When technology meets compassion, incredible things happen
The Lake City VA Medical Center has now been equipped with the technology to provide tele-critical care to Veterans in the intensive care unit (ICU).
The tele critical care team is available 24/7 and allows access for Veterans to have critical care intensivists and nurses in their room at the click of a button. Tele-critical care is a care concept that uses audiovisual communication and computer systems to connect a remote critical care team with a bedside ICU team and Veteran. This concept brings many positive aspects to the Veteran and care team allowing for collaboration with bedside staff to increase retention, assisting in urgent/emergent situations as well as reliable, rapid access to critical care expertise consultation while increasing staffing coverage.
The new technology allows remote staff to monitor patient vitals, lab results and medical charts. The intensivist providers can order tests, make diagnoses, prescribe medications, and communicate health care information with the Veteran, caregivers, and family members. The goal of this tele-critical care team is to provide a compassionate and caring approach to Veterans while delivering the highest quality critical care.
Tele-critical care went live, April 17th on the 4th floor of the Lake City VAMC. The hospital staff are very grateful for this tele-critical care team as it will allow extra coverage for the Veterans we care for.
“Tele-critical care will provide Veterans with real-time, expert care from nurses and doctors, making care more accessible and convenient to our Lake City Veterans,” said Sonia Taylor, a seasoned nurse on the ICU floor. “We hope that access to this new program will allow our ICU to care for a greater number of Veterans who are critically ill.”
North Florida South Georgia VA Healthcare System strives to improve the health care we provide to all our Veterans. The Tele-critical care program is a driver in all we do to achieve our goal to continue to provide world-class health care to Veterans. Soon, North Florida/South Georgia VHS plans to add this enhanced critical care team to the Malcom Randall VAMC in order to increase the quality of care, greatly benefitting the lives of our NF/SG Veterans.
For more information on the Lake City VA Medical Center, please visit Lake City VA Medical Center | VA North Florida/South Georgia Health Care | Veterans Affairs