Telemedicine

Critical access and rural hospitals are finding that technology is allowing them to reap the benefits of an intensivist-led model of critical care. With a team of critical care physicians and nurses located at a monitoring center, the Intensivist Group provides round-the-clock care for a health system’s sickest patients, regardless of their location.

Once a health system establishes a centralized monitoring site and invests in the technology to connect all of its hospitals, The Intensivst Group helps bedside clinicians watch over the critically ill and prioritize and guide interventions. We don’t replace the in-hospital team; rather, we provide an additional and immediate level of expertise and experience in treating the critically ill.

As with our in-hospital management of ICUs, we establish uniform, evidence-based order sets and protocols. And we set improvement goals, such as lowering septic shock deaths, then track and report our progress.

On a day-to-day basis, our intensivists, critical care nurses and data specialists continuously monitor vital signs and other physiologic trends. With real-time information, we detect emerging complications or other problems early on and work with the in-hospital team to make appropriate changes to the care plan.

Depending on the hospital system, we are connected to patients and bedside teams by voice, video and data. Videoconferencing in each ICU room allows our intensivists to see and speak with patients and care teams as needed.