Using Virtual ICU Solutions to Manage the COVID-19 Patient Surge
Solving the COVID-19 pandemic and dealing with the patient surge using Tele-ICU has become an imperative as many health systems experienced shortages of ICU trained clinicians. A recent manuscript ‘Projecting the transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 through the post pandemic period’, published by Kessler et al from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in ScienceMag1 discussed that to be able “To shorten the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic and ensure adequate care for the critically ill, increasing critical care capacity and developing additional interventions are urgent priorities.”
This study suggests that:
1) In the absence of interventions (testing, therapeutics, contact tracing, or vaccines), surveillance and intermittent distancing (or sustained distancing if it is highly effective) may need to be maintained into 2022, which would present a substantial social and economic burden.
2) Under current critical care capacities the overall duration of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic could last into 2022, necessitating social distancing to be in place between 25% and 75% of that time.
3) Intermittent distancing may be required into 2022 unless critical care capacity is increased substantially or a treatment or vaccine becomes available.
Recognize that extending Virtual ICU’s is a key component to address the current pandemic, especially as the second wave of COVID-19 is likely to occur.
Traditional telehealth and tele-ICU has surged across the country in the wake of COVID-19 but traditional telehealth solutions only solve a portion of the problem. Tele-ICU software requires FDA clearance for active patient monitoring. Access to traditional telehealth, integrated with additional clinical analytics and data visualization, presents a complete platform for a Virtual ICU and to manage an extended number of beds. Integrated Virtual ICU platforms help physicians and nurses effectively monitor all hospital beds, in addition to the ICU beds, and help track patient deterioration using automatic MEWS, Sepsis, & Ventilator Induced Lung Injury (VILI) sniffers. Integrating early warnings with traditional telehealth software, along with the ability to identify confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients and track patients from admit to discharge, make Virtual ICU platforms ideal for dealing with the current and possible future COVID-19 outbreaks.
Virtual ICU platforms drive situational awareness through real-time point of care access to vital process-of-care information and real time analytics, allowing providers to remotely monitor and manage every bed in the health system like it is an ICU bed. Tele-ICU’s, extended to all beds in a hospital, increase a health systems ability to handle ICU surge and improves the safety for both the clinicians and the patients.
1Projecting the transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 through the postpandemic period
By Stephen M. Kissler, Christine Tedijanto, Edward Goldstein, Yonatan H. Grad, Marc Lipsitch; Published Online14 Apr 2020; DOI: 10.1126/science.abb5793 https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/04/14/science.abb5793
This study suggests that:
1) In the absence of interventions (testing, therapeutics, contact tracing, or vaccines), surveillance and intermittent distancing (or sustained distancing if it is highly effective) may need to be maintained into 2022, which would present a substantial social and economic burden.
2) Under current critical care capacities the overall duration of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic could last into 2022, necessitating social distancing to be in place between 25% and 75% of that time.
3) Intermittent distancing may be required into 2022 unless critical care capacity is increased substantially or a treatment or vaccine becomes available.
Recognize that extending Virtual ICU’s is a key component to address the current pandemic, especially as the second wave of COVID-19 is likely to occur.
Traditional telehealth and tele-ICU has surged across the country in the wake of COVID-19 but traditional telehealth solutions only solve a portion of the problem. Tele-ICU software requires FDA clearance for active patient monitoring. Access to traditional telehealth, integrated with additional clinical analytics and data visualization, presents a complete platform for a Virtual ICU and to manage an extended number of beds. Integrated Virtual ICU platforms help physicians and nurses effectively monitor all hospital beds, in addition to the ICU beds, and help track patient deterioration using automatic MEWS, Sepsis, & Ventilator Induced Lung Injury (VILI) sniffers. Integrating early warnings with traditional telehealth software, along with the ability to identify confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients and track patients from admit to discharge, make Virtual ICU platforms ideal for dealing with the current and possible future COVID-19 outbreaks.
Virtual ICU platforms drive situational awareness through real-time point of care access to vital process-of-care information and real time analytics, allowing providers to remotely monitor and manage every bed in the health system like it is an ICU bed. Tele-ICU’s, extended to all beds in a hospital, increase a health systems ability to handle ICU surge and improves the safety for both the clinicians and the patients.
1Projecting the transmission dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 through the postpandemic period
By Stephen M. Kissler, Christine Tedijanto, Edward Goldstein, Yonatan H. Grad, Marc Lipsitch; Published Online14 Apr 2020; DOI: 10.1126/science.abb5793 https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/04/14/science.abb5793