It sounds like something straight out of a sci-fi film: robot assistants, animals coming to the rescue and disembodied voices offering answers. But in today’s world, it’s happening in the hospital room.
As artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and more are being integrated to the bedside of many Arizonans, hospitals and practitioners are confident new technology will reduce the time it takes for healthcare providers to do their jobs while maintaining a high quality of care.
At community hospitals such as Abrazo West Campus in Goodyear, non-convulsive seizures that once took Emergency Room doctors hours to diagnose are now identified in minutes, thanks to the Ceribell point-of-care EEG system powered by AI. In HonorHealth’s nine affiliated hospitals and over 30 primary care offices, AI is being integrated in numerous ways, from ambient documentation programs transcribing and charting every patient visit to analyzing data to better predict a patient’s likelihood of developing sepsis.
In healthcare, every new innovation must undergo a rigorous and multi-step process of testing and refinement before they ever reach the bedside. From early-stage development to extensive trials in diverse real-world scenarios, these technologies are carefully evaluated and validated to ensure their safety, effectiveness, and clinical utility.
Helping to bridge the gap between inventors and providers, BioLab Sciences serves as an in-between for the newest technology in regenerative medicine. Partnering with European biotech company Real Collagen GmbH, BioLab is bringing fish collagen technology to wound care in its latest advancement.
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Bringing fish collagen to wound care in the U.S.
As healthcare continues to evolve with AI and advanced diagnostics, BioLab Sciences is bringing proven innovations like fish collagen technology to the U.S. to improve patient care. Partnering and investing in Real Collagen GmbH, they’re working to introduce this breakthrough in wound care to Arizona hospitals.
The special properties of fish collagen, particularly its ability to avoid communicable diseases and its natural structure, make it an ideal material for wound care. As Carlos Encinas, chief science officer at BioLab Sciences, explains, “It’s the hottest item in the industry. Fish collagen has a lot of important properties. The main one is that there’s no communicable diseases between fish and humans. So that makes it special. And the three-dimensional structure of the fish collagen can provide a better structure for the skin to repair itself.”
Real Collagen GmbH, based in Germany, has over 15 years of experience making fish collagen. They use a special process to extract collagen from fish skin, keeping it in its natural, healthy form.
This fish collagen is great for making wound dressings because it’s safe, helps prevent infection, reduces inflammation, and relieves pain. The end product is high-quality, stable, and can be used for different types of wounds, making it easy to apply and affordable for a variety of patients.
“The technology would allow us to develop and further develop several different products that can help the patients to treat chronic wounds,” Encinas says.
“At Real Collagen, we are dedicated to producing high-quality raw fish collagen and we’re proud to partner with BioLab Holdings, Inc.,” says Real Collagen CEO Dr. Jan Lorenz in a release. “By combining our expertise in fish collagen technology with BioLab’s commitment to patient-centered products, we are confident that this collaboration will lead to groundbreaking advancements in wound healing. Together, we strive to provide medical professionals with superior solutions to improve patient outcomes worldwide.”
Just as BioLab begins advancing wound care in the U.S. with fish collagen, the healthcare field is also embracing artificial intelligence to revolutionize patient care.
AI innovations at the bedside
“For every doctor we convince to use AI, there’s a few who are hesitant or outright refuse,” says Dr. Sushant Kale, medical director for neurology and stroke at Abrazo West Campus. The integration of AI into healthcare is not without its challenges, and while many practitioners embrace it, others remain cautious.
Automation in healthcare has been evolving for decades, even though its widespread application is a more recent development. Robotics, for instance, has been used in some of the most delicate procedures since the 1980s. From stitching wounds to performing brain surgery, robotic systems provide precise, fatigue-free movements, which were initially met with skepticism but are now standard in operating rooms and emergency departments.
As AI continues to prove its worth, healthcare administrators are optimistic that it will be more widely accepted by practitioners and patients alike, gradually becoming as commonplace as robotic assistance in surgery.
Abrazo West Campus’s Ceribell, a device used to monitor brain activity that’s both quick and easy to use at the patient’s location, was proven effective in its first usage.
Typically used in the ICU or ER, Ceribell can detect seizures that are not visible to the human eye. When paired with Clarity, a machine learning algorithm, the Ceribell system interprets EEG signals and provides both audible and visual alerts to help doctors respond quickly to the seizure.
“It was only a few days after we taught the Emergency Room doctors and nurses how to use Ceribell that they called me and had a patient who could really benefit from it,” Dr. Kale says.
This patient was not showing outward symptoms of a seizure but doctors were concerned for their safety so they used Ceribell to find a clear answer. The Ceribell bands are applied to the patient’s head at the bedside and the AI can detect seizure right away with very high clinical accuracy.
“Before Ceribell, the emergency room would have to send me scans and then I’d have to pull them up at home and sometimes the whole process would take an hour or more,” Dr. Kale says. “With Ceribell it takes a fraction of the time to get the scans.”
AI streamlining administrative tasks in healthcare
HonorHealth has been a leader in integrating AI technology into healthcare. In addition to the clinical innovations seen in other areas of Arizona healthcare, HonorHealth has incorporated AI across several facets of patient care. From its ambient documentation programs to predictive analytics, the health system is continuously exploring ways to improve efficiency while maintaining patient safety.
One of the most notable AI advancements at HonorHealth is the use of its ambient documentation system. This AI-powered tool listens to patient interactions during appointments and transcribes them in real time, allowing physicians to focus on patient care rather than administrative tasks.
By automatically recording and charting patient visits, the system not only saves doctors time but also helps reduce errors that can occur during manual note-taking.
Additionally, HonorHealth has adopted AI for more complex tasks, such as identifying patients at risk of sepsis. By analyzing patterns in patient data — such as vital signs and lab results — the AI can identify subtle warning signs that may go unnoticed by human clinicians. The system can alert doctors and nurses to act faster, potentially preventing a serious or even life-threatening condition from escalating.
Despite the undeniable benefits, the widespread adoption of AI in healthcare comes with challenges. Some healthcare professionals remain hesitant, fearing that AI might replace the human element of care.
However, as Dr. Craig Norquist, HonorHealth’s chief medical information officer, points out, AI is designed to complement human abilities rather than replace them. “There was a day in healthcare when the doctor was supposed to know what the medicinal interactions would be and what the side effects would be for a patient by memory. Those days are no longer. There are too many medications, too many diseases. And why would a doctor have to remember that if a computer can do it tirelessly?”
This sentiment echoes the sentiment expressed by other leaders in the field: the goal is to make healthcare smarter and more efficient, not to replace the physician’s unique role in patient care.
Conclusion
As healthcare technology continues to evolve, AI is undeniably playing a pivotal role in shaping the future of patient care. From Ceribell’s seizure detection technology to HonorHealth’s use of AI for streamlining administrative tasks and predictive analytics, these innovations are making a significant impact on healthcare efficiency and patient outcomes.
At the same time, breakthroughs in biotech, like fish collagen technology for wound care, are enhancing the tools available to medical professionals.
As these technologies continue to evolve and prove their effectiveness, medical professionals expect even greater strides in the way healthcare is delivered, ultimately improving patient experiences, reducing wait times, and increasing the quality of life for those seeking care.
