Hospital to implement eICU

GILLETTE, WY - Campbell County Health (CCMH) will partner with Avera Health in Sioux Falls, SD to provide advanced telemedicine services, called "eICU" for patients in the Intensive Care Unit. The ICU team at CCMH works with a team of highly trained physicians, critical care nurses and support staff operating at the Avera eICU Center in Sioux Falls. This team provides additional oversight 24/7 to assist local nurses and physicians in monitoring critically ill patients.

Patient information, including vital signs and test results are sent over secure, high-speed data lines to the Avera eICU Center. Continuous monitoring helps bring attention to even slight changes in patient conditions, allowing for early intervention before any significant problems may occur. Patients will not even notice the additional equipment in the room, such as a powerful camera used for patient assessment.

CCMH staff continues to provide all care at the bedside, and the patient's healthcare team continues to make all decisions regarding their care and treatment.

Two CCMH ICU beds will be equipped with eICU monitoring equipment, and the program is scheduled to be operational in 3-5 months. Equipment and construction costs are budgeted at $100,000. There will be no additional patient charges for any eICU services.

"This program will enable some of our critical patients to stay here instead of being transferred to another facility out of town," said CEO Bob Morasko. "Our local physicians can consult an Intensivist (a specialist in critical care medicine) when needed, and this capability is available 24 hours a day. It adds another level of nurse and physician monitoring for our patients."