|
Critically ill patients at Mariners Hospital now receive an additional level of care. The Tavernier hospital recently introduced eICU LifeGuard – new technology that allows doctors and nurses to monitor patients from a remote site.
Each Mariners ICU room is outfitted with cameras, microphones and call buttons to link Mariners’ patients to a remote monitoring site, LifeGuard Clinical Operations Center, located in Doral. There, critical care intensivists – doctors who specialize in caring for critically injured or ill patients – and critical care nurses keep close tabs on every patient’s condition, 24/7. They monitor a bank of computer screens that display vital signs, lab and X-ray reports, and other patient information. The data make a “virtual” medical chart, providing a complete picture of a patient’s condition as it changes — minute by minute.
Special computer programs track patient information, flagging changes that may signal a patient’s worsening condition so that prompt action can be taken. If needed, Mariners staff, as well as the doctors and nurses at the remote monitoring site, can turn on a camera near the bedside for a closer assessment of the patient. The lens is so powerful that it can be used to examine a patient’s pupils.
When needed, the LifeGuard intensivist and critical care nurses talk with a patient and bedside nurse using the video and two-way audio and medical information equipment installed in each of the eight Mariners Intensive Care Unit rooms.
“The eICU doesn’t replace the personal care given by our staff at the patient’s beside,” said Nelson Lazo, Mariners CEO. “It does provide another level of care for the sickest patients in the hospital. Any added help they get is important.”
According to Mr. Lazo, studies have documented a 27 percent reduction in deaths and a 14 percent reduction in the length of stay for ICU patients monitored electronically. In addition, studies have demonstrated that ICU patients who receive this extra level of care have a better outcome than those who don’t. “The better patient outcome is why Mariners installed this technology,” he said. “eICU LifeGuard enhances our ability to provide a very high quality level of patient care, a hallmark of Mariners Hospital.”
Mariners Hospital is part of Baptist Health, the largest not-for-profit healthcare organization in South Florida. Baptist Health also includes Baptist Hospital, Baptist Children’s Hospital, South Miami Hospital, Doctors Hospital, Homestead Hospital, Baptist Cardiac & Vascular Institute and Baptist Outpatient Services. |