TIFTON — Three words often strike fear in families with hospitalized loved ones — Intensive Care Unit or ICU. Worried family members can breathe a bit easier because of a new, non-stop patient monitoring service at Tift Regional Medical Center that started Tuesday, Feb. 8.

eICU

“It’s called electronic intensive care unit,” says Dr. William A. “Bill” Guest, chief medical officer of the Center’s intensive care unit.

No new construction; the Hospital’s ICU units look the same. Nurses provide the same continuous care. Tifton doctors provide the same follow-up care as they always have.

The difference? In the ceiling a small, high-definition, remote-controlled camera, a TV screen and a special red button for emergencies sits in walls with a clear cover to prevent accidental activation.   

“It’s another layer of service for patient safety,” says Dr. Guest.

The sick could get sicker if they remain in a hospital too long.

“Infections, medical errors and bed sores, for example, can lengthen a patient’s stay and occasionally requires re-admission,” says William “Bill” Richardson, president and CEO of Tift Regional Medical Center.

What’s new

Above the ceilings and inside the Unit’s walls sit hundreds of connections to Advanced ICU Care, a highly specialized medical service in St. Louis that provides micro-second monitoring of each ICU patient.

“A team of critical care doctors, nurse-practitioners with advanced training, critical care nurses and nurse extenders in St. Louis add another level of patient safety,” says Dr. Guest.

One team member never sleeps or takes a day off: The service’s highly advanced computers.  They tie into TRMC’s existing information network and pass along medical data from the patient’s room in Tifton to St. Louis, 752 miles away. But the St. Louis computers have programs to spot trends in the patient’s condition, before an on-site caregiver might notice.

“For example, a patient’s blood pressure may look stable each time it’s checked, when, in actuality, it could vary considerably between those checks,” says Dr. Guest. “The computer’s trend program would immediately notice the changes and alert the Tifton nurse.”

It takes 50 seconds, much less time finding and dialing a local number, for the Tifton ICU nurse to get it touch with the critical care doctor on-duty in St. Louis. The Tifton nurse talks hands-free with the service’s staff. The staff in St. Louis already has the patient’s records, lab reports and x-rays, real-time, in-room medical information, and can turn on the in-room camera to visually check on the patient to their satisfaction.

“The camera is so sensitive that you can tell if the patient’s eyes are reactive and dilated,” says Guest.

Patient fear

Has the day arrived when machines will take care of the seriously sick?

“No,” says Dr. Guest. “It does not substitute for your doctor or substitute for the nursing care you get here in the ICU.”

No question about it. A patient’s doctor remains in charge.

“A local Tifton doctor is responsible, will continue to make rounds and check on you,” says Dr. Guest. “Only a Tifton doctor can admit or discharge a patient.”

With a high-definition camera and microphone in the room, it begs the question of high-tech snooping.

“The equipment isn’t activated until the nurse allows permission, unless it’s an emergency,” says Guest.

St. Louis medical staff 

What about the creditability of the St. Louis doctors? Could it become an out-sourced service with doctors in other countries providing care, much like customer support calls answered in India or in other countries?

Not likely.

Each St. Louis doctor goes through the same five-step, intensive review process to practice at TRMC as local doctors. They don’t get special treatment.

And, Tift Regional ICU nurses don’t need to worry about the St. Louis medical staff and computers taking their jobs, says Richardson.

Who pays

Medical care costs big bucks, with costs often increasing faster than the rate of inflation.

“We pay a flat rate of $765 to the monitoring company for each patient, regardless of the length of stay in the eICU,” says Richardson.

Tift Regional spent $1.3 million for equipment and for the monitoring service for the first 1,200 patients.

“The patient doesn’t get charged for this,” says Richardson.

Sounds odd, even too good to be true. The money must come from somewhere.

“With shorter stays, more patients will pass through the ICU. The daily ICU room rate remains the same, but new equipment improves our efficiency. So, we’ll have economies of scale,” says Richardson.

Better care

Times change. Technology plays more and more of a role in our lives whether we like it or not. Most of the time it improves lives.

“It’s the same quality of (ICU) care you’d get in Atlanta or at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta or any big-city hospital,” says Dr. Guest.

And, families don’t have the additional stress of packing up their lives and going there.