Transformational Giving for Tele-ICU

For critically ill patients and their families, there is perhaps no greater expectation for medical expertise and state-of-the-art technology than in an ICU environment.

Our Island Hospital ICU is able to continue meeting that high level of care by launching a new tele-ICU program, available to our patients in Spring 2021.  This means that when you or a loved one needs ICU care delivered by a team of advanced specialists, you don’t have to travel several hours out of town to find that expertise. It’s right here, housed in the same facility, with the same physicians you know and trust.    

What is tele-ICU?

Tele-ICUs provide 24/7 remote monitoring of ICU patients by a team of off-site intensivists (critical care physicians and nurses).  The new tele-ICU program at Island Hospital will not replace our current unit or staff, but will instead complement and enhance the bedside care our ICU patients receive. The remote team of specialists accessed through our tele-ICU offers surveillance of our most critical patients during shift changes, off-shift hours or overnight hours, and during times of high unit activity.  They monitor and assess these patients, and then alert our onsite team when the situation requires their intervention.

The use of tele-ICU programs and their benefits have been widely documented throughout the country. This model of intensive care management has been proven to reduce mortality and length of hospital stay for ICU patients.  In addition to improved patient outcomes, tele-ICU enables scarce resources, such as the access to intensivist physician and nurses, to be leveraged across the hospital system. Simply put, Island Hospital’s tele-ICU program will enable your community hospital to better care for critically ill patients, and will save patient lives.

When will tele-ICU start?

Our tele-ICU will be arriving soon, and will be integrated into your hospital using a phased approach. We are currently in a preliminary phase, prepping patient rooms with the needed wiring and cameras to enable the remote monitoring.  Once the infrastructure is in place, we expect to begin using the tele-ICU as soon as this Spring to cover patient monitoring during the night and overnight shifts at first, and then gradually adopt the capability for 24/7 coverage and care.