The University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI) has partnered with Telus and its recently acquired subsidiary Badal, which specialises in Cloud and data analytics, to enhance the efficiency of emergency cardiac care through the Sayhut smartphone app.
This collaboration is set to improve communication between first responders and hospital teams, facilitating real-time decision-making for heart attack patients.
Sayhut app is a privacy-compliant tool that enables the swift transfer of patient data, including electrocardiogram (ECG) images, to expedite diagnoses and improve patient outcomes.
The app adheres to strict data privacy regulations, ensuring the secure transmission of sensitive information.
Conceived by Drs Hassan Mir and Talha Syed, Sayhut is currently implemented in 15 hospitals across southwestern Ontario, supporting the treatment of thousands of patients.
Early evaluations indicate a reduction in diagnostic time by nearly 15 minutes and a decrease in misdiagnoses and unnecessary transfers by around 10%.
The Ontario Centre of Innovation has recently funded the expansion of Sayhut to three additional major hospitals in Ottawa.
Badal, by leveraging Google's cloud platform, has designed the app's cloud infrastructure, which is crucial for its current and future versions.
TELUS said that it is committed to continue scaling Sayhut for broader deployment within Canada and internationally.
Moving forward, the app's development includes the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) to further enhance its capabilities, using Google's Cloud AI technology.
This AI integration is part of a broader initiative at TELUS Health aimed at improving patient outcomes.
The company said that the team is working on AI models trained on thousands of ECGs and medical frameworks to aid in the rapid and precise identification of heart attacks.
These models will allow healthcare professionals to prioritise both patient communication as well as transfer on the basis of AI analysis of ECGs.
However, TELUS emphasised that the app is intended to support, “not substitute”, the expertise and judgment of medical professionals, ensuring that they retain control over final diagnoses and treatment decisions.
TELUS Industry Products and Technology senior vice-president Jayne Landry said: “Harnessing the power of data, analytics and cloud is pivotal to our mission of driving innovation and delivering exceptional service.
“The Sayhut application is a great example of digital transformation within the healthcare industry, enhancing efficiency, accuracy and performance, and ultimately bettering the lives of patients.”
