May 24, 2008
Innovative Program Unites Hospitals to Reduce Critical Care Physician Shortage
Six hospitals in rural Maryland suffering from a shortage of critical care physicians are implementing a collaborative effort using the Philips Healthcare VISICU e-ICU program to electronically link their own ICUs to critical care physicians and nurses at a central ICU facility.
Patient conditions are monitored 24/7 through video and audio technology at the central ICU, combined with intelligent monitoring and alarm systems. While maintaining patient privacy, the eICU’s remote center closely monitors patients for any physical change, immediately alerting local caregivers and recommending corrective action.
Studies have shown improved patient outcomes and decreased lengths of stay for patients in intensive care units (ICU) managed by critical care physicians. Yet many hospitals – especially those in rural America – do not have the resources to keep these kinds of physicians on site 24 hours a day.
Bringing this technology to rural Maryland means patients and families will have better care close to home," said Dr. Marc T. Zubrow, Medical Director of Maryland eCare and Director of Critical Care Medicine at Christiana Care Health System (Wilmington, Del.) which houses its own eICU® Program. "This program enables us to act quickly and prevent complications. It leads to improved patient outcomes, getting patients home with their families more quickly and more safely."
Made possible by a $3 million grant from CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield, the Maryland eCare initiative uniquely brings together resources from insurers and rural hospitals. Independently, participating hospitals would not be able to bring this technology to their communities.
Participating Maryland hospitals include Atlantic General Hospital, Berlin; Calvert Memorial Hospital, Prince Frederick; Civista Medical Center, LaPlata; Peninsula Regional Medical Center, Salisbury; St. Mary’s Hospital, Leonardtown; and Washington County Health System, Hagerstown, which collectively admit more than 66,000 patients every year.
Maryland eCare’s remote monitoring center will be based at Christiana Care Health System in Wilmington, Delaware. Christiana Care has expertise in utilizing this technology in its two hospitals with a total of four ICUs. In November 2005, Christiana Care was the first health system in the country to adapt the eICU® Program to monitor critically ill patients in its emergency departments and post anesthesia care units. Dr. Zubrow will oversee Maryland eCare’s remote monitoring center with a team of Christiana Care critical care nurses and physicians.
The eICU® Program was developed by VISICU (a Philips Company; Baltimore, Md.) by two former Johns Hopkins critical care physicians and is being utilized in more than 200 hospitals across the country, primarily within large hospital systems.
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