Union Hospital Health Group Selects Advanced ICU Care Program

Pharmacy Choice

2009 FEB 11 - (NewsRx.com) Advanced ICU Care and Union Hospital Health Group announced plans to implement Advanced ICU Care's eICU program to enhance patient care and safety in the intensive care units. The program will use remote computer monitoring to connect Union Hospital and West Central Community Hospital ICU patients 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to critical care physicians (intensivists) and nurses from Advanced ICU Care's Monitoring Center. This eICU technology, in collaboration with Union and West Central's local medical and nursing staff, provides an extra level of care to patients, and has been proven to help save lives and shorten the length of ICU and hospital stays.

Union and West Central will begin using Advanced ICU Care's program in the spring of 2009 in their 34 ICU beds. Remote care tools, such as real-time video feeds, allows the bedside and Advanced ICU Care remote physicians and nurses to work as one team in caring for patients. Around-the-clock monitoring of patient data ? such as vital signs, medications and lab results ? along with technology that identifies early warning signs of downward trends, allows physicians to intervene earlier to prevent complications.

"The Advanced ICU Care program further enhances care and safety for our sickest patients," said Ronald Leach, MD, medical director at Union Hospital. "This is not a replacement for care, but rather it augments the high-quality care provided by our team of critical care specialists here at the bedside. Nationally, hospitals that have implemented eICU programs have found significantly improved patient outcomes, including reduced complications and shorter lengths of stay. Our patients and the communities we serve deserve this level of care. This is just another example of how Union is investing in leading technologies, people, and processes to deliver the highest level of care."

"Union Hospital is continuing to invest in quality and technology to deliver the best possible care to patients," said Mary Jo Gorman, MD, MBA, chief executive officer of Advanced ICU Care. "Union's growth strategies clearly reflect the central goal of integrating quality and technology, and we're pleased to partner with them to bring this level of life-saving care to their patients."

Studies show that care by intensivists, either at the bedside or through telemedicine technology, greatly improves the quality of care in the ICU. Yet there is a shortage of intensivists, with less than 20% of U.S. hospital ICUs with dedicated intensivist staffing. This shortfall is expected to worsen as the U.S. population ages.

"With the nationwide shortage of intensivists, many hospitals, including ours, have found it difficult to recruit these specialists," said Leach. "Partnering with Advanced ICU Care allows us to provide our patients with around-the-clock access to this advanced level of critical care expertise."

About Advanced ICU Care

Advanced ICU Care is a medical service company that provides high-quality remote critical care to patients in the intensive care units (ICU) of community hospitals. Through experienced clinicians, supported by cutting-edge telemedicine technology, and a process improvement program, Advanced ICU Care provides continuous ICU patient monitoring and improved care and safety outcomes to critically ill patients across the country. Hospital ICUs are linked with Advanced ICU Care's eICU Monitoring Center in St. Louis, Missouri through a technology platform developed by VISICU, allowing Advanced ICU Care's board-certified intensivists (critical care medicine physicians) and critical care nurses to monitor hospital ICU patients from a central location. For more information, visit: www.icumedicine.com (see also Critical Care).

About Union Hospital Health Group

Union Hospital was founded in 1892 as a 20-bed facility. Today, the 343-bed hospital is a regional referral center, serving patients in west-central Indiana and east-central Illinois. Union Hospital Health Group consists of Union Hospital, West Central Community Hospital, and a network of primary care physicians. Union Hospital is the provider of choice for Wabash Valley residents and consistently receives excellent marks for their care and technology. Union Hospital offers a broad range of services that create a "continuum of care". That means that almost all individuals' health care needs through their life can be treated at Union Hospital, or through its affiliated services. The area's largest not-for-profit medical center, the hospital is committed to providing uncompromising care to all.

Contacts:

Donya Hengehold, 618-692-3991

Kristi Roshel, 812-238-7495

eICU is a registered trademark of VISICU, Inc.

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