Telemedicine Offers New Opportunities to Nurse Practitioners

Advanced ICU Care Clinician to Discuss Need for Acute Care Nurse Practitioners Within Virtual ICUs

ST. LOUIS, MO (Oct. 21, 2010) As the population ages, the role of acute care nurse practitioners has become even more important inside today's hospitals. These specialized nurses, which represent 5 percent of all nurses, have advanced training to allow them to care for the sickest patients - and studies show their roles have expanded tremendously over the last five years.

At this week's American College of Nurse Practitioners' (ACNP) 2010 National Clinical Conference in Tampa, Fla., Tifuh Amba, RN, MSN, CCRN, ACNP‐BC, an acute care nurse practitioner with Advanced ICU Care in St. Louis, Mo., will discuss the new career opportunities virtual intensive care units have created for nurse practitioners and the improved outcomes for patients when nurse practitioners are added to virtual ICU teams.

"The virtual ICU method allows virtual intensive care nurse practitioners to treat patients in ICUs around the country," Amba said. "The nurse practitioners working alongside the intensivists and serve as an extra layer of care and safety when the regular critical care practitioners or specialists are off site."
Amba is a member of Advanced ICU Care's team, which uses state-of-the-art ICU telemedicine equipment to connect patients to Advanced ICU Care's intensivists 24 hours a day, seven days a week. These doctors and nurses use remote-control cameras, video conferencing and continuous monitoring technology to access real-time patient information - including vital signs, physiologic data, medications and lab results. The intensivists and nurses also have access to patients' complete medical history and local attending physicians' care plans and can talk to patients directly.

This work is particularly important considering approximately 5 million adults are admitted to intensive care units every year, while currently only about 10 percent of all hospitals have intensivist programs on site. Advanced ICU Care clients have found the program has saved lives, reduced complications and optimized care in the ICU so patients recover more quickly and transfer out of the ICU sooner.

"Acute care nurse practitioners are valuable members of our team who support our commitment to exceptional patient care," said Mary Jo Gorman, MD, chief executive officer for Advanced ICU Care. "Together, our intensivists and nurse practitioners work to provide our client hospitals with the best possible care and safety for their patients."

Amba believes the concept creates exciting opportunities for new jobs for nurse practitioners, new nursing research and education in telemedicine for nurses. It will help hospitals retain nurse practitioners and help them more fully develop their careers.

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® Operations 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.

eICU® is a registered trademark of VISICU, Inc.

For media inquiries, contact: Sara Simpson, (314) 982-7741, sara.simpson@fleishman.com