximize the capabilities of the hybrid OR—by making sure new and current staff have frequent opportunities to train with Philips experts, long after the initial setup of the room.
One of the ways that Ms. Nierenberg and Philips are working together to improve the future of cardiovascular care is through their participation in the Philips-sponsored CV TRIAD, a unique framework created to effectively tackle key challenges in cardiovascular care and drive transformation.
The CV TRIAD brings together physician leaders, administrators, and industry to create a community of thought leaders committed to reinventing cardiovascular care. It’s based on the premise that different groups tackle problems differently. They can learn from one another and progress if they are brought together in a dynamic joint leadership team under shared accountability.
As Ms. Nierenberg observes, “There are very rich relationships that physicians have with their preferred vendor, but through my experience as an administrator, it became very obvious that we can all benefit from a much more collaborative and engaging approach. Philips had a similar vision, and over the years we’ve had an opportunity to work with physician leaders, administrators, and industry together.”
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