Parkview Noble's new ICU to be state-of-the-art November 29th, 2003 BY DENNIS NARTKER Kendallville News Sun KENDALLVILLE - Parkview Noble Hospital's chief operating officer David Hunter calls it "revolutionary and state-of-the-art." He's standing outside a treatment room in the new hospital's Intensive Care Unit (ICU) under construction. An electrical panel with different colored wires is on one of the unfinished room's walls. "That's the hookup to the eICU® (electronic Intensive Care Unit)," he said. "It will have video, audio and a direct feed. Immediate observation from remote critical care doctors and nurses 24 hours a day, 365 days a year at a central location." The program links ICUs to an eICU® facility, probably located in Fort Wayne, in a hub and spoke concept. It allows intensivists and critical care registered nurses to observe ICU patients from a remote monitoring center and alert hospital personnel to possible problems. Welcome to intensive health care in the 21st century. The system hooking up Parkview's five regional hospitals will be operational locally when the new $28 million, 30-bed hospital on Kendallville's west side opens July 1, 2004. Many Parkview Noble Hospital intensive care patients sent to Fort Wayne to Parkview Hospital Intensive Care Unit (ICU) will stay in Kendallville at the new hospital's four-bed ICU thanks to the eICU® care model. Parkview Health is one of nine in the nation to have eICU® and the first in the state, according to Karen Belcher, Parkview Health spokeswoman. "Parkview Health's board says the $3.5 million program is the right thing to do for northeastern Indiana," said Belcher. Hunter agreed as he proudly explained the inner workings of Parkview Noble's ICU. "This program has proven to save lives," he said. An analysis by Cap Gemini Ernst & Young found a 25 percent reduction in the ICU mortality rate from 2000 to 2002 for Sentara Healthcare's six-hospital system in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina since its eICU® model was introduced three years ago. "That translates to approximately 60 lives saved per year, meaning at least one person a week who might otherwise have died," said Belcher. The average length of stay for critically ill patients was reduced by 17 percent. Parkview Health's board of directors signed a contract earlier this month with VISICU, creators of the eICU® program. "Nothing is scarier than having a family member in the intensive care unit, which is why ICU quality and patient safety are key concerns at Parkview Health," said Dr. David Holloway, Parkview Health senior vice president and chief quality officer. "The eICU® solution will help us to provide better minute-to-minute quality care and intervene before little problems evolve and become more complicated to manage." Critical care doctors and nurses in the remote electronic ICU center will supplement staffing in critical care/constant care areas in Parkview North and Parkview in Fort Wayne, Parkview Huntington Hospital, Parkview Whitley Hospital and Parkview Noble through computers, high fidelity teleconferencing and telemedicine capabilities. Parkview Health is currently seeking a medical director for the eICU® program. The remote facility will also need four critical care registered nurses and four critical care physicians to cover four shifts each day. The electronic ICU program is not the only technical innovation at the new Parkview Noble Hospital, according to Hunter. The radiology department will have digital imaging. All emergency X-rays, MRIs, utlrasounds, bone scans, and mammography will be transmitted digitally to any location in the hospital, throughout the Parkview Health system and to other providers. "These will be high resolution images," said Hunter. "No more film. Doctors will read X-rays on a 55-inch TV monitor." Images will also be stored on discs for quick and efficient access. Patient medical records will be part of an electronically integrated care system for efficient, quality care and acountability, he said. No more passing around bedside clipboards and folders with patient information. For patient safety and efficiency the new hospital will have a computerized medication system working through the hospital's pharmacy. Incoporating this new technology in a hospital with a 30-to-40-year life span has required about 55 miles of cable. "We will have the infrastructure for more technological improvements in the future," said Hunter.