Patient/Family FAQs

Follow the links below to navigate directly to specific questions.

• How can patients be cared for virtually?
• What about patient privacy?
• Is virtual ICU monitoring as safe as on-site monitoring?
• Who staffs the virtual eICU® facility?
• Who does procedures/emergency procedures, if they are needed?
• What technology does Advanced ICU Care® use?
• What is telemedicine?
• What is a virtual eICU®?
• What is an intensivist?
• Why was Advanced ICU Care formed?

How can patients be cared for virtually?

Clinical decisions in the ICU are often based on a large and continuous stream of data, from physiologic data and laboratory results to vital signs and medications. This data is communicated electronically in real time to both bedside caregivers and virtual specialists. This provides virtual intensivists and nurses the information they need to continuously monitor and analyze patient data, essentially providing an extra layer of care for patients.

Virtual care of intensive care unit (ICU) patients using virtual eICU technology adheres to the high standards for quality care established by hospitals. Virtual management of ICU patients has been evaluated in two clinical studies, both demonstrating a 25 percent to 30 percent reduction in hospital mortality for ICU patients.
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What about patient privacy?

Patient information is secure and confidential. The technology provides the highest level of electronic data security and meets the latest security and privacy recommendations of the federal government (The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act - HIPAA). While there is a camera, speaker and microphone in each room, this communication system is only activated by request from the bedside nurse or during prescribed "virtual rounds." It is readily apparent when the camera is activated (it moves from pointing at the wall to pointing at the patient's bed) and an audio signal is used to alert the nurse who may be in the patient's room. There is no capability for recording video or audio and patient privacy is respected when virtual rounds are required.
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Is remote virtual ICU monitoring as safe as on-site monitoring?

Virtual management of intensive care unit (ICU) patients has been evaluated in two clinical studies, both demonstrating a 25 percent to 30 percent reduction in hospital mortality for ICU patients. In fact, virtual monitoring provides an extra layer of care for patients.
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Who staffs the virtual eICU facility?

The Advanced ICU Care virtual eICU® Monitoring Center is staffed by on-site, fellowship-trained, board-certified intensivist physicians, Acute/Critical Care Nursing (CCRN)-certified critical care nurses and health care assistants. Our critical care nurses have an average of 20 years of critical care experience.
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Who does procedures/emergency procedures, if they are needed?

All hospitals have processes in place to deal with common emergency procedures. These include dedicated in-house personnel (physician assistants, critical care nurse practitioners, house physicians, hospitalists, anesthesiology personnel and emergency department physicians) or specialty physicians on call from home (cardiologist for pacemakers, etc.). Virtual eICU® intensivists coordinate these activities, maintaining the nurse at the bedside.
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What technology does Advanced ICU Care® use?

The technology platform was developed by VISICU. This virtual eICU® technology combines clinical management software with patient data and real-time video feeds, enabling the virtual care and monitoring of critically ill patients. The technology has proven itself even over long distances, with the United States military monitoring an ICU in Guam from an virtual eICU facility in Hawaii, a distance of 3,000 miles.

Part of the virtual eICU technology platform is the eCareManager™, a dashboard view of key patient information such as vital signs, physiologic data, medications, lab results and more ― giving virtual clinicians the data they need to provide patient care. Virtual care tools, such as cameras and videoconferencing, allow virtual eICU® physicians and nurses to see and communicate directly with patients, families and onsite clinicians. The system also provides automated alerts, which identify potential patient problems and allow physicians to intervene earlier.
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What is telemedicine?

Telemedicine is a technology that applies audio and video applications to patient and healthcare givers' interactions. This technology is used for the evaluation of specific problems to enhance diagnosis and treatment decisions, particularly in a remote setting where the expertise may be lacking or in short supply. Telemedicine technology can be used for episodic encounters, as well as continuous care, as in Advanced ICU Care's program.
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What is an virtual eICU®?

Virtual eICU®, a registered trademark of VISICU, Inc., is a term used to describe telemedicine technology that combines clinical management software with virtual-care tools - including patient data and video feeds - to allow intensivists and critical care nurses to virtually care for patients in hospital intensive care units (ICU). Data is collected on a continuous basis and trends in patient status are collated and responded to in real time. This allows for urgent and emergent issues to be addressed immediately. The virtual eICU® technology platform was developed by VISICU to help leverage scarce intensivist resources and to virtually direct patient care. Virtual eICU® centers are staffed by intensivists and critical care nurses who can monitor and care for a large number of ICU patients in multiple hospital locations, thousands of miles away.
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What is an intensivist?

Intensivists are physicians who have received training in critical care beyond their primary residency. They initially train in and receive board certification in a specific medical specialty, such as surgery, internal medicine, pediatrics or anesthesiology. Subsequently, they train in and obtain a subspecialty certification specifically in critical care medicine.

A unique feature of the training is collaboration with others to deliver optimized patient care. Intensivists deliver care in a hospital's intensive care unit (ICU), partnering with critical care team members including other consultant physicians, critical care nurses, pharmacists and respiratory therapists. They are generally the team leader, facilitating all members to meet the patient's complex needs. They are specially trained on all the organ systems, as well as the medications, procedures, and technology specific to the treatment of critically ill patients. They also help to set policies, develop protocols and facilitate communication within the ICU.

Studies show that care by intensivists greatly improves the quality of care in the ICU. The Leapfrog Group, created to initiate breakthrough improvements in the safety, quality and affordability of healthcare for Americans, has identified intensivist staffing as one of its "safety standards," and reported more than 54,000 ICU deaths could be avoided if this standard were implemented.
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Why was Advanced ICU Care formed?

Our mission is to improve access to critical care expertise and deliver best practices to patients by leveraging telemedicine technology. We provide improved outcomes with measurable results to acute care hospitals through talented clinicians supported by cutting-edge technology.

The management and medical staff of many community hospitals have experienced the difficulty and frustration of attempting to recruit a sufficient number of intensivists to staff their intensive care units (ICU). The difficulty in recruiting intensivists to many community hospitals is due to:

• the nationwide shortage of critical care medicine physicians;
• the abundance of opportunities in major metropolitan areas where many of these physicians have trained; and
• the reluctance of some intensivists to practice in a hospital without high acuity and volume.

To address these challenges, Advanced ICU Care was formed. The company delivers intensivist expertise to ICUs through the use of sophisticated clinical management and communications technology, along with a process improvement program.
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