On Monday, November 16, the first Pacemaker Control Street in the Netherlands was opened at the St. Antonius Hospital, location Nieuwegein. Patients can have their pacemaker read out from the car by appointment at the hospital. “In times of Corona, this form of care is a godsend. In the first place for the patient, for whom care can continue in a safe and fast manner. And also for the hospital, because fewer people enter the building, “ says Prof. Lucas Boersma, cardiologist at the St. Antonius Heart Center who officially opened the control street today.
One of the first patients in the Pacemaker Control Street of the St. Antonius Hospital
Drive through
The control street is located next to the hospital. Eligible patients have been contacted by letter for an appointment with information and instructions. They come by car and drive through the control street. There they are welcomed by an employee who reads the pacemaker (through the car window). The data is sent to the hospital cardiometer, who will assess it and report the result within 15 minutes. If there are no details, the patient can drive home immediately. If further investigation proves necessary, the patient can still go to the outpatient clinic in the hospital.
Keep heart care accessible
The pacemaker control street is an initiative of the St. Antonius Heart Center in collaboration with medical technology company Medtronic (supplier of the pacemakers). Cardiologist Lucas Boersma is proud that St. Antonius is the first hospital in the Netherlands to organize the care of device patients in this way.
Boersma: “During the first Corona wave, regular healthcare came under great pressure. Postponing care can have major consequences for heart patients. This control street is one of the creative solutions that we deploy to keep healthcare accessible in times of corona. ” The hospital has invited almost three hundred heart patients for a check-up in the control street for the next two weeks. If it is successful, it will be examined for which other patient groups this method of reading offers a solution, such as patients wearing an ICD.
New forms of care
The control street is not only a Corona-friendly solution, but also one of the innovative ways of St. Antonius to develop new forms of care. In order to prevent patients from being in hospital unnecessarily (long), care IN the hospital is increasingly making way for it care at home or care via e-health solutions such as video appointments or home monitoring. These kinds of innovative solutions are gaining momentum due to corona and will permanently change healthcare.
