eICU® Solution Enhances Quality of Care in Guam Future care for tomorrow's patients, today August 13th, 2003 HONOLULU, HI-Tripler Army Medical Center, part of the Pacific Regional Medical Command (PRMC), is proud to be the first military medical center to use the VISICU eICU® solution for remote monitoring and care. Currently, patients in six Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds at Naval Hospital Guam receive remote monitoring and care from an eICU® facility in Tripler. The video camera scans the room showing a fragile woman lying in the ICU bed in Guam. The Tripler Army Medical Center Doctors talk about how sick she is as they zoom in with the camera and scan the bags hanging on the IV Pole. After much discussion with the Internal Medicine Physician at Naval Hospital Guam, the Tripler intensivists made several well-received recommendations to the Guam Doctor. He immediately goes into action ordering some of the recommended procedures. The woman is in the virtual hands of quality specialists more than 3,000 miles away from her in Hawai'i. Tripler's eICU® solution is doing its job of pushing levels of quality healthcare to the forward edge of the battlefield. The eICU® solution is part of a research project funded and managed by the Pacific Telehealth & Technology Hui, a joint partnership of the Department of Defense's (DoD) Tripler Army Medical Center (TAMC) and the Veterans Affairs Pacific Islands Health Care System - Spark M. Matsunaga Medical Center in Honolulu. "This system is HIPAA-compliant and FDA-approved," said a smiling Col. (Dr.) Benjamin Berg, Tripler's Residency Director of Internal Medicine and Medical Director of the eICU® solution at Tripler. "Basically, it is one big telephone line called a T-1 Line that allows us this unprecedented access to improve the quality of care we can provide." "The eICU® solution allows telecommunications technology to improve patient care and overcome geographic barriers by linking patients to experts in military medicine," said Dr. Stanley M. Saiki, Jr., M.D., director of Pacific Telehealth & Technology Hui, a DoD/VA joint venture. "Research projects of this kind demonstrate how such advances can benefit military and civilian patients in remote, isolated settings." Tripler is the sixth medical center in the nation to install the eICU® solution, the first military hospital to conduct patient-care activities, and the first one to hook up with another hospital more than 3,000 miles away. Guam, a territory of the United States, does not have any intensivists. In the past, the only option for primary-care physicians or other specialists on Guam was to contact Tripler specialists for advice and recommendations via phone and e-mail. "This is so much better," Berg said. "We can see and speak with the patients if we need to, we can speak directly with the doctors and nurses, and also have the patients labs and other information we need to make a differential diagnosis right at our fingertips." Berg and other specialists use the equipment, which consists of computer monitors, microphones and video cameras, to see and hear what is happening with patients more than 3,000 miles away. Grand Consult rounds take place at noon Hawai'i time, which is 8 a.m. tomorrow on Guam. "It enhances the quality of the interaction and brings a more robust quality of healthcare to the people of Guam," he said. "The system's great!" said Navy Lt. (Dr.) David J. Krause, U.S. Naval Hospital, Guam. "At first, I didn't know quite what to expect. I thought it would be more of an intern/attending physician relationship but it's a very collegial relationship. (I'm treating) critically ill patients having the knowledge we can talk to intensivists at Tripler," Krause said. "We've already seen it has improved patient care. I have found it helpful to have critical care assistance available in this format." The prime contractor in this project is TREX Enterprises Hawaiian Operations, said Donald A. Hudson, Pacific Telehealth & Technology Hui's project manager of the electronic ICU initiative. "From my perspective, the Hui focus is facilitating collaboration between DoD and private enterprise to develop and implement innovative solutions for extending the reach of critical-care expertise," Hudson said. There is a big push in Quality Assurance (QA) to have intensivists available for critically ill patients, Berg said. The QA concept is to push the expertise further forward and that's exactly what Tripler staff is doing. There are not enough intensivists in the world to be present in every ICU area. Berg assisted one internist in Guam through a Right Heart Catheterization by talking him through the procedure as he watched the doctor on the computer screen. U.S. Naval Hospital, Guam takes care of active-duty and their families, Veterans, and civilian emergencies. As Tripler moves forward with this technology, more specialists will become involved. For example, patients with head traumas and bleeds would have a Tripler neurosurgeon present to offer options and recommendations to the doctors in Guam. "We are going to be able to provide the same level of care across the medical system no matter where we are physically," Berg said, "and that improves patient outcomes. It's a win-win situation for physicians and patients alike." (Editor's Note: The appearance of name-brand products in this release does not constitute endorsement by Tripler Army Medical Center, Pacific Regional Medical Command, the Department of the Army, Department of the Navy, Department of Defense or the U.S. Government of the information, products or services contained therein.) About VISICU VISICU, Inc., a privately held company founded in 1998 by two intensivist physicians, is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. The eICU® solution enables hospitals to standardize ICU care across multiple hospitals and leverage scarce intensivist talent. From a centralized eICU®, intensivists and nurse's monitor and care for ICU patients through a high-fidelity telemedicine network, that has been likened to air traffic control. Proprietary software is used to proactively manage patient care and electronically connect the "patient to the doctor", 24 x 7. A Cap-Gemini E&Y study of the eICU® system proved the clinical and financial benefits and the eICU® solution is currently the only technology solution that enables hospitals to meet the Leapfrog Group's ICU patient care safety standards. VISICU won the 2001 Healthcare Informatics and Technology Award and in 2002 the eICU® was recognized as one of the Top 100 technical innovations by InfoWorld magazine. For more information please visit www.visicu.com. eICU® is a registered trademark of VISICU, Inc.