Medical Staff

eICUs may reduce mortality rates

Hospitalist Leadership Connection, May 25, 2011

Telemedicine may be just what the doctor ordered. The use of eICUs at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester reduced mortality rates from 10.7% to 8.5%. The remote physicians enforced treatment plans for patients, ensured that caregivers followed best practices to prevent infections and pneumonia, and even at times prompted staff to respond to alarms on monitors warning that a patient was in trouble, reports The Boston Globe.

Although the study results bode well for telemedicine, it failed to answer two major questions: Will telemedicine provide the same results in rural community hospitals, and would additional on-site staffing provide the same results as remote staffing?
 

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