ATLANTA – (March 30, 2007) – Saint Joseph’s Hospital, recently named one of the top 50 hospitals in the United States, opened the first eICU® facility in Georgia and is the only hospital a six state region to establish a remote eICU center. The center, located on the Saint Joseph’s Hospital campus, provides continuous 24/7 monitoring and support to bedside critical care teams within Saint Joseph’s intensive care units.
Saint Joseph’s is a leader in quality and patient safety initiatives and recently launched MAXcare -- the Southeast region’s most comprehensive critical care program. Saint Joseph’s joins more than 180 hospitals nationwide to implement the eICU program from VISICU, Inc.
Studies of the impact from eICU programs around the country document that lives are saved, employee morale is improved, patients receive safer and more efficient care and there is more efficient use of critical resources including ICU beds, medications and staff.
Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House and founder of the Center for Health Transformation (CHT), toured Saint Joseph’s ICU units and the remote eICU location today during a visit. The CHT’s mission is to accelerate the adoption of transformational solutions and policies for better health and more choices at lower cost.
“The MAXcare program is the type of patient safety and quality initiative that CHT believes will afford the highest quality of care and reduce costs for our citizens,” says Newt Gingrich. “Connectivity in health care is essential to creating an intelligent health system that enables patients to receive high-quality care close to home, saving lives and money by reducing adverse medical events, transfers and long hospital stays.”
Saint Joseph’s expanded its intensivist physician program in 2006.
“Statistics show that critical care patients are at the highest risk in hospitals because of the complex nature of their illnesses,” says Ralph Haynes, senior vice president of medical affairs at Saint Joseph’s Hospital. “However, it has been shown that intensivists – physicians trained in critical care – reduce complications and can prevent many complications and other adverse events.”
The eICU program with its cutting-edge technology, has been likened by some to an air traffic control center. It features around-the-clock, real-time audio and video monitoring of ICU patients from one central command center, 24 hours a day, 7days a week, 365 days a year. In conjunction with sophisticated decision-support software, critical care experienced specialists and trained ICU nurses within the eICU facility serve as a second set of eyes for the bedside ICU teams providing continuous monitoring, real-time alerts and emergency video consultation and support.
The first 48 critical care beds at Saint Joseph’s have been equipped with advanced eICU technology to communicate with the central MAXcare facility. An additional 60 ICU beds will be online by August and affiliate hospitals throughout north Georgia will be linked to the eICU center in early 2008.
eICU® is a registered trademark of VISICU, Inc.
