Customer
Case Study
JAPANESE RED CROSS ASAHIKAWA HOSPITAL
Leading Red Cross Hospital

OBJECTIVES•

For 100 years Asahikawa Red Cross Hospital has
been a regional medical support hospital responsible

helicopter covering northern area of Hokkaido.
•base hospital.

for highly specialized medical treatment such ascancer, lifestyle disease prevention, nursing care

It is North Japan’s core hospital, which covers theAIMS
1.
2.

Flexibility of operation which can use satellite mobilephone signals, even in a poor mobile phone receptionareasaving emergency medical care. It has a historic A &which is known for its cerebrovascular care.

Easy introduction though a body-worn camera withcompatible, high quality image resolution

needs from highly specialized medical care to lifeE centre, as well as a specialist brain surgery hospital,

Implementation of Smart-telecaster to use real-timevideo sharing between the doctor on-site and thefor acute care in North Japan. It has been responsible

support and remote medical care etc.

Strengthen emergency medical care by ambulance3.

Expecting improvement of patient’s treatment andresults, by initiating treatment earlier and throughimproved cooperation and communication between
doctors on the scene and in the hospital.

GOALS
Aiming to improve life-saving rate through earlier diagnosis, starting treatment earlier and selecting themost suitable hospital based on the patient’s condition and location.
The Asahikawa Red Cross Hospital is a core hospital that provides advanced acute care and specialized medical care. It plays
a key role as a regional medical support hospital in the Hokkaido area. The emergency medical centre opened in 1978 andhas the oldest history in Hokkaido.
In addition, the Asahikawa Red Cross Hospital is responsible for the mission as a base hospital that operates the only doctor
helicopter system in the northern area.
Asahikawa Red Cross Hospital Deputy Director Mr Tsuyoshi Sumida explains: “The doctor flies in a helicopter, which is equipped
nurse quickly dispatch to the accident, sudden illness or disaster site. Their speed of transportations allows them to perform life saving
measures, before transporting the patient to a medical institution. It is possible to shorten the transportation time and start treatment
earlier. We aim to improve the number of lives we can save.“SOL18061401v1

with emergency medical equipment. They respond to requests from either a fire fighting call out or a medical call out. The doctor andUsing the doctor’s helicopter offers several benefits. The first is to dispatch physicians and nurses to emergency situations
as soon as possible to initiate initial early treatment. The helicopter increases the speed of reaching the patients especially toremote islands.
The flight doctor and nurse can operate in the helicopter whilst a remote Medical Control Doctor (MC Dr) can advise fromback at the hospital and instruct medical practice. Together they can speed up diagnosis, treatment, collaboration and share
information. They can then continue medical treatment during transportation. This maximizes life-saving effects, alleviates
discomfort and quickens diagnosis.

Doctors are given remote assistance by assessing the situation through live-streaming from the incident.
In the past, the doctor’s helicopter would arrive at the scene. Only after the doctor flight doctor and nurse carried out medical
treatment to the patient, would they report the status verbally to the remote MC Doctor by mobile phone or from the helicopter
radio. Ideally flight doctors and MC Doctor would share diagnosis and treatment from the incident, but up until now, there has
been a time lag in order to share information. This led to a delay in preparing the receiving hospitals to receive the patient. It
was also difficult to maintain an objective evaluation or be clear of the level of severity through verbal communication.
There could also be added complications in transporting the patient. For example, if the rescue and emergency centre in theAsahikawa medical zone was full, there could be cases where emergency transportation was sought in the Sapporo medicalzone or the Obihiro medical zone. More accurate information on real-time availability was required.
Furthermore, in the case of severe injury or illness (such as amputation of limbs or environmental hazards), it would be wiser
to transport the patient to a medical institution equipped with the right specialized medical professionals. It was becoming
more important to judge whether to transfer patient to a different location, and if the patient was well enough to make adifferent journey. In the past, the patient’s injury or illness condition was photographed by mobile phone and sent by e-mail,but a more efficient method was sought, without requiring too much time and effort.
Mr Sumida’s attention was focussed on the utilization of a video broadcasting system that can transmit video footage in realtime. Soliton’s streaming products provide reliability, good quality pictures and low latency when compared to alternativesolutions. Soliton does not rely on a single telecom operator and mitigates risk by using multiple 4G connections simultaneously
when sending video. If the state of the patient can be confirmed with video images, with added contextual viewing of thesurrounding area of the patient, it is possible to objectively and quickly evaluate and diagnose what kind of treatment orpreparation is required in the hospital. Furthermore, with video streaming the MC Dr can provide appropriate instructions andsupport by collaborating with the flight doctor or nurse during treatment.

STC-Cam accurately grasps the condition of the patient.
As a result of demonstrating multiple products, the range of features combined with the high quality video transmission ofSoliton Systems’ Smart-telecaster attracted attention. Smart-telecaster also uses the iPhone STC-Cam app for the live streamingwith the image quality being far superior to other systems. Furthermore, it is possible to use voice calls even during filming,and It is also possible to record consultation videos. The scalability in which simultaneous connection of up to 12 STC-Cams
can be connected was highly valued among stakeholders. Also, even if the rendezvous point where the doctor helicopter lands(temporary heliport) had poor mobile reception area, the flexibility to use a satellite mobile phone has also become valuable.

Smart-telecaster adoption was officially selected as their supplier. The Asahikawa Red Cross Hospital, began with fixing STC Cam to the chests of the flight suits worn by the flight doctor and nurses. These broadcast in high-quality images and clearlyshow what the doctors and nurses on the scene can see. We had devised a live-streaming body camera, so that the flight
doctor and nurse could freely use both hands to tend to the patient. “Since STC - Cam can broadcast not only the injured patients
but also the electrocardiographs monitors and ultrasound diagnostic equipment installed in doctor helicopters, the remote MC Dr canalso accurately grasp the patient’s real-time medical condition.” Mr Sumida concurred, “It is possible to give accurate instructions.”
Meanwhile, the consultation side Smart-telecaster base station “STC-MultiView” was installed on a small laptop PC, which wassmall enough to operate efficiently in the limited space of the doctor’s helicopter. It was said that its compact size was one ofthe deciding factors.

Real-time medical treatment with the new broadcasting tools were able to stabilise the patient’s condition
quicker and delivered expected treatment improvements
The Asahikawa Red Cross Hospital became the first critical care centre in the region of Hokkaido and Tohoku, which introduceda real-time video relay system with doctor’s helicopters. By introducing the Smart-telecaster into their emergency medicalprocedures, Mr Sumida forecasts that real-time effect of medical treatment delivered between the remote locations and thebase hospital improve the stabilizing of the patient’s condition. “Even in Hokkaido alone, accidents involving numerous serious
injuries and injuries occur 30 to 40 times a year. As the situation can be accurately grasped on the site with the video, the hospital can
promptly declare the right disaster response level. It is an effective way to judge how we should best prepare and setup.“The Smart-telecaster is easy to use and easy to start using, just by installing an application on a smartphone or recording
device. “If this is used in more life-saving and emergency situations, it will be possible to improve the survival rate of patients andreduce longer term after-effects.”
Mr. Sumida prepared the information sharing system using smart-telecaster with the firefighting institutions and medical
institutions under the jurisdiction of the northern medicine area. He even linked communications with regional health relatedorganizations other than North Japan. The wider communication will assist emergency medical care if there is a wide area
disaster or terrorist disaster (whether it’s a nuclear, biological, chemical occurrence).
“Operation of Smart-telecaster is just beginning, but we will continue to devise ways to develop into an information system important
for life-saving medical care in Hokkaido, while obtaining advice and expert advice from Soliton Systems.” Mr. Sumida speaking. “Ihave great expectations for future of the synergistic effect with our medical helicopters.”

Soliton Systems Europe N.V.
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