Tele-ICU enables off-site clinicians to interact with bedside staff to consult on patient care. One centralized care team can manage many geographically dispersed ICU locations to exchange health information electronically, in real time.

What is tele-ICU? In its simplest form, a tele-ICU enables off-site clinicians to interact with bedside staff to consult on patient care. One centralized care team can manage a large number of geographically dispersed ICU locations to exchange health information electronically, in real time. A tele-ICU, like Philips eICU, is a supplement – not a replacement – to the bedside team, offering support to increasingly scarce clinical resources.

How Tele-ICU works: Tele-ICU programs concentrate clinical resources in remote care centers (a central monitoring facility) and extends those resources to the bedside via technology, independent of the care center or hospital’s location. Using A/V conferencing and a real-time data-stream of patient information from multiple interfaces, a physician working from a care center in New York City can rapidly care for a patient in Seattle, day or night. This connectivity enables an already engaged intensivist to promptly intervene and consistently provide care aligned with best-practices.

Here are some key points about tele-ICU:

• Tele-ICU allows ICU patients in rural/community hospitals to be monitored remotely by specialists in larger hospitals via audio/video technology and electronic medical records.
• It connects critical care teams at multiple locations, providing virtual critical care support 24/7 without relying solely on in-person staffing.
• Specialists can review patient data in real-time from anywhere via electronic medical records, cameras, monitors and consult with bedside nurses as needed.
• They can recommend treatment plans, medications, diagnostics, perform family meetings virtually and consult with other specialists for complex cases.
• This virtual support increases level of care at smaller sites that may lack round-the-clock intensive care physicians and specialists onsite.
• Studies show tele-ICU can reduce mortality, complications, length of stay and lower costs compared to traditional off-hours ICU staffing models.
• Remote monitoring allows for early specialist interventions that may avoid inter-facility transports for critically ill patients.
• Tele-ICU programs also support nursing education and training at rural sites through virtual proctoring and mentoring.
• Implementation requires high-speed Internet, specialized medical devices, audiovisual technologies and integration with electronic health records.

So in summary, tele-ICU leverages technology to virtually extend critical care resources and optimize outcomes for ICU patients across multiple hospital locations.