Excerpt from
December 4th, 2004
by Dana Hudepohl
Soaring rates of obesity. Skyrocketing heart disease. Scary cancer statistics. If it seems like all the medical news of 2004 was bleak, read on.
"Better awareness of how we can prevent major illnesses, through new treatments and methods discovered in 2004, translates into real-life solutions--especially for women," says Loretta Finnigan, MD, of the National Institutes of Health.
Ahead you'll find out what you need to know about eight of the biggest health stories of the year, and how it can directly benefit you and your family.
Telemedicine Technology
An electronic monitoring system for intensive care units may not be the most glamorous medical device ever invented, but it may be the most crucial. The combination of a booming aging population (the ICU, where 500,000 people currently die each year, will see its population soar in the next decade) and a critical-care nursing shortage may put the most vulnerable patients in grave danger.
But many lives will be saved, thanks to ICU "telemedicine," which offers an innovative way to offer round-the-clock care to those who need it most. One company's technology—the eICU® solution--is already in 4 percent of hospitals nationwide and is predicted to be in 10 percent by the end of next year.
How it works: ICU telemedicine (brand name: eICU® solution) is like an air traffic control center, often located dozens of miles from the hospital. Computer terminals linked to patients' rooms allow one intensivist and two critical-care nurses to watch 75 patients via video cameras and monitor vital signs. A 2004 study in the journal Critical Care Medicine found that electronic monitoring in two Virginia ICUs cut death rates by 25 percent, shortened ICU stays, and cut hospital costs.
"You avoid a lot of the complications that occur in sick patients because you can pick up problems earlier. The medical staff is proactive, not reactive," says Michael Ries, MD, medical director of ICU telemedicine for Advocate HealthCare in Chicago, which has watched more than 9,000 patients since going live in April (he has no financial ties to the company that makes the eICU solution).