一種遠(yuǎn)程重癥監(jiān)護(hù)系統(tǒng)允許醫(yī)院設(shè)計(jì)高質(zhì)量的操作有效以及經(jīng)濟(jì)的“廣系統(tǒng)”重癥監(jiān)護(hù)方案。

盡管重癥監(jiān)護(hù)室患者需要24小時(shí)特殊監(jiān)護(hù)，但是大多數(shù)重癥監(jiān)護(hù)室缺乏專(zhuān)門(mén)訓(xùn)練的醫(yī)生或者重癥監(jiān)護(hù)專(zhuān)家來(lái)完成這項(xiàng)任務(wù)。在美國(guó)有重癥監(jiān)護(hù)人員的儲(chǔ)備，但是只有6000人不到有實(shí)際操作經(jīng)驗(yàn)。而通過(guò)遠(yuǎn)程醫(yī)學(xué)和計(jì)算機(jī)監(jiān)測(cè)器連接到重癥監(jiān)護(hù)室的醫(yī)療設(shè)施，新系統(tǒng)能夠提過(guò)所需的監(jiān)護(hù)。這種設(shè)施配備重癥監(jiān)護(hù)專(zhuān)家領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的小組，能夠監(jiān)測(cè)與護(hù)理數(shù)以百計(jì)的患者，就象空中交通管制系統(tǒng)能夠監(jiān)測(cè)數(shù)以百計(jì)的飛機(jī)一樣。該系統(tǒng)叫做eICU，能夠提供持續(xù)監(jiān)測(cè)，使得醫(yī)生能夠緊急處理；并且?guī)椭t(yī)生獲得正確處理患者的信息，從而使得他們工作更加迅速。

eICU系統(tǒng)是由Visicu公司研制開(kāi)發(fā)的，該公司是約翰霍普金斯醫(yī)院兩位重癥監(jiān)護(hù)專(zhuān)家于1998年創(chuàng)辦的。該公司為那些打算提高ICU系統(tǒng)質(zhì)量的大型多醫(yī)院保健系統(tǒng)服務(wù)，這些機(jī)構(gòu)使用eICU系統(tǒng)對(duì)患者進(jìn)行實(shí)時(shí)音頻和視頻監(jiān)測(cè)。

Kaleida保健系統(tǒng)cICU操作主任Colleen Dowd指出：“這項(xiàng)技術(shù)并不意味著可以代替醫(yī)生的實(shí)際操作以及床邊護(hù)理，但是為處于緊急事件的患者提供安全網(wǎng)絡(luò)來(lái)支持現(xiàn)場(chǎng)的醫(yī)生，這將提高患者的醫(yī)療護(hù)理質(zhì)量。”

Enhanced Intensive Care System
 
A remote intensive care system allows hospitals to create a system-wide critical care program designed to improve quality, operating efficiency, and economic performance.

Although patients in an intensive care unit (ICU) require round-the-clock specialized care, most ICUs do not have specially trained doctors, or intensivists, available to do this. There is a shortage of intensivists in the United States, where there are fewer than 6,000 actively practicing. With a remote facility linked via telemedicine and computer monitors to hospital ICU rooms, the new system can provide the required care. The facility is staffed with an intensivist-led team that can monitor and care for hundreds of patients much like air traffic controllers monitor hundreds of planes. Called eICU, the system provides constant surveillance, provides the patient with immediate physician access, and arms the physician with the patient information needed to make the right decisions and make them quickly.

The eICU system was developed by Visicu, Inc. (Baltimore, MD, USA), a company founded in 1998 by two intensivist doctors from Johns Hopkins Medicine (also in Baltimore). The company markets the system to large, multi-hospital healthcare systems that want to improve the quality of their ICU care. One such system is Kaleida Health (Buffalo, NY, USA), which uses the eICU system for real-time audio and video monitoring of patients in the ICU units of two suburban hospitals.

“This technology is not meant to replace the human touch or bedside care, but supports the onsite clinicians by offering a safety net to patients in the event of an emergency,” noted Colleen Dowd, director of cICU operations at Kaleida Health. “The result will be improved patient care.”