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Physician FAQs
Follow the links below to navigate directly to specific questions.
- What impact will Advanced ICU Care's program have on private attending physicians?
- Who does procedures/emergency procedures if they are needed?
- Do the virtual eICU physicians write notes and orders?
- Does Advanced ICU Care accommodate an attending physician's preference for the extent of the eICU intensivist's involvement with his or her patients?
- Who staffs the virtual eICU® facility?
- What data are the intensivists and nurses in the virtual eICU® Operations Center able to monitor?
What impact will Advanced ICU Care's program have on private attending physicians?
The system is designed to support local physicians and their patient care. There is no effect on their billing of professional fees. The attending physician maintains the authority to set the daily care plan. The role of Advanced ICU Care's program is to facilitate and expedite the physician's care plan while enabling him or her to conduct his or her hospital/office practice more efficiently. At night and on weekends the virtual eICU® intensivists field calls from the ICU. Local physicians often discover that the number of calls interrupting their nights, office hours, and operating room time improves dramatically.
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.).
These processes remain in place, except that the call for the procedure would likely be initiated by the intensivist at the virtual eICU®, after discussion with the attending physician. If surgical evaluation is required, the virtual eICU® intensivist contacts the surgeon requested by the attending physician. Virtual eICU® intensivists coordinate these activities, maintaining the nurse at the bedside.
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Do the virtual eICU® physicians write notes and orders?
Yes. Virtual eICU® physicians have privileges at all of the hospitals to which they are providing supplemental care and therefore are able to prescribe treatments and enter notes into the chart. Notes and orders are created from the virtual eICU when clinically indicated and provide only relevant clinical information. They are electronically signed, using a unique personal identification number (PIN), and transmitted to a printer or transferred electronically for inclusion into the chart.
Does Advanced ICU Care accommodate an attending physician's preference for the extent of the virtual eICU intensivist's involvement with his or her patients?
Hospital medical staff members choose the level of interaction they want from Advanced ICU Care's intensivists and nurses from two selections below:
FULL INVOLVEMENT The Advanced ICU Care intensivist responds to changes in patient's condition, treats and notifies the attending physician of major changes. | MINIMUM INVOLVEMENT The Advanced ICU Care intensivist only intervenes for life-threatening emergencies and best practices, but contacts the attending physician for all other medical conditions.
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| ICU Best Practices Compliance is baseline for all ICU patients DVT Prophylaxis Stress Ulcer Prophylaxis as indicated Ventilator Associated Pneumonia Prevention Bundle Head of bed assessment Sedation vacation Spontaneous breathing trials Beta blockers in ACS, when not contraindicated Low Tidal Volume Ventilation for ALI Glucose control Sepsis Management Bundle | |
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, CCRN-certified critical care nurses and health care assistants. Our critical care nurses have an average of 20 years of critical care experience.
What data are the intensivists and nurses in the virtual eICU® Operations Center able to monitor?
Powerful technology infrastructure links hospital ICUs with the virtual eICU® Monitoring Center through telemedicine and computer networking. Staff in the virtual eICU® Monitoring Center are linked by voice, video, and data to the hospital ICUs. Intensivists and nurses are able to monitor real-time vital signs through interfaces with the hospital's monitoring equipment, visualize the patient by a high-resolution camera mounted in the patient's room, and access the patient's medical record, laboratory results, medications, and radiographic images.