NEXT LEVEL: Critical Care maintains stride with virtual medicine
TeleCritical Care aims to enhance the delivery of critical care.
Recently the Shreveport VA introduced patients to a new form of critical care that expands on the traditional Intensive Care Unit model. This new structure is based on Telehealth and is cleverly titled Tele-ICU or TeleCritical Care.
“TeleCritical Care offers 24-hour care at the push of a button,” revealed Kristine Miller, operations and nurse manager for the VA’s TeleCritical Care West hub based at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System.
A Minneapolis team of critical care specialists has spent the last several months helping test the sophisticated equipment, install software, and hard wire 20 rooms capable of providing TeleCritical Care. The team also offered face-to-face, one-on-one training for Shreveport’s ICU care teams.
“TeleCritical Care has transformed the ICU to allow continuity of critical care with licensed intensivists and critical-care nurses using live audio and video,” described Matthew Goede, medical director for the western-based TeleCritical Care hub in Minneapolis.
“We have learned, especially over the last many months, that we must embrace technology,” said Richard Crockett, Medical Center Director for the Shreveport VA. “Seeing is believing, and when the ICU nurse pushed the Tele-ICU call button, it was amazing to see intensive care physicians in two different states immediately respond. Having this Telehealth technology at our medical center is a proud moment in Shreveport VA history.”
The arrangement of hi-tech equipment appears as simple as any webcam experience. But there is so much more. The technology allows staff to monitor blood pressure, heart rate, and lab results. Intensivists can prescribe medications, order tests or procedures, make diagnoses and discuss health care with patients and family members.
“At the push of a button, any member of the ICU team can receive on-demand critical care from an intensivist or ICU nurse,” Miller illustrated. “The hi-resolution camera produces excellent imagery and audio for a one-on-one experience long distance.”
Currently, Minneapolis serves as the central network for VA’s TeleCritical Care; however, seasoned intensivists and nurses in locations such as Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Iowa City have the knowledge and ability to serve as on-call TeleCritical Care specialists, thousands of miles away.
Goede points out, “the VA has taken the TeleICU lead, and we expect to have the largest TeleCritical Care System in the world when all VA hospitals that have opted in are online. He further stated, “within moments you can get an intensivist at the bedside,” stated Goede.
Physicians and nurses from connected parts of the country can join simultaneously, offer discussions, and control the camera. The clarity is remarkable enough to allow critical care specialists to see or identify areas of concern based on the detail needed.
It is no surprise that health care has evolved over the past 10 years. Many health care organizations have learned during the pandemic that more and more educated health care providers are in demand, especially in critical care medicine.
According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), as our health care system continues to treat patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for a sufficient and robust health care workforce is more apparent than ever. The AAMC projects specialty physician shortages, especially those that are hospital-based, including critical care.
The inclusion of TeleCritical Care upgrades any ICU and adds another safety barrier to an organization focused on high reliability. The added layer of support improves care and allows the Shreveport VA’s ICU to offer the best possible outcome.